The story of Abram is our lesson in the blessing of obedience
By Dean Collins
What if we don’t have what we want so badly because we just can’t imagine not getting it? That may be the case for some of us. Or it may be that we can’t yet see our blessing because when God has nudged us, we simply ignored him. And what if someone else’s blessing depends on our obedience? Abraham’s call forces us to consider all of these questions.
Many things are difficult to explain or even to accept when we consider Abraham. Many have tried to explain why God chose Abraham, but when we meet him in the story of Genesis, the text doesn’t really tell us. All we know is that Abraham comes from the line of Shem. Genesis 11 tells us of Shem’s descendants leading up to Terah who had three sons. One of the three, Haran, had already died when Terah took his two adult sons, Abram, and Nahor, and their wives, Sarai and Milcah, and headed toward Cannan but stopped to live in Haran. A few years later Terah died.
We know Abram was one of two living sons and that he was married but had no children. We also know Abram was 75 when he decided to do what God had instructed him to do.
Unanswered questions
Much about this story raises questions. But much about this story also takes away all of our excuses and simply challenges us to take a step of obedience. Notice first that God didn’t call Abram to any occupation or career. He simply called him to leave his home country, his relatives, and his father’s family and move to another land that he would show him. Initially, God didn’t even tell him where. He just said go.
Honestly, I have been prompted by God several times to go. Go to college, leave college and go on the road in service, go to another college and finish, go start a ministry when many thought I was too young. All of that is just up to age 22. There have been several more go messages. But there have also been many stay-where-you-are-messages, too. So how do you know when God says go and when he says stay? I don’t have any answer other than you listen and pay attention. A lot of our faith journey is simply taking steps of obedience even when the details are absent.
Why me? Why you? Why Abram?
We may not like the answer to these questions. God makes choices, and he doesn’t need our opinions or guidance to make them. We are not told why God chose to give Abram a blessing and to make him famous and make him into a great nation. Why Abram and not someone else? We don’t know. What we do know is that God blessed Abram so that he could bless everyone else on the earth. Abram’s blessing was for much more than just to make him rich and famous. What may seem random or even partial to us is purposeful, from God’s perspective.
Abundant grace
God’s selection of Abram is an act of grace. The good news for us is that God has demonstrated he has an abundant supply of grace and wants all of us to enjoy him and his provision daily. Abram’s life was filled with adventure. His blessing came over time and continues on us today. Abram chose to obey even when he couldn’t imagine or fully comprehend all that God would do through him.
It is clear from this story that there are no special skills required to be blessed or to be used by God. Age is also not a factor. God can use anyone at any age for his purposes. Fame and blessing also came not because Abram sought these things, but solely as a result of his willingness to obey God.
Lord, we ask forgiveness for the many times you have nudged us or directly told us to go, but instead, we stayed put. We commit today to listen for your voice and to go wherever you ask us to go, even when we do not see the reason or the way forward. Increase our faith that we might be truly led by your Spirit. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Your time with God’s Word
Genesis 12:1-9 NLT
Photo by Alex Shute on Unsplash
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