ABRAHAM’S JOURNEY OF FAITH
Genesis 12:1-20
Joe Stowell, the president of Moody Bible Institute, tells about his experience watching the Olympics. He writes, “In 1980, America’s economy was in the ditch. The Cold War was in its fury. Russia seemed bigger, more powerful than us, and America entertained the world at the Olympics in Lake Placid. I remember coming home from church the Sunday that America was playing Russia in hockey. It was in the end of the first period, and we were beating the Russians. All of a sudden I realized my stomach was in a knot. My knuckles were white, and I had this anxiety about the game. All through the second period we were ahead. Going into the third period, I knew what would happen. The Russians would score five goals at the end of the game, beat us, and we would be embarrassed again. But we won! It was such a big deal that the national networks played it again. My wife and I watched the whole thing Sunday night. Only this time I didn’t have a knot in my stomach. I leaned back on the couch and put my feet up. What made the difference? I could relax because I knew the outcome.”
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we all knew the outcome of everything and the outcome would always be good? If we could look into the future and actually see that God was going to be faithful in guiding our children on the right path. If we could look through a telescope of time and know that we were going to be financially secure. If we could know that the problem that seems so big now would work itself out. Wouldn’t that be great? We could go off the blood pressure pills and throw away the anxiety medication. We could put our feet up and sail through life.
But that is not how life is. That certainly was not how it was for Abraham. God called him to leave his family and his home and travel to a strange country. He had no idea where he would end up, what it would look like or how it would turn out. He did not know if he would be robbed and beaten along the way. The only thing God told him was to go and that he would be with him. He knew that God told him that he would bless him and make him a great nation, but he could not see how God was going to do that. It is one thing for God to tell you something, and it is quite another to understand how he is going to accomplish it. We want to understand all the details and know the outcome before we really put our feet up and relax.
There are many lessons to be learned from the story of Abraham, but the first is that: Abraham was fully human. The Lord said to him: “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you. 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. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” What a wonderful promise of God! What a blessing to know that God had a special purpose for him and would be with him wherever he went! But the very next verse of scripture says, “So Abram left, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him.... He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Haran” (Genesis 12:1-5). What did God tell him to do? He told him to leave his extended family and he would give him directions as he went along. But Abraham did not do what God told him. He wanted the security of other people. He wanted protection. He wanted to have people around him whom he knew and understood. So Abraham took Lot with him. And the problems caused by Lot were many. Tensions arose between the families and Lot moved away from Abraham and settled in Sodom — and you know the story of Sodom and Gomorrah.
But bringing Lot was not Abraham’s only mistake. God told him that he would be with him and protect him, but twice, when Abraham entered unfamiliar territory he told his wife to tell the people in those places that she was his sister. He was afraid to tell them that she was his wife because she was beautiful, and he feared that they would kill him in order to have her. His fears were not unfounded, because this often happened back in that time. It was the prerogative of kings. But Abraham’s fears overruled his trust in God. God had said to Abraham: “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward” (Genesis 15:1). But he did not listen to God, and he selfishly placed his wife in danger trying to save his own hide. God would never have approved of what he did, and neither would God have approved of Abraham endangering his plan for him. How could he become the father of a nation if his wife was no longer with him? What if Sarah was returned to him, but was bearing another man’s child? What an enormous mess he created.
But even Sarah became frustrated with God’s slowness to act. Abraham told her of how God had him go out into the night, telling him that his offspring would be more numerous than the stars in the sky. But nothing was happening and it had been many years since God made that promise. Finally, Sarah decided to take matters into her own hands. She offered her maid to Abraham so that she could bear children for Sarah. This was also a common practice in that culture. There was only one problem: it was not God’s plan. They were trying to do God’s will, but they were doing it in their way. The resulting birth of Ishmael, the child of Sarah’s maid, caused enormous problems for Abraham, and continues to cause problems to this very day. For Ishmael is the father of the Arab nations. If it were not for this huge mistake of Abraham we would not be having the peace talks between the Israelis and Arabs today. The Arabs say that they are the sons of Abraham through Ishmael, and deserve to have the land promised to Abraham because they are the descendants of Abraham’s oldest son. The Jews, on the other hand, claim that they are the legitimate sons of Abraham through Isaac, and therefore deserve to have the land promised to them by God. Abraham’s lack of faith continues to haunt us to this very day.
