Abraham’s Faith

Concepts100In Genesis 12:1-3, the Lord appeared to Abraham and made a promise to him.* Let us first note that God directed Abraham to “Go out from your land, your relatives, and your father’s house to the land that I will show you” (v. 1). Then God promised He would…

– make of Abraham and his descendants a great nation,

– bless Abraham,

– make his name great, and

– make him a blessing (see v. 2).

God further promised He would

– bless those who blessed Abraham and

– curse those who treated him with contempt (see v. 3).

Finally, God made a commitment that all the clans or peoples or nations of the earth would be blessed through him (see v. 3).

Abraham’s response to this initial divine revelation is significant: “So Abram went, as the LORD had told him, and Lot went with him” (v. 4). Abraham and other members of his party, including his wife, Sarah, “came to the land of Canaan” in verse 5; and in verse 6, Abraham passed through Shechem in Canaan. In verse 7 God declared to him, “I will give this land to your offspring.”

Abraham responded to this promise with more than one act of worship: “So he built an altar there to the LORD who had appeared to him. From there he moved on to the hill country east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. He built an altar to Yahweh there, and he called on the name of Yahweh” (vv. 7-8). In Abraham’s response we see no evidence of hesitation, doubt, or questioning. On the contrary, Abraham worshiped Yahweh, as we have noted; and he obeyed. His obedience, apparently, was direct and forthright: “So Abram went, as the LORD had told him” (v. 4).

Undergirding Abraham’s attitude and actions was a key element—actually, the key element—in anyone’s relationship with God: faith. We see this discussed explicitly by the inspired writer of Hebrews in Hebrews 11:8-10, but the writer of Genesis, also inspired by the Holy Spirit, affirmed it as well. God’s word came to Abraham again in Genesis 15:1-5 and emphasized that his descendants would become as numerous as the stars. He was not a young man at the time, for earlier, when he first left Haran after God appeared to him initially, Abraham was 75 years old (see 12:4). Yet he “believed the LORD, and He credited it to him as righteousness” (15:6). Let us follow Abraham’s example of trusting God!

*Abram was later known, and is better known, as Abraham; so we will call him Abraham in this article as well as others. However, when we quote Scripture directly and the passage we are quoting refers to Abram, we will faithfully quote God’s Word. We take this same approach as well when we refer to Abraham’s wife, Sarah, who earlier was known as Sarai.

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