The life of Abraham - Genesis 12

It looks like I am back at this sooner rather than later. It is likely that I won’t be publishing as regularly as in the past, but I do want to keep up with this. I’d also like to thank Deb for stopping by and leaving the first comment in a very long time. That was encouragement enough to keep going. I must remember that I am not doing this for my own glory, but for God’s glory.

In my return, I wanted to touch on matters of faith. To me, there is no greater example of faithful living than that of Abraham. Over the next few weeks, I want to write on his life and how he became a great biblical example of faith. In that, God began His plan through Abraham to provide a plan of salvation for all nations. His story truly begins in Genesis 12. At this point, we had already seen the Creation as well as the flood. Man had fallen because of the original sin committed by Adam, therefore mankind needed redemption. When we studied much of the New Testament we obviously saw that Jesus is the fulfillment of that promise, but it had to have a beginning. Abraham, or Abram as he is known at this point, is the beginning of that promise.

1 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.
2 "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.
3 I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you." – Genesis 12:1-3

It is appropriate that this appears in Genesis, as it is a book of beginnings. We know very little of Abram at this point. It is clear, however, that he is a man of great faith. He has to be a man of great faith if God chose him to express His heart and purpose for mankind. This is an incredible honor that God bestowed upon Abram. At the time there were thousands, if not millions, of people on the earth. Out of all of them, God chose one to be the beginning of his plan for humanity.

This is where faith can come in. At this point in his life Abram was already a wealthy and powerful man. God asked him to essentially uproot his entire life at the age of 75 and move. Moving across several hundred miles in a desert climate was a lot harder thousands of years ago than it is now. Abram wasn’t exactly a spry young buck at the age of 75 either. This shows great dedication. If God has put me in a similar situation my first reaction would have likely been, “You’re joking, right?”

Abram was made of different stuff, however. He listened to God’s promise and not only went, but praised him along they way. He built several altars in God’s name in many places where other gods were worshipped to show that God was the true God. Abram was far from perfect though. As we see while he was in Egypt, he lied to protect himself and that often had drastic consequences. Even in this imperfection God remained faithful to His promise, gently guiding Abram to where he wanted him to be. This makes Abram’s life a lesson in God’s patience and mercy with us as well. Abram was far from this pillar of perfection, yet God used this fallible, normal human being to start His plan for the ages. Think about that today.