Leave to Cleave

For a number of years now, I have been following Ps Paul Hudson, a Regional Leader for the Elim Churches UK. Prior to his current role, he was the Mission's Director for the same denomination. He has been writing a daily devotional on a journey through the Bible - first from each book. After completing the entire Bible, he started with verse by verse of specific books. Not too long ago, he started with the book of Genesis.

In Genesis 12, he shared a perspective on leave to cleave that resonated very well with the whole idea for this project. I share as he shared below:

The radical life of Christianity is a life that sits outside the comfort and expectations people have of us. It is what calls the missionary to leave home. It is actually a call for all of us. It is to suffer not needlessly or because of our stupidity, but because of a cause.  And that is the radical call. How is that possible? Only because of another place. There is a land. We have a home that calls for us to leave.

“The Lord had said to Abram, ‘Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. 2 ‘I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” 4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran. 5 He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Harran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.” (Genesis 12 v 1-5)

This call to Abram was not for some self-improvement. It was not to spend more time getting to know God. This was a complete upheaval not only of his life but also of his family’s. It was a call to leave everything that he had known and move forward into the unknown.

God hadn’t shown Abram the map and destination of where He was taking him. He didn’t give him the GMaps. It was ‘the land I will show you.’

This is faith – to let go before you see what you are stepping into.

And this is what has happened in your life so far. God never told you how your life would work out. He didn’t show you the wonderful moments that you would experience as you gave your life to Jesus, nor did He tell you about the giants you would face.

You have learnt to trust and walk, just as Abram did.

The promise was to be blessed and to be a blessing. There have been seasons for both. Perhaps you won’t know the extent of how you have been a blessing, Abram didn’t.

God isn’t asking for you to play it safe and be like the rest of your world. He keeps asking for your trust. Even when you are walking through a season which isn’t all that clear, and you may not know what tomorrow brings. He will bring you home.

Sometimes the most faithful thing we can do is simply take the first step into the unknown, knowing that God will show us the way as we go.

I have met people who want to move into the next part of their lives; they can see the excitement of trusting God for this, and I can see in their eyes and voices that they are clinging to what God has prepared for them. But they won’t leave. They won’t let go. They haven’t understood that you cannot cleave without first deciding to leave.

Author - Ps Paul Hudson

https://missionspaul.com/2025/11/19/leave-to-cleave/