Answering God's Call

God's Calling

Abram was a man who lived about the same time as Job but they were very different. Job feared God and was doing his best to please Him. Abram lived in a land of idol worshipers and was worshiping idols like everyone else there. There is nothing to indicate that he was any different from others until one day when the Lord appeared to him.

Abram's Response

The Lord's appearing must have been marvelous. Abram was excited and attracted. But at the same time the Lord told Abram to leave his land and kindred to go to a country that the Lord would show him. This put Abram in a dilemma. On the one hand he wanted to follow the Lord's call, on the other he didn't know where the Lord would take him. One thing especially bothered him: his wife, Sarai, was very beautiful. He was afraid that someone would kill him to get his wife so he asked her to do him a favor. Wherever they went Abram wanted Sarai to say that she was his sister.

Beginning to Follow

It's very possible that Abram's speaking about the Lord's appearing caused quite a bit of controversy among his relatives. Abram was fearful about what might happen if he left home according to the Lord's call. His brother, Haran, may have been against his going. Anyway, it was after Haran died that Abram's father took him, his wife and Haran's son, Lot to try to answer the Lord's call. They traveled a long way along the side of the Euphrates River until they settled in a place called Haran. They remained there until Abram's father also died.

The Lord Appearing Again

After his father died the Lord appeared to Abram again. He told him to leave not only his country and people but also his father's house to go to the land that the Lord would show him. The Lord promised to make him a great nation and both bless him and make him a blessing to others.

Obeying the Lord's Call

This time Abram obeyed the Lord's word and departed from Haran. He was already seventy-five years old. He took Sarai, all their possessions, and all their servants and crossed the river in the direction of Canaan. The only thing not so good was that he still took along his nephew, Lot (a part of his father's house).

Arriving in the Good Land

When they came to a place called Shechem in Canaan the Lord appeared to Abram a third time. The Lord told him that He would give this land to his descendants. Abram responded by building an altar to the Lord. Then Abram traveled on a little farther and pitched his tent at a place between Bethel and Ai. There he built another altar and called on the name of the Lord. He had arrived where the Lord wanted him to be.