September 4, 2016 - Abram Obeys God

TONY & MICHELLE PAWLAK

MEMORY VERSE

Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as

righteousness. 

Genesis 15:6

What are you willing to do for God?  How far would you be willing to go? It’s a hard question to answer when you know what’s expected of you but what if you didn’t? What if God asked you to go through a door when you had no idea what was waiting on the other side? Most of us would like to say that we would do anything God asked of us but it’s a little harder when it really happens.

This is exactly what happened to a man named Abram a

long time ago.  He had moved with his father and family from his home country of Ur of the Chaldeans to a place called Haran.  There Abram’s father died.  Abram had planned to settle in Haran in his father’s household until God intervened.  God told Abram to leave his father’s household and travel somewhere else.  He was to take his family and go to a land that God said He would show Abram. 

What would you do?  Would you leave your extended family and friends and move your own family and everything you have even though you have no idea where you’re going? Would you have that much faith in God?  Abram did.  Abram believed that God would keep his promises.  What promises?  Read it for yourself.

The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.

² “I will make you into a great nation,    and I will bless you;I will make your name great,    and you will be a blessing.³ I will bless those who bless you,
    and whoever curses you I will curse;and all peoples on earth    will be blessed through you.

(Genesis 12:1-3)

Does this mean that Abram always trusted God and did the

right thing?  No.  In fact, when a famine hit Canaan (the land God led Abram to), Abram worried that his people would starve so he left the land God sent him to and moved to Egypt!  As they got close to Egypt, Abram worried that the Pharaoh (King of Egypt) would kill him and take Sarai, his wife.  You see, Sarai was very beautiful and Abram knew it. 

So Abram came up with a plan.  He told Sarai to tell Pharaoh that she was Abram’s sister, not his wife.  When she did this, Pharaoh took her into his palace and made plans to make her his wife!  He even gave Abram many nice gifts.  Do you think this made God happy? Absolutely not!  God was so angry that he made Pharaoh very sick.  Somehow, Pharaoh figured out that Sarai was

Abram’s wife and this was the reason he was so sick. 

So, Pharaoh said to Abram, “Why didn’t you tell me she was your wife?  I might have made her my wife because you lied to me!  Take your people and all your stuff and leave Egypt

immediately!”  So Abram and his family had to move back to Canaan where God wanted them in the first place.  They settled in Canaan in the land of Hebron where Abram built an altar and worshipped God. 

Even though Abram made a mistake, he was still a very faithful man. 

The Bible says that when Abram believed God, He counted it as righteousness.  No man has his own righteousness but we can be counted as righteous when we believe in Jesus and accepts His gift of eternal life. 

So, what about you?  Are you willing to do whatever God

tells you to do; go wherever God tells you to go? It probably won’t be easy but we need to believe God will keep His promises to us.  Who knows?  God may lead you on a great adventure!