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 12:120
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 (19). Try
to imagine Abram uprooting himself
telling his family, settling
accounts, packing for good, and
saying goodbye. 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 northwest
along the Euphrates and Haran,
then another 400 miles south
into Canaan.
FAITH TESTED (1020). 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 halftruth (he
and Sarai had the same father
20:12) in an attempt to save
his skin. But God overruled and
helped him back to the right
way.
PRAY Lord, help me always to
depend on you, and not on my own schemes.