There are many other ways that Abraham failed but, suffice it to say, Abraham was truly human. He was full of weaknesses. He made lots of mistakes. He was really foolish many times. He was a failure in many respects. But I am encouraged by this story, because it means that there might be hope for a failure like me. Abraham was so human he seems like me. If he had sailed through all these tests of his faith, it might have discouraged me and made me feel like I could never be a person who could follow God. But because the Bible is faithful to the full story of Abraham I know that he was a man like me. He struggled with trusting God and waiting on him in faith. He messed up at times, and even threatened the fulfillment of God’s plan for his life. But he was still a man of God.
This leads to the second important lesson from the story of Abraham: that even though Abraham was fully human — He was truly a man of God. There are no perfect people. God only has imperfect people to work with, therefore there is hope for us. We don’t have to be perfect to have a relationship with God. Even when we mess up, God is there to pick us up. If we miss one answer, it doesn’t mean that we have failed the whole test. The last chapter has not yet been written, and God isn’t through with us yet. Abraham was not perfect in his faith. He did not perfectly trust God with everything, but he did leave his homeland and go to the place where God was sending him. He did believe God was going to give him a son — most of the time — it was just in those dark times when the answer was so long in coming that he wavered. He did believe that God was his Shield and that he would protect him, but there were a few frightening experiences when his faith faltered. If it were not for God these failures could have ruined his life. He wanted a son so badly he was willing to try anything, and his failure to trust God at this point had major consequences which he and his descendants would have to live with.
Here is what is happening in this biblical story. God started with Adam and Eve in the garden, but they failed and sin entered the world. Eventually sin became so pronounced that the human family thought only about evil all the time. In their wickedness the human race had become extremely violent, and God sent the flood to put a stop to evil. Noah and his godly family would give the human race a new beginning. But God knew that evil would eventually grow again, so he initiated a plan — a plan to redeem the world through a selected group of people: the descendants of Abraham. God would give this group of people his laws and guide them through his prophets. They, in turn, would show the world what it meant to live for God. But greatest of all, God would send his Messiah through the line of Abraham, and he would save the world from their sin. Through this son of Abraham, who was also the Son of God, the whole world would be blessed.
It is not always easy to follow God, as the life of Abraham demonstrates. Following God complicated his life in many ways, but Abraham was faithful in continuing in his struggle. Evelyn Underhill writes, “Christian history looks glorious in retrospect, but it is made up of constant hard choices and unattractive tasks, accepted under the pressure of the Will of God.” That was certainly true for Abraham, but we know that God saw Abraham as a man of faith because the Bible says, “Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness” (Genesis 15:6). And this verse from Genesis is quoted no less than four times in the New Testament (Romans 4:3,22; Galatians 3:6; James 2:23). Did Abraham struggle with believing God? Yes. But did he ultimately place his trust in God? Absolutely! The Bible says, “By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country.... For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God” (Hebrews 11:8-10). It is important to have faith in God, and that faith must be very specific.
A recent Gallup poll found that 30% of American adults described themselves as “spiritual.” One person said, “I can go on a 40-mile bike ride and get as much from it as I can from going to church. Nature to me is what God is all about. It’s a renewal.” About 54% of those who responded said that they are religious, but 45% of those said they are more likely to follow their own instincts than church teachings. For example, 79% said they believe God will decide who goes to heaven or hell, but 44% said that atheists, if they are good people, will enter heaven. The story of Abraham tells us that God will help us as we struggle in our faith, but that faith must be a faith in the one true God. It is not good enough to be “spiritual” in a general sense. Our faith must be specific. It must be a faith in the God of the Bible who is the only living God who created all that exists. Abraham did not follow the gods of the Chaldeans — the people where he used to live. Nor did he follow the gods of the Canaanites — the people where he now lived. He followed the God who called him to follow him and promised to be with him.
In a new book called How to Stay Christian in College, J. Budziszewski tells how a girl named Julie went away to college and began to witness boldly to her three roommates. The girls not only listened politely, they even seemed supportive. Julie was excited because they all seemed to be so open to the Gospel. But she was shocked when they responded just as warmly when Sally, one of the other girls in the room, said she was into the New Age movement and believed in “the god within all of us.” And when Amy said she believed God is a “force,” like in the “Star Wars” movies they accepted that too. Ruth said she was a “very spiritual” person but didn’t believe in any God at all. Julie was confused when the others agreed that “we’re all saying the same thing” in the end. Julie had run into the secular myth that “truth is whatever you sincerely believe.” What people don’t seem to realize is that you can be very sincere in your belief and be sincerely wrong. There is “One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all” (Ephesians 4:6).
