ABRAHAM - WHAT TO DO WHEN GOD CALLS

ABRAHAM: WHAT TO DO WHEN GOD CALLS


“Quit your job. We both know that God wants you to be at home with the baby. We’ll make it somehow.” For a couple of weeks, scriptures had suddenly come to mind reminding me that a wife was to submit to her husband’s leadership. I thought that I didn’t really have a problem with this because we pretty well agreed together on most things. So why did these verses keep coming over and over? “Yes, Lord. You know I am fine with letting him lead.” I could never have imagined that those verses were preparing me for that one fateful telephone call that was to change the course of our lives forever. The minute I heard him say, “Quit your job,” I knew why those verses had been coming to mind. It seemed crazy. He was only making minimum wage. But who was I to argue with God?


THE CALL


Long before we did something that seemed crazy in answer to the call of God, a remarkable man named Abraham had done a similarly crazy thing. Let’s look at how his decision to obey God changed the course of his own life as well as the history of the world. Genesis 11:27-32 says,

“This is the genealogy of Terah: Terah begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Haran begot Lot. And Haran died before his father Terah in his native land, in Ur of the Chaldeans. Then Abram and Nahor took wives: the name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran the father of Milcah and the father of Iscah. But Sarai was barren; she had no child.

And Terah took his son Abram and his grandson Lot, the son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram’s wife; and they went out with them from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan; and they came to Haran and dwelt there. So the days of Terah were two hundred and five years, and Terah died in Haran.”

In studying the Old Testament, I like to research the meanings of names, because to the ancients, the name was a great indication of character and place in life. Some of the names in the passage above are from uncertain origin, so the meaning is hard to trace. However, Abram means, “Exalted Father,” and Sarai means “Princess,” and Milcah means “Queen.” From these names, it is easy to imagine that these were people of significant consequence in the land of Ur. They clearly were not “nobodies” as far as the world was concerned. We see Terah, the head of the family, doing something unheard of in that he packed up and moved off. Ur was located on the Euphrates River near the Persian Gulf. He moved, together with Abram, Sarai, and Lot, far upriver to the foothills of the mountain leading into modern day Turkey. While these verses in Genesis do not tell us why Terah decided to make this move, Acts 7:2-3 tells us why Abram went:

“The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Haran, and said to him, ‘Get out of your country and from your relatives and come to a land that I will show you.’”

Although we do not know why Terah decided to travel with Abram, these verses make it plain that Abram was following the call of God. Terah headed with Abram to Canaan, but settled in Haran where he died. Genesis 12:1 affirms the prior call of God,

“Now the LORD had said to Abram: ‘Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house to a land that I will show you.’”

What was God calling Abram to do? In our modern life, moving is a very common event. Most people do move several times in their lives and there is an entire industry set up to assist people when they move. Although moving can be exhausting physically and emotionally trying, most people accept it as necessary. But in Abram’s day and culture, moving was not often done.

Let’s look at what Abram was called to leave behind. First, he had to leave his country. While most of us make a few moves in our lives, we generally do not leave the United States behind. We move within our American culture, and though there may be regional differences in culture, it is still the good old USA. We do not become “foreigners.” God is calling Abram to leave his country and become a “foreigner.”

QUESTION: Where is our allegiance? If God called us to move to Poland, or China, or Ethiopia, or Chile, would we be willing to uproot and go?

Second, God was calling Abram to leave his land. Considering the social position implied by their names, I feel sure that Abram owned land and had a house to live in. Owning land and a house has always given human beings a sense of stability in the world. Though houses may be lost through fire, storm, or war, they still provide us with a place to be.

QUESTION: Would we be willing to give up living in a house and go pitch a tent in some strange land? Hebrews 11:8-10 says,

“By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.”

In addition, Abraham was required to leave his clan behind. His father died in Haran, and his brother Nahor stayed behind in Ur with the rest of the blood relatives. In those days, family was much tighter than it is today. People often married their own clan members, and we can see in later verses in Genesis that Sarai was Abram’s half-sister, and Milcah was also her own husband’s niece. The clan provided security, identity, blood ties, and a sense of belonging. One would not get up and cut those ties without a very compelling reason. For Abram, the call of God was a compelling reason.

Finally, Abram was required to leave behind his immediate family. Only Sarai and Lot were with him when he arrived in Canaan. Abram was apparently the firstborn of his father Terah and it is easy to see that he would have inherited a position of leadership and responsibility in his family. Jesus said, in Luke 14:26,

“If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.”

Of course, Jesus is not speaking here of a malicious hatred, but rather that the sovereign preference in one’s life must be for Himself far above all others. We see Abram exhibiting a sovereign preference for the fellowship of God over even his family members.

OBSERVATION: If God calls us to do something in life, the claims of family must not be allowed to interfere.


THE COVENANT PROMISE

In Genesis 12:2-3 we find the first record of God’s covenant promise to Abram.

“I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

This is a seven-fold promise, and I think it is worth noting that in the Bible, the number seven signifies completion/perfection.

FIRST:

God promises to make Abram into a great nation. This nation will be great both in number and in consequence. This will be a nation with a destiny to fulfill. It will be the most peculiar nation ever and God will have His hand on it in a very special way. Now, what is Abram’s situation when God makes this promise? We have already been told that Abram’s wife, Sarai, is barren—no children. In the following verse, we will see that Abram is 75 years old. In later verses, we will find that Sarai is only ten years younger than Abram, so she at present is 65. Seems a little late to become the father of a nation, doesn’t it?

