Abraham (Part 1)
Continuing our look into Hebrews 11, after the examples of Abel, Enoch, and Noah, the Hebrew writer mentions Abraham. He’s going to speak about Abraham in verses 8 - 10 and then again in 17-19. I’m also going to deal with Abraham in two sections because I don’t know how you wouldn’t…I mean, if it’s good enough for the Hebrews writer…
In the English Standard version and the New King James version, the order of the verbs “obeyed” and “called” is different than we find in other versions. In the other versions, Abraham was called and then obeyed.
Maybe it’s the English teacher in me, but the placement of the verb “obeyed” alters how I think about what happened. Abraham obeyed first. That’s the reason he was called. Abraham’s obedience must have pre-existed the call, and this led to obedience after the call as well. We would assume that God called Abraham because he already believed and knew God. He was already a man of obedience which came from faith. God is going to test Abraham’s faith, but it’s a faith that by this time directs Abraham’s life.
God doesn’t call Lot or Nahor; He calls His servant Abraham. It’s not until after Abraham leaves Haran that the promise is first given, so Abraham goes with no expectation, no guarantees, no motivation other than His faith in God. He doesn’t know where he’s going, he doesn’t know what he’ll find there. He just goes. Belief put into action.
I worry that it’s too easy to smooth over the reality of what Abraham did. We tend to think, “Well, he was called by God…of course he went!” We just accept that what he did was a natural thing and that we, too, would leave everything if we were directly called by God…which we won’t be, so we’re safe.
But, if we are honest, would we go? It’s hard for some people to even consider leaving where they live and have lived possibly all their lives. I’ve heard people say that they absolutely would not move somewhere else. They can’t imagine life anywhere other than the place that they know, around people they know - people who are often like themselves. Not only does anything else seem intimidating, a move won’t even be considered as a remote possibility.
Honestly, I can’t imagine that! We moved all the time, it seemed, when I was young. It can be hard, navigating new places and people, new cultures if you’re going overseas.
I don’t know that those moves were matters of faith; I also don’t know that they weren’t. Certainly, that first move to India in the 1970’s proved to be providential for my parents, and I don’t doubt that my father went prayerfully and thoughtfully.
What happens when we close our mind to movement? When we become so attached to a specific place and people that we shut out any possibility of change? And sometimes we don’t just shut out that possibility for ourselves but we include our adult children in the bargain. I know parents who put pressure on their children to stay where they are - near them - discouraging change and potential growth for their children and their families as well.
What if, by refusing to move or separate ourselves from our children, we then miss opportunities to do the work of the kingdom? Or, we cause them to lose the opportunity to do a particular work? We never know what, or more importantly, who we might find if we open ourselves up to change. Not every potential move is providential, but if we refuse to even consider…what does that mean for us or our children? For the kingdom?
Maybe it seems easy for me to say. It hasn’t been easy. It has, at times, been discouraging. It was terrifying to leave my 18 year-old son on one continent and fly 3,500 miles back home to another.
Through the years, I have often wondered what I was doing in the place I found myself. I have felt overwhelmed and insufficient to the work that needed to be done. And I think that’s been good for me. I am, in fact, insufficient for the work, and it is overwhelming how many people need things. But this isn’t our home…not only is just one specific place not our home…this earth isn’t where we belong.
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with staying in one place, and I don’t think it’s wrong to stay near our children. Perhaps that’s just the way one’s life works out. Whether we go or stay, I think we need to reflect on the service we do wherever we are.
Abraham leaves Ur and goes to a place where he will continue to remind himself and those around him that he is a stranger - a foreigner and a sojourner. If we get too comfortable in our situations, there is a danger that we will forget who we are supposed to be - strangers, foreigners, and sojourners. Getting too attached to places in this world can keep us from movement - both physical and spiritual.
What if Abraham had refused to go? His life was comfortable in Ur, at least relative to his historical context. He seems to have been a man of wealth, and even if things weren’t perfect, he understood the way the world worked in Ur.
I’m sure he could think of reasons why leaving the place of his birth and wandering around in the south of Canaan for 100 years wouldn’t be the best plan. He never owned any land except for the cave he purchased for Sarah’s burial. What if the call had been just one step too far? Surely God wouldn’t require him to go so far out of his comfort zone?
You see where I’m going with this. Abraham obeys God and goes; he can’t even tell his family where he’s going because he’s never been there and he doesn’t know the way.
His faith comes first, it has manifested itself in his life of obedience, and then, when he is called by God, he does what is his habit - he obeys.
Finally, verse 10 tells us why Abraham went…he was looking forward. His mind was on the future eventuality of heaven. When the Hebrews writer discusses Noah, he writes that Noah had been warned by God about a future event - the flood. Abraham, too, seems to have an understanding about his future.
Abraham knew with certainty that dwelling in tents as a stranger was an earthly, and therefore, temporary arrangement. In the future, he would live in a city which had its foundation in God, Himself. The Hebrews writer makes it clear that Abraham knew that the promise wasn’t summed up in a physical, earthly parcel of land - however large it might be. How much Abraham understood isn’t evident, but he knew that God’s promises and his relationship with God did not end with his earthly existence.
The earthly promise was a blessing, but it was only a precursor of the blessing that would be his when dwelling in a canvas tent would be replaced with a heavenly dwelling, permanent and fixed to its base by God the architect and designer. Abraham looked forward, I think in both definitions of that phrase; he looked forward in time - seeing the future event, and he looked forward in anticipation - desiring the future event.
Faith can grab onto things that are far out of reach and help us to disconnect from the here and now. Do you have a difficult family situation? Look forward! There is a city where God your Father has prepared a place for you, where Christ, your brother is the light! Do you have a difficult marriage? Look forward! There are no marriages in heaven! Have you had a difficult life, filled with hardship and loss? Look forward! God has designed a city where there are no tears, no sorrows, no hard work!
We are all plagued by sin and sickness and death. Look forward! We have been promised a home in a city where sin has no foothold. We will all be perfected, and the battle against our own weaknesses and fleshly tendencies will cease to exist. My brain can only barely comprehend the possibility - but God has told me of that future, and so I look forward.
Whatever our earthly situations are, they are temporary. Like Noah, like Abraham, we must be able to look forward.
I know people who visit fortune-tellers and psychics trying to unravel future events. We don’t need them. God has already given us a vision of the future, and we must live our lives looking forward into the future with hope and longing. And if that future is what we truly desire…not just what we say we desire…then like Abraham, we will detach ourselves from this world and move forward in faith, unafraid of change, being useful wherever we may find ourselves, and encouraging others to do the same.