Word of the Week – 5/10/22 (Genesis 12)

A mark of the men and women of God throughout the scriptures is that they believe God and they obey