The call of Abram

Story: The call of Abram

Passage: Genesis 12:1-9

Characters: Abram, God, Lot, Sarai

Summary: God told Abram to leave his house and family and got to the land He would show him. He promised to turn Abram into a great nation. He took Lot and Sarai with him. When they had traveled for a while, God appeared to him and gave him the land he was on. He kept traveling.

Notes: Abram was told to leave everything he knew. This is crazy, but it is not just an ancient calling! This radical call on Abram's life is on every Christian alive today. Christ wants us to leave everything, our possessions, even our families to follow Him. When we obey, He will bless people through us just as He blessed people through Abram. We have the call of Abram on us today! I also noticed that Abram was not told where He was going. God did not say to leave his home and move to the land of the Canaanites. God told him to leave and go to the land which He would show him. We can't expect to wait for God to give us details before we follow Him. We have to trust His calling and focus on Him. Make Him our goal and He will lead us where He wants us to end up. I wonder why Lot went with Abram. It is possible that Lot had as much faith as Abram did as he also left his home to wander the earth. God appeared to Abram as they traveled and affirmed His promise. This is different from when God told Abram to leave his home because in this case, He appeared to Abram. Abram's experience was probably much more vivid and real. He would have no excuse to not follow now that the Lord had appeared to Him. We must remember that the Lord has revealed Himself to us as well through His word and His Spirit! We also have no excuse to not follow Him! Abram began calling on the name of the Lord. He understood his total inadequacy compared to God's holiness and he cried to the Lord for direction. Calling on the Lord makes me imagine there was a sense of desperation and helplessness involved here. Just a side note, Islam finds its roots in Ishmael, who is the son of Abram. Sometimes I wonder if these blessings and curses apply to Ishmael's descendants as well.

Questions: How did God appear to Abram? Is Islam a part of the blessings and curses involving Abram? Did Tarah come with them as they wandered?

Lessons: We are called to leave everything behind us to follow Christ. When we don't give everything, when we give the minimum amount of money, when we wait for the support of our family and friends, when we wait for more training or a more clear calling, we are saying that oney, family, friends, or convenience are more important than God. We are technically putting ourselves before God when we assume we deserve those comforts and God doesn't. Maybe we don't say that or even think it, but if you examine the motivation behind not obeying God's call to leave everything and follow Him, it is always because you are putting something before God. We do not need to know the details of His plans. We only need to trust Him and follow Him with our entire lives.