When God called Abram (later known as Abraham) He told him to go out from his country, kindred and father's house but He did not tell him where he was to go. He simply said that He would show him the land to go to. This meant that Abraham needed the Lord's presence step by step. Without it he was lost, knowing neither if he was where the Lord wanted him to be nor where to go next. Thus he was entirely dependent on the Lord and began to learn to live in the Lord's presence according to His leading as soon as he obeyed the Lord's call.

It is this characteristic of Abraham's life that made him the father of faith. Some of his forefathers had obeyed the Lord in faith and are listed as notable examples of faith (Heb. 11:4-7). but it was Abraham who answered God's call to become the father of the race of the Hebrews - the people who left the idolatrous world to enter into a new realm (See Are You a Hebrew). His life and experience would have been completely different if God had told him at the beginning where to go. He could simply have moved there. From his point of view it would have been much easier but it would have produced a relationship with the Lord that was shallow and outward. The Lord did have a particular land that He intended to give to Abraham' s descendants. He needed to bring Abraham into it. But, even more, He wanted to bring Abraham into a living relationship with Himself.

A life of following the Lord today bears the same characteristics as Abraham's life. God wants to bring us into a real, living relationship with Christ. We first realize that He is working in our life when, through hearing something of the gospel, we sense something of His reality. This, in the language of Abraham's experience, is the Lord's appearing to us. Like Abraham we often are hesitant to answer the Lord's call but when we do we gain richer experiences of the Lord's appearing. In other words, we gradually get to know the Lord in a deeper and richer way through our experiences with Him and through gaining a richer knowledge of the truth. This strengthens us and enables us to live a life of faith following the Lord.

This kind of life is very different from one which is following the Lord in an outward way. The two kinds of life may appear to be the same but they are totally different in their inward nature. One experiences the Lord's appearing, the other knows the Lord mainly through someone else's teaching. One knows the Lord's speaking, the other lives according to religious regulations. One is following the Lord's leading, the other needs someone else to tell him where to go. One is motivated by love for the Lord, the other by a sense of religious duty or zeal. One is discovering the truth through the Spirit's revelation, the other holds to a doctrinal creed.

Countless seekers of the Lord have followed the pathway of faith that Abraham pioneered. Let us also join ourselves to that glad company.