Faith Walking…Abraham

The land of Harran had become Abraham’s home, but after his father died, God told Abraham to leave Harran.

“The Lord had said to Abram, ‘Go from your country, your people, and your father’s household to the land I will show you.’” Genesis 12:1 NIV

Abraham’s family did not worship God.

“Long ago your ancestors, including Terah, the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the Euphrates River and worshiped other gods.” Joshua 24:2

So, the voice of God was not familiar to Abraham.

BUT ABRAHAM WENT…

Abraham chose to obey. He packed up all his possessions and his family and followed an unknown God to an unknown land.

This act of obedience from Abraham is beyond our comprehension. Even when we know it is the voice of God, we don’t move.  We are comfortable right where we are. If we step out of our tent, into a world of the unknown we might stumble.  Faith walking isn’t for the faint of heart.

THE LONG WALK TO CANAAN

The land of Canaan was approximately 500 miles from the land of Harran. As they crossed into the land, God through another curve at Abraham. After Abraham had chosen where he was going to set up camp, God said…

                “’To your offspring I will give this land.’” Genesis 12:7

Wow! That seems random!

ABRAHAM HAD NO OFFSPRING. Had God lost His mind? Had He not gotten the memo that Abraham’s wife, Sarah was old and barren?

LET’S TAKE A LOOKSY

So, let’s take a quick look at what is going on.  A man who didn’t know much about the God who called him, followed a voice he didn’t recognize to a land he knew little about, filled with people who were not his people, and has just been told that he was going to have offspring…babies! Crazy!

We have land and now we are going to have babies!

GOD REPEATS HIMSELF

After a few other moves in which God’s covenant with Abraham for land and offspring were threatened…

God repeats himself to Abraham.

As God and Abraham are standing in the hot dry desert, God says for Abraham to look around. In this moment He says,

“All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever. I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted.” Genesis 13:15, 16 NIV

Here He goes again talking about offspring to a man who has no children.  I often wonder what went on in the mind of Abraham.  God is telling him two things…

                You’re gonna have lots and lots of babies!!!

                And

                This is the land that I am promising to you!

My mind would have been blown.

Twice God has dropped the “offspring” word.

ABRAHAM’S HEIR

Then after Abraham has to rescue his goofy and careless nephew, Lot, God promises Abraham that He would be his “shield” and his “reward”. With this Abraham kind of loses it and he says…

“Sovereign Lord (well, it’s a good thing that Abraham is aware of who he is speaking to), what can you give me since I remain childless…? You have given me no children; so, a servant in my household will be my heir.” Genesis 15:2, 3 NIV

God, you have given me land but no kids to give the land to.  What is the point of this? I will have to give this land that you have covenanted me to my servant.

Then God replied…

“This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.” Genesis 15:4 NIV

Seeing the disbelief in Abraham’s eyes, God took him outside.  Standing in the desert, God says, “Abraham, look up! What do you see? Do you see the stars in the sky? Can you count them? If you could, that is the number of your offspring! Keep walking in your faith Abraham!”

The scripture says,

“Abram believed the Lord…” Genesis 15:6.

God had chosen Abraham and his family to carry out this covenant that He wanted to make to His creation.  God did not choose them because they were more righteous or more faithful. God chose them because of HIS grace. The grace of God needed to reach all of mankind. For “it is by grace that you are saved.” There is no other substitute by which we can be saved. Because God’s grace started in the beginning of time, He needed it to continue through this covenant. Abraham was the chosen vessel.

BUT WHAT ABOUT THE LAND

Focusing on the land that was promised in this covenant, Abraham said,

                “Sovereign Lord, how can I know that I will gain possession of it?’” Genesis 15:8

This land represents God and His provisions. God was territorial in the sense that He created land for Him to dwell with His creation. The Garden of Eden was the original land for God to provide for and fellowship with mankind. Because that got destroyed by the sin of Adam, God was writing a covenant of land once again to Abraham. Canaan was not the Garden of Eden, but it was God’s promised land to His people. The complexity of this land and the journey to this land takes research, but the simplicity of it is that God has always longed to have fellowship with His creation. He provided land in order to do this. This is why it is called the Promised Land.  It was promised to Abraham long before it was promised to Moses and to his people.  Moses was just used by God to bring God’s people back home. When God called Moses at the burning bush, this is what He said,

“So, I have come down to rescue them (the Israelites…the offspring) from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into the good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey- the home of the Canaanites…” Exodus 3:8 NIV

God has created a world of beauty just for us. He wants to sit with us in the garden, walk with us along the path and talk with us by the stream. This is all that God wanted…just us and Him. But darkness crept in and stole this beautiful picture from us. Recently I was struggling with feeling hopeless in life. I just wanted to go home. I questioned why God had created me. In the quiet of His voice, He reminded me that He put me here on this earth to fellowship with Him. We may not be sitting in the Garden of Eden or in the land of Canaan, but everyday God wants to fellowship with me. That is a mind-blowing reality!

As the story continues, Abraham “fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him.” Genesis 15:12

Join me next week as we learn about what happened in his dream.  It’s pretty amazing!