Abraham – The Man Who Followed

And Jehovah said to Abram, Go out of your country, and from your kindred, and from your father’s house into a land that I will show you. (Genesis 12:1)

 

And Abram departed, even as Jehovah had spoken to him. And Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. (Genesis 12:4)

 

By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out into a place which he was afterward going to receive for an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he went. (Hebrews 11:8)

 

I want you to imagine for a moment that you are a seventy five year old man, comfortably sitting at home with your wife when one day your phone rings. A voice on the other end of the line tells you to sell up and move. The voice doesn’t tell you where you are to go, or even how you are to get there, just that you are to go.

 

What do you do?

 

This was the choice that faced Abram [later to be called Abraham]. I wonder how many of us would do that now. Living in the age of satellite navigation, mobile phones, pc’s, laptops, tablets and other gadgets, it’s very difficult to get lost. So can you begin to imagine how Abram felt when he is given his marching orders by God?

 

We often talk about faith and the men of faith but do we truly understand what it takes to be a man of faith?

 

Look at the three things that God calls Abram to do.

 

1. Leave your father’s house

In the times of Abram it was common for a man to have his home within the confines of his father’s house. When taking a wife, he would extend the family home and then bring his wife to his home. We get a picture of this when Jesus says to the disciples…

In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. (John 14:2)

This would have been the home that he was born in, the home that he grew up in, yet here was God telling him to leave.

 

2. Leave your kindred

Not only is he told to leave his immediate family behind but now he’s told to leave extended family and friends. He’s has no idea where he is going to be but it will be with family or friends to support him. Remember this is not in the days of cars or planes. There was no Whatsapp or Facetime. Understand that travel did not change much between the time of Abram and the early 1800s. To give you a reference point. In the 1700’s it would take 2 days to travel between London and Cambridge or London and Birmingham. It would take ten days to travel to Edinburgh from London, and that was dependent on the conditions of the roads. Abram was being told to leave everyone he knows without knowing how far he was to be travelling or how long it would take.

 

3. Leave your country

Some of you will understand this one. Many of our parents left their homes and families in the Caribbean to travel to Britain in the 50’s and 60’s. Like Abram they would end up in a country and a culture they knew nothing about. Yet for them the change would still not be as great as it was for Abram. Think about what Abram would face:

 

  • Different cultures
  • Different languages
  • Different attitudes
  • Different religions

 

And all without any friends or family to call on, yet what does the bible tell us.

 

And Abram departed… (Genesis 12:4)

 

He departed.

 

God said go… and he went.

 

He had no idea where he was going. He had no idea how long the journey would take. He had no idea what he would find at the journey’s end.

 

BUT… he trusted God, and so he followed.

 

Some of you reading this may be up in age; you might be retired or close to retirement and you might think that you couldn’t do this. If Abram could do this, then so can you.

 

Then again you might be young and thinking this is about an old man, think again. Lot was not an old man. He had no idea where Abram was headed but he trusted him and followed. It was Paul who said in his letter to the Corinthians:

 

Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ. (1 Corinthians 11:1)

 

Lot embodied this statement by following Abram even as Abram followed God. Whether young or old you can follow… all it takes is faith.

 

Abram trusted God and when God said go… Abram went.

 

Can you imagine the conversation between Abram and Sarai.

 

A: God spoke to me today
S: Yes what did he say?
A: That I leave here and go to a land that he would show me
S: Oh… what land is that?
A: I don’t know
S: How long will we be gone?
A: I don’t know
S: How long will it take?
A: I don’t know
S: What will we do when we get there?
A: I don’t know
S: So what are we going to do?
A: Start packing.

 

Some conversation…

If God said to you leave… what would you do?

 

The Lord bless thee, and keep thee:
The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:
The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.

 

MARANATHA.

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