The Call of Abram

October 14, 2018 Background Scripture: Genesis 9 – 12 Lesson Passage: Genesis 10:1; 11:10, 27, 31, 32; 12:1 – 4 Since the flood destroyed all people on earth but the family of Noah, all races of people upon the earth descended from the three sons of Noah: Ham, Shem, and Japheth. After the flood, the sin in man caused corruption to be prevalent again. In spite of this, God promised Noah that He would not destroy the earth with a flood ever again. God’s plan now would involve diverting a stream from the river of humanity that He would purify for His sake. This stream of mankind would begin with Abram. Today’s lesson traces Abram’s lineage back to Noah through Noah’s son Shem. In the text, we can observe God beginning the process of purification by separating Abram from his country, his relatives, and his father’s house. This purification would require obedient compliance by Abram and not coercion on God’s part. Abram had to reach a point where he would be willing to leave all of this and make himself totally available to be used by God. It did not have to occur all at once—and it did not occur all at once. It was a process that took many years in the making. It began with Abram hearing the call of God for him to separate. Abram set out in partial obedience to the call. He was separating from his country, but he was not yet separating from his relatives and his father’s house. They started out for the right place, Canaan, but they stopped short and settled for another place, Haran. Abram’s actions mirror the sanctification process that Christians go through. We know the end goal is glorification and therefore a purging of all that does not glorify God. We release some things but hold firm to other things at the beginning of the sanctification process. We start out in the right direction, with the right destination in mind, but we settle for something far short of what God desires for us. It is oftentimes after the death of a loved one that we find the strength within us to move forward again in the direction God is leading us. Like Abram, we are grateful that God does not give up on us. As we walk in partial obedience, we are thankful that God assists us in our efforts to move in the direction in which He is leading us. As with Noah, God also promised to establish a covenant with Abram. God made Abram many great promises. Most of them were to be fulfilled long after Abram was deceased. God makes great promises to all who commit themselves to follow Him as He leads us to where He wants us to be. We sometimes worry about the brevity of life and what we may not be able to accomplish in the allotted time. God’s promises are better because they are not dependent on us and they are time-independent. Even if we happen to die before the promises come to fruition, we have the example of Abram to assure us that God will continue to work beyond our physical death to bring the promises into reality. At the end of the lesson text, Abram began to move in the direction God was leading him. Even at the age of seventy-five, Abram was determined to do the will of God. This was great faith on the part of Abram. One of the promises God had made him was that He would make a great nation out of Abram and bless him and make his name great. At seventy-five years of age, Abram was childless, and yet he answered the call of God. Robert C. Hudson September 5, 2018