God's Call

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.  "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."   Genesis 12:1-3

Leave your country, your people and your father's household and GO...this was the clear message from our Lord to Abraham.  It is probably difficult for us to imagine this type of call especially from our perspective.  We live in a great and largely peaceful country.  Here in the United States, we have more wealth and more comfort than most of the rest of the world.  As we sit here in our comfortable and secure surroundings enjoying our coffee and tea, it is hard for us to understand Abraham's world and the seriousness of his decision to follow God to the land of Canaan.     

We know that Abraham was born in Ur of the Chaldeans which was located in Mesopotamia near the mouth of the Euphrates river.  His family had relocated to Haran to the north of Ur just east of the Euphrates.  We know from Josephus that Abraham was an astronomer who probably worshiped false gods until the Lord opened his heart to the truth.  We can only imagine the persecution and ridicule this man must have faced from his countrymen as he began to proclaim belief in the one true God.  It was at this point that God called Abraham to leave all that he knew to follow Him.

We can learn much by looking at God's calling of Abraham's.  As we study his call, we need to understand that he didn't know much of anything about where he was going.  We know that Abraham was a learned man; but it is difficult to imagine that he would have known much about the land that he was to inherit.  As a matter of fact, if he knew anything it was probably the fact that the land was inhabited by other peoples and he probably knew that these folks might not think so kindly of him coming to their land to inherit it.  We know for certain that there was no army or police force to protect him and his family and flocks once there.  

We need to understand that not only did Abraham not completely understand the place he was called to go; but he didn't have the luxury of knowing all the things we know about his Creator.  The Scriptures as we know them had yet to be written.  He may have had knowledge of God handed down from Noah; but we can't be certain how much he knew other than the promise we see in the first three verses of Genesis 12.  Abraham was armed with a promise from God and had little else to go on.  Not only these things but this promise included making him a father.  The problem was that he was 75 years old and he was childless married to a woman with a barren womb! 

One can only imagine how it would have felt to leave all that you know to go to a place you know next to nothing about for a promise that would have seemed ludicrous to most sane folks.  To put it simply and bluntly, he was leaving all that he knew and all that he had for a crazy promise.  

We know from Romans 4:3bthat "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness." This is a wonderful truth that we see throughout Scripture.  Abraham believed!  This is the issue.  Abraham believed this crazy sounding promise.  He believed the God of the universe!  And this belief was credited to him as righteousness.  He believed God!  We see from Hebrews 11 that he believed God not just for an earthly promise but for a heavenly promise.  He was looking forward to a city designed and built by God.  What promise are you believing?  Do we believe in the here and now or do we believe in the promise of a Heavenly City whose architect is Jesus Christ?  That's the question every human heart must answer!  

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; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise.  For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.  Hebrews 11:8-10