Stepping Out In Faith

Genesis 12:1-8

How would you feel about packing up all of your belongings and moving far away from where your home was?  Some may not like that, preferring to stay in a house and neighborhood they were familiar with. Others might not mind, if they knew a nice home and friendly faces waited for them where they would be going.  How about if you would have no idea where you were going, wouldn’t know anyone when you got there and possibly not even the language, and didn’t know what kind of place or prospects awaited you? Not too many people like to head out with a big question mark hanging overhead.  Fear of the unknown can be very strong. Yet if we have trust in someone who is guiding us, those fears can subside, especially if that One is the Lord God. In our Scripture today from the Book of Genesis we read of Abram (later known as Abraham) who was called to leave his home, relatives, and all he knew, to set out where God would lead him.  Let’s look at his response to this challenge.

Abram was born, and spent a good part of his adult life in the city of Ur, which was near the convergence of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, near the north end of the Persian Gulf.  The city was a very pagan one, having long since given up any worship of the God of Noah, many generations earlier. Pagan worship of Nanna, the moon god, was rampant. After a number of years, Terah, Abram’s father, decided to move his whole clan further north up the Euphrates river over 575 miles to the city of Haran, in present day Turkey, near its border with Syria.  It was here in Haran that Yahweh called Abram, and he forever turned his back on any pagan beliefs he may ever have had. Yahweh called Abram, telling him to take his wife and servants, and leave his father’s family, leave the city of Haran, everything he knew, and go to where He would show him.

This brings me to my initial thought of would you obey and leave everything you knew, following God’s command into the unknown?  God requested Abram to leave everything he knew, and promised to bless him if he did (vs. 1-3). When God talks of blessing someone, it is a promise to intervene mightily in that person’s life.  It could be with the family. It could be financially, with emotional security, or spiritually. Obedience always goes before blessings. If we want to have blessings, we must be obedient. There are two conditions for blessings, and they are obedience and faith.

Abram was a very wealthy man.  It is quite probable that both in Ur and later in Haran that he had a nice house and a good career.  To give this up and head out into an unknown future would be a big step. Many people would be tempted to tell God, “Sorry, I can’t do that.”  Abram did not hesitate to obey (vs. 4-5). We should never let comfort or security keep us from obeying what God wants us to do.

Abram trusted God though he did not know where he was going.  God did not provide him with a map or a plan for the rest of his life, but led him only one step at a time, which is how He usually leads us, as well.  When a couple of people ride a tandem bike, only the person in the front steers the way. The person in the back can’t steer. His view of straight ahead is even limited.  He must trust the driver. That’s the way it was with Abram, and should be with us, too. We must be like that person on the tandem bike, and put our trust in God to direct and lead our life.

Yahweh promised Abram that He would bless him, and that all families or people on earth would be blessed through him (vs. 3).  It was through the Lord Jesus Christ, who through His mother, the Virgin Mary, was descended from Abram, that every person, every country has the opportunity to be blessed with a relationship with God.  Anyone who has accepted Jesus as Savior, whether they are physically descended from Abram or not, inherits all the blessings that God bestowed upon him (Galatians 3:6-9, 14). Abram trusted God, and that made him righteous.  When we trust God, as Abram did, we become his spiritual descendants, and heirs to all that was promised him.

We can always trust God and the promises He makes.  When He asks us to do something, we can trust Him in that.  God always tells the truth. When He binds Himself to a promise, or swears an oath, He can be trusted to follow through.  Abram trusted God, believing in His promise to him, and he is now the father of all who truly believe in God’s Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.  We, too, can safely trust in God, and obey His Word. Where He leads me, I will follow!