Posted on 02/11/2021 5:38:08 AM PST by metmom
The Lord appeared to Abraham one day and gave him an incredible command: “Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you” (Genesis 12:1).
How did Abraham respond to this incredible word from the Lord? “By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going” (Hebrews 11:8).
What was God up to? Why would he search the nations for one man, and then call him to forsake everything and go on a journey with no map, no preconceived direction, no known destination? Think about what God was asking of Abraham. He never showed him how he would feed or support his family. He didn’t tell him how far to go or when he would arrive. He only told him two things in the beginning: “Go,” and, “I will show you the way.”
The place God wanted to lead Abraham is a place he wants to take every member of Christ’s body. Abraham is what Bible scholars call a “pattern man,” someone who serves as an example of how to walk before the Lord. Abraham’s example shows us what is required of all who would seek to please God.
Make no mistake, Abraham was not a young man when God called him to make this commitment. He probably had plans in place to secure his family’s future, so he had to be concerned over many considerations as he weighed God’s call. Yet Abraham “believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness” (Genesis 15:6).
The apostle Paul tells us that all who believe and trust in Christ are the children of Abraham. And, like Abraham, we are counted as righteous because we heed the same call to entrust all our tomorrows into the Lord’s hands.
Read Oswald Chambers book, “Knowing Not Where” about how huge God’s call to Abraham was, and what an incredible step of faith and trust it was.
“Leave all you know and are comfortable with - your whole family, inheritance, relatives, country, etc. - and have NO IDEA WHERE I AM TAKING YOU OR WHAT I AM TAKING YOU TO!”
BUT the larger “TRUST ME!” was ahead - with God’s command to sacrifice his son.....
It all his life, God showed Abraham that He was worthy of Abraham’s complete trust.
Should be the same with us.
“Leave all you know and are comfortable with - your whole family, inheritance, relatives...”
*****
...but he took Lot and this caused all kinds of problems
...nobody is perfect
No where is Abraham criticized or condemned for letting Lot come with him......it appears that Lot chose to go along, and how could Abraham tell him no? Especially if Lot insisted? We do not know and cannot judge.
Abraham obeyed God. No he was not perfect, but “he believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness.”
None of us can imagine what faith it took to leave all for what? the total unknown.
What incredible faith - but then, God had revealed Himself to Abraham. And spoken clearly to him.
Regardless of feelings in the matter, Abraham disobeyed in this and loom at the trouble it caused.
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