Abraham~ whose faith made him the Father of God people

Abraham

Let us go to the next picture hanging in the great hall of faith. This one is that of Abraham. Now Abraham was a giant in faith, indeed. Let me explain.

God went to Abraham and told him to leave his home where he had grown up and travel to a land he didn't know anything about. You see, God didn't give him the details, like it is in such and such place, or it has lots of good grazing land. No, God just told him to go where I lead you, and as an act of obedience he went. (Gen. 12:1-13; Heb. 11:8-10). This is not easy and can't be taken without a leap of faith. I know, because my husband & I moved to Ohio in obedience to God. You kind of feel as though you are throwing yourself off of as cliff, praying the whole time that God is going to catch you as you free fall. But as with Abraham and Sara, we found that god is faithful to take care of us when we obey him.

Because Abraham honored God by obeying him. God in turn honored Abraham by making a covenant with him, promising him land and heirs when he was 75 years old (Gen. 15).  When Abraham was 99 years old, God came back and reminded him of that promise (Gen. 17:1-18:14). And then fulfilled that promise (Gen. 21:3).

But you can really see the relationship between God and Abraham in Chapter 18 of Genesis when God chooses to share his heart with Abraham. Let us look at that. After God had come back to remind Abraham of his promise of an heir through his wife Sara. God got up to head out towards Sodom to destroy it. But because he honored Abraham, God told him what he was about to go do. Abraham's nephew, Lot's family lived there. So Abraham asked God to spare the city. But God said, "no", for it was evil. So Abraham negotiated with God until he got God to say that if he found ten righteous men there, he would not destroy the city. I believe that he stopped with that number because there were that many people in Lot's family. But a last, there were not ten righteous people found in Sodom, so God went to the city and got Lot, his wife, and 2 of their daughters out before he destroyed it.

Years after Isaac was born, God tested Abraham to see if he still had faith in Him. Let us look at that. God went to Abraham and asked him to sacrifice his beloved son, Isaac to him(Gen. 22:1-11). Abraham was again obedient to God, believing that God would come through for him (Gen. 22:8). And when God saw that he still had faith in him, he spared Isaac & provided a lamb for Abraham to use instead (Gen. 22:13).

Abraham died not seeing the total fulfillment of God's promise of a homeland, as did Isaac & Jacob. Yet, they lived that promise everyday of their lives (Heb. 11:12-21). They passed on that hope to their sons before dying, and even Joseph spoke of that land before he died. We could learn a lot from these men, as we too, travel this earth waiting for a city not made by human hands(heaven). We too are just travelers passing through this earth.