Anselm of Canterbury once wrote, “For I seek not to understand in order that I may believe, but I believe in order that I may understand.... unless I believe, I cannot understand.” The third point is that Abraham would never fully understand all that God had in mind for him because: Abraham was a part of something bigger than himself. Abraham went through a lot of faith-stretching experiences, but none as difficult as the one he was now about to face. God answered Abraham’s prayer and sent him a son. He was such a blessing to Abraham and Sarah that they named him Isaac., meaning “Laughter.” Everything was wonderful, until one day God came calling on Abraham and asked him to do something that stabbed him with pain. God said, “Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about” (Genesis 22:2). Abraham was stunned, but surprisingly, there is not a word of protest. Abraham had finally learned to trust God even in the midst of the most unusual circumstances. The circumstances were not unusual for the culture, for it was common practice among the people who followed the other pagan religions to sacrifice their children to the gods, but what was unusual is that it was totally unlike Abraham’s God. Not only that, but he had promised to begin a great nation through Isaac — and he was still a young man who had never married.
As Abraham and his son approached the altar, Isaac knew that they had come to worship and offer a sacrifice to God, but something was missing. He said, “Father, the fire and wood are here, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” (Genesis 22:7). And then Abraham gives this classic response: “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son” (Genesis 22:8). As they reached the place of sacrifice, Abraham arranged the wood on the altar. Then he bound his son and laid him on the wood. He raised the knife in the air and was about to bring it down when God stopped him and said, “Do not lay a hand on the boy. Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son” (Genesis 22:12). By making this shocking request, God was teaching Abraham several things. First, he is teaching Abraham that he is not like the other gods. He is a holy God who values human life. But secondly, (and this is the difficult part) God was teaching Abraham that we cannot hold anything back from God. If God’s blessings become more important than the God who has blessed us, then God is not in his proper place in our lives. Even when God promises something, and then gives us what he has promised, we cannot hold on to it with an iron grip. Everything in our lives, even the blessings of God, have to be laid on the altar as a sacrifice to God. Whether he asks for them or not we have to be willing to offer them to him, for nothing can take his place.
But there was a third lesson that God was teaching Abraham which was the most important of all. God taught Abraham that he would never ask him to do something that he was not willing to do himself. The Lord stopped Abraham from doing what he would actually do. God would offer up his only Son as a sacrifice for the whole world. When Abraham said, “God himself will provide the lamb,” he had no idea that he was prophesying about Jesus, “the Lamb of God, who would take away the sins of the world” (John 1:29). The Bible says, “What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all — how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:31-32). Abraham was acting out what God would later do through his one and only Son. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
By Abraham’s obedience and faith he became a part of God’s plan to save the world. He learned to trust God one step at a time. There were failures along the way, but he grew in his faith and his ability to walk in obedience. He did not arrive at this place of spiritual maturity all at once, but he grew in his walk with God as he trusted him through one difficult situation after another. His ability to trust God became so remarkable that he could trust God even when he did not understand — even when he was walking through the dark unknown. Barbara Winter writes from her own experience when she says, “When you come to the edge of all the light you know, and are about to step off into the darkness of the unknown, faith is knowing one of two things will happen: There will be something solid to stand on or you will be taught how to fly.”
May God give you wings.
Rodney J. Buchanan
January 16, 2000
ABRAHAM’S JOURNEY OF FAITH
Genesis 12:1-20
“The Lord had said to Abram, ‘Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you’” (Genesis 12:1).
The story of Abraham tells us that:
1. Abraham was ___________________________________ .
2. Abraham was ___________________________________ .
3. Abraham was ___________________________________ .
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION (Jan 16, 2000)
1. Read the account of Abraham in Genesis 12:1-11. What did God tell him to do? What did he actually do and why did he do it? (See vv. 4-5)
2. Read what happened with Abraham’s wife in Genesis 12:10-20. See also Genesis 20:1-3. How did this show a lack of faith (not to mention a lack of regard for his wife)?
3. How many promises did God make to Abraham in Genesis 12:2-3?
4. What was God wanting to do with the life of Abraham? What was the eternal significance?
5. In what ways is it difficult for you to trust God?
6. What does God do about the failures in our lives?
7. How have you grown in your ability to trust God and exercise faith? Give a specific example.
8. Read Hebrews 11:6. What does this verse say to you?
9. The place where Abraham was asked to offer Isaac became the site of the altar of sacrifice in the Jerusalem temple. What significance do you see in this?
10. Read Genesis 22:8. How might this verse relate to Christ?
11. Read the closing quote in the sermon for this week. What do you understand this to mean?
