Genesis 12:1-9
The Call of Abram
12 The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you. 2 I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others. 3 I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you.”
4 So Abram departed as the Lord had instructed, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran. 5 He took his wife, Sarai, his nephew Lot, and all his wealth—his livestock and all the people he had taken into his household at Haran—and headed for the land of Canaan. When they arrived in Canaan, 6 Abram traveled through the land as far as Shechem. There he set up camp beside the oak of Moreh. At that time, the area was inhabited by Canaanites.
7 Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your descendants.[a]” And Abram built an altar there and dedicated it to the Lord, who had appeared to him. 8 After that, Abram traveled south and set up camp in the hill country, with Bethel to the west and Ai to the east. There he built another altar and dedicated it to the Lord, and he worshiped the Lord. 9 Then Abram continued traveling south by stages toward the Negev.
The first eleven books of Genesis are the Fall(s) of Mankind. The are the prologue, describing how the world was broken and our connection with God, ourselves and each other was fractured. Today, we start at the first chapter of the most incredible story of redemption. How will God fix this mess? How will the world be restored? Let’s find out.
We do not know a lot about who Abram was. He was not a young man, the kind who was likely to be impulsive or seek a name for himself. He was already fairly elderly at seventy five. We do not know why God decided to choose Abram only that he did. We also do not know how this happened. Did he hear a voice from heaven? Did an angel appear to him? Was it in a dream? A feeling in his gut?
What we do know is that he heard God calling him to leave his home and to go to Canaan and he said yes... immediately… and… (and this is where we often miss it)… he then did it. He didn’t delay, he didn’t create excuses. He heard the call of God and he moved. His good intentions became a life of active faith.
There are a lot of things in Christianity that you can fake. You can fake holiness, you can fake generosity, you can fake friendships. However, you can not fake obedience. Jesus said in John 14:31 that he does what the Father tells him to. His ministry was an act of obedience. My New Testament lecturer used to teach us that Jesus was fully human and that the power of his miracles came from radical obedience and humility to God, not from his divine nature. God uses those who say yes.
I am really good at saying yes but then adding the but.
Yes… but when my finances are more stable...
Yes… but when I am a bit older...
Yes… but not today… when my kids have gone to school… when my kids have left school… when I feel differently.
Ask any parent and they will tell you that delayed obedience is disobedience.
Abram has no idea how any of this will look or how he will get there. He does not wait to have a plan. He moves. A simple act obedience to the call of God despite uncertainty is the catalytic act of faith at the start of the Bible that sparks the rescue plan of God that avalanches through generations and across nations.
What is God calling you to say yes to today?