OBSERVATION: Common sense is the gift of God that allows us to negotiate the curves of life; faith is the gift of God that gives us a destination and keeps us on the road despite the curves we encounter.

SECOND:

God promises to bless Abram. For Abram, the blessing of God was seen in material wealth, consequence in life, the presence and intervention of God, fellowship with God, peace with man, in posterity, and in long life. These are all good things to receive. In fact, there would be very few people who would not desire all of the above. But let’s think about the life of Jesus when He was on earth. He was materially poor, despised, hated for His message, had no wife or children, and was crucified at the ripe old age of 33. So, are we to conclude that He was not blessed by God? Indeed, doesn’t Isaiah 53 say that His own people would consider Him “afflicted by God?”

OBSERVATION: Everything that comes our way in life is intended to be a blessing. Sometimes the blessing is in the form of correction or discipline. Sometimes the blessing is a foundation to help others who are suffering in a similar situation. Whether or not the things that come our way become blessings depends entirely on how we receive them. I once heard a “victim” of cerebral palsy say, “Next to my salvation, the greatest gift in my life has been my CP.” On the other hand, many of the things we normally consider blessings actually prove otherwise because they tend to keep us independent of God.

THIRD:

God promises to make Abram’s name great. To have a great name is to be in a position of ultimate honor. As far as the Bible is concerned, your name describes who you really are in character. Who in the world has not heard of father Abraham. All Christians, Jews, and Muslims descend in one way or another from this man. But I believe that not only has his name been great in the world, it will continue to be great in the life to come.

FOURTH:

The next aspect of the covenant promise is in the form of a command. When God says, “You shall be a blessing,” it is not only a promise of what will be, but an instruction for how Abram is to live in the land of promise. Abram will be entering a pagan, idolatrous land whose inhabitants have never heard of the God who has been calling Abram. He is instructed to live in that land in such a way that he will bless its inhabitants. As we look through Genesis and see the manner in which Abram lived, we can see that he did this very thing. Everywhere he went, he built altars and called on the name of the Lord. The pagans took notice of this stranger among them and respected him and even sought treaties with him. In like manner, we are to live in this world as blessings to others. The worldlings live to grab all they can for themselves. People whose faith is like that of Abraham desire to bless others instead.

FIFTH:

God promises to bless those who bless Abraham. Not only will Abraham be blessed by God, but anyone who associates with him in a friendly manner will also receive the blessing of God. Anyone who lives for the Lord knows that others react one way or another to a true believer. Some people react by doing such things as changing the topic of conversation when the believer walks into the room. This type of behavior is respectful, but not willing to change permanently. Others criticize or mock a believer or try to catch him in a fault. This type of behavior is definitely not blessing. But there are some who want to know the God who brings blessing to the believer. They receive him with friendliness and good will. This is the type of person who will be blessed by God because he blesses the believer.


SIXTH:

In this part of the promise, God says that He will curse the one who curses Abram. In ancient times, a curse was considered to be a powerful thing. In fact, in Numbers 22, it is recorded that, as the children of Israel, Abram’s descendents, moved across the desert, they had defeated the armies of two kings, Sihon and Og. As they approached the land of Moab, Balak, its king, was desperately afraid of them and called for a seer named Balaam to come and put a curse on the children of Israel. Balaam came because Balak had promised him a lot of money if he would curse Israel, but God had warned him that he could not curse them because they were being blessed by God. Most modern people cannot understand such a thing and believe such curses to be a matter of mere superstition. However, because God took the matter seriously then, I believe these curses proceeded from a connection with supernatural forces and as time comes to an end, people will once again recognize the importance of what occurs in the spirit realm.

In Matthew 10, Jesus sent His disciples out to preach the kingdom of God in various cities. In verses 14 - 15, He said,

“And whoever will not receive you nor hear your words, when you depart from that house or city, shake off the dust from your feet. Assuredly, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city.”

Thus the promise to Abram extends to his offspring by faith. The one who shuns the believer because of his faith in God will himself be shunned by God.

SEVENTH:

The final aspect of God’s covenant promise with Abram is perhaps the most significant of all. “In you all the families of the earth will be blessed.” This is the messianic promise—salvation will be possible for every person on earth because of Abram’s obedience. From him will come the promised savior of the world and in Revelation 5:9-10a, as the scene in heaven unfolds, we find that this promise has been fulfilled.

“And they sang a new song, singing: “You are worthy to take the scroll, and to open its seals, for You were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and have made us kings and priests to our God.”

ABRAM’S RESPONSE

Genesis 12:4-5 says,

“So Abram departed as the LORD had spoken to him and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. Then Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people whom they had acquired in Haran, and they departed to go to the land of Canaan. So they came to the land of Canaan.”

We see that Abram obeyed the call of God. He did what seemed crazy to everybody else. When God called, he didn’t go ask his family and friends what they thought about it. Human opinion didn’t enter in. He was 75 years old, and that is pretty old to be making such a radical change. He had the responsibility of a wife, his nephew, and servants to pick up and move. Once in the land, he would be living in a tent among people who were practicing gross idolatry. He would be a single light in a very dark land, but he would be God’s little light.

QUESTION: How dark is the land you live in? Are you willing to be a single light, if necessary, shining in a dark place? Can you believe that the “Canaan” you live in can become a land of promise and blessing?