19 GOD CALLS ABRAHAM F O O T ================================
- H O L D
READING
19 GOD CALLS ABRAHAM
PRAY Make me a willing student as your word instructs me today, Lord. today. —————————————————————– READ Genesis 12:1-20 —————————————————————– THINK What did God tell Abram to do (1)? What promises did he make to him (2,3)? —————————————————————– FOCUS The first eleven chapters of Genesis give us a panoramic view of the beginning of history. But at chapter 12 the focus of our attention is turned to one man, Abram. He lived about 2000 years before Christ in Ur in Mesopotamia among people who, in spite of the flood, had turned form God to idols (Joshua 24:2). FAITH IN ACTION (1-9). Try to imagine Abram uprooting himself – telling his family, settling accounts, packing for good, and saying good-bye. And he didn’t even know his destination. ‘Go to a country that I am going to show you’ (1,GNB). He actually travelled 600 miles north-west along the Euphrates and Haran, then another 400 miles south into Canaan. FAITH TESTED (10-20). If we mean business with God, our faith and obedience will be tested. The heroes of the Bible found this true. They also often failed – for a while, as Abram did. Probably he had always had enough to eat in Ur and Haran. But a severe famine in Canaan was a new problem for him. So he went to Egypt. To do this was not wrong in itself, but Abram stopped trusting God’s promises and gave way to fear (12). Is this your trap (Proverbs 29:25)? So he told a half-truth (he and Sarai had the same father – 20:12) in an attempt to save his skin. But God over-ruled and helped him back to the right way. —————————————————————–
PRAY Lord, help me always to depend on you, and not on my own schemes.