Go Your Way
God’s purposes for man are two fold.
1) to serve God above,
2) to serve the people below. To fulfill these purposes of God, God calls people as he did Abraham. I want to share with you what God does with us when he call us.
1. God’s Free Will was the Cause of the Call
It was solely His free will when God chose Abraham. Some passages base God’s election of Israel upon His love (Deut 4:37, 7:8, 10:15 etc.). These verses gave rise to the Rabbinic thought that descendants can benefit and even can claim salvation on the ground of their ancestors’ righteousness (cf. Matt 3:9, John 8:33, Exodus Rabbah 23:5). Yet ancestral righteousness, if there is any, came only after God’s election and call of Abram. The divine call already accompanied the promise of the seed and the land, which would develop into the Israel. Therefore, merit theology has no ground in these verses as Israel’s existence itself goes back to the free election of Abram.
The Old Testament often speaks of "finding favor in the eyes of the Lord" (Gen 6:8, 18:3, 19:19, Ex 33:12 etc.). The basic idea is that God’s favor is freely given, not in consideration of any merit. Along the same line, Paul the apostle found in the story of birth of twins an illustration of his theology of sola gratia. Thus he could say that "before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad--in order that God’s purpose in election might stand not by works but by him who calls--she was told, ’The older will serve the younger’" (Rom 9:11-12). So is God’s election, call, and promise to Abram, all of which sprang exclusively from His free will. It was by God’s grace that Abraham was called.
2. Go for Yourself
The expression "go for yourself" (lek-leka) occurs both here and in Gen 22:2. And a similar usage will include also Ex 18:27, Josh 22:4, 1 Sam 26:11-12, Jer 5:5, Song 2:10, 13 etc. The expression means "to go by oneself," "to go on the way that belongs to you alone," and leave behind your kinsfolk among whom you have lived till now and who do not wish or are not able to associate themselves with you in your new way. This amounts to the saying of the Lord in the New Testament, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow meꡓ(Matt 16:24). Now Abram must deny himself and take up his own cross and follow the Lord. No one could go the way of Abram except those who are united in faith with him.
This was the first test to Abram, who needed to decide between rejection of the call and obedience to it. To obey and follow the call, Abram must have put his faith in the person who called him. As the author of Hebrews indicates, "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" (Heb 11:8-9). The term "obeyed" is actually "to hear" (hupakouein). "hupakouein and upakoh as terms for religious activity are always to be thought of within the sphere of a religion which receives the divine Word by hearing and then translates it into action" (Gen 22:18; Lev 26:14). Abram heard God’s call and translated it into action. He paid the price to obey God’s call. He departed his father, relatives, and the land. Thus in Abram’s life, the first thing we notice is his obedience to God’s voice. This obedience was an action of faith. His obedient action tells the greatness of his faith. At the time, Abram had no children. The text underscores the fact that when Abram left Haran for Canaan, he was seventy five years old (Gen 12:4). "The undertaking of the journey, without prior knowledge of when and where it would end, would have been a severe test even for a young man, how much more so for an old man of seventy-five."
Jesus
If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me (Mark 8:34). Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; [38] and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. [39] Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it (Matt 10:37-39)
Matt 7:13 "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
3. Have a Dream
God showed Abraam what he would be like in future:
You will become a great nation. You will be a blessing. Abram started with a vision for future. In 10 years what shall you be like?
4. The Purpose of the Call was "Par Pro Toto" (a part for the whole)
When Abraham lived in Ur of the Chaldeans, he was surrounded by idolatry practices everywhere (Josh 24:2). "Consequently, it is not to be wondered at that the fulfillment of God’s purposes in history through the mediation of a new people required a radical break with the past and the finding of a new and more fruitful soil." Abram was to establish a new society which would transcend the level of idolatry prevailing I his days. "The election of Abram, and in the further development of things, of Israel, was meant as a particularistic means towards a universalistic end." Abram was told that in him should all the families of the earth be blessed (Gen 12:3). Abram was par pro toto (a part for the whole). The society he built was to bless the nations of the world.
Later in Canaan, as a believing community, Israel in its various stages had to interact and communicate with diverse peoples and cultures. In those interactions they should not forget at any time their mission to be a blessing to the nations. Elmer B. Smick has this to say:
The OT tells about a positive aspect of Israel’s relationship to surrounding cultures. A simple but often neglected truth about OT Israel is that it was a community with a worldwide vision. Mosaic legislation provided for the care and proselytizing of the resident alien within the gates. M. Dahood thinks certain of the Psalms reflect the words of converts from polytheism. Israel was constantly reminded that their calling as God’s chosen people was not an end in itself but a means of bringing all nations to praise the name of the Lord. Although this was most often put into an eschatological setting, proselytism was expected and regulated. Provision was made for the resident alien to celebrate the Lord’s Passover by converting, after which no distinction was to be made between the native-born and the alien living among them (Exod 12:48-49).
When Abram left from Haran, he took Sarah and Lot and all their possessions and the souls whom they had won in Haran (v. 5). Commentators take usually "the souls they had won" refer to the slaves. On the other hand, U. Cassuto argues against such a view on three grounds:
1) the slaves are already included in "all the possessions which they had gathered";
2) the verb "asah" is not the correct term for acquiring slaves;
3) the "making of the souls" is limited to Haran only, whereas if the reference were to slaves, there is no reason to exclude those that were acquired in Ur of the Chaldeans or in other places. Therefore he suggests "proselytes," following the rabbinic tradition. Abram "began to proclaim in Haran the basic principles of his faith, and succeeded in winning for it a number of souls." This interpretation would see "missionary work" in Abram.
Abram built an altar when he arrived in the land of Canaan. This symbolized the dedication of the land to Yahweh. After building an altar, he called on the name of the Lord. "To call on the name of Yahweh" occurs in Gen 4:26, 12:8, 13:4, 21:33, 26:25 and seems to be connected with worship activity, such as prayer and sacrifice. Yet it does not follow that the phrase always carries this nuance. The meaning must be determined only by the context (cf. Ex 33:19, 34:5-6, Isa 64:7 etc.). John Skinner explained the calling on the name as resting on the widespread primitive idea that "a real bond exists between the person and his name, such that the pronunciation of the latter exerts a mystic influence on the former." John Skinner, Genesis, ICC (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark Ltd., 1910), 127.
Cassuto takes the calling on the name of the Lord (Gen 12:8) as making "proclamation concerning the religion of the Lord to the inhabitants of the land," the work that he had already begun when he was in Haran. This is why the local people regarded Abram as "a prince of God" (23:6).
Abram was called to be a blessing of the nations. According to Cassuto, Abram appears to have acted consciously with the mission in mind. This view is not far-fetched considering the call Abram had.
Conclusion
God calls everyone as he called Abram to be a blessing to the nations. When called we need to go our own way, unique to me. The way is not understandable to outsiders or your wife or your parents. But if it is God’s way you must go that way and obey, to be a blessing to the nations.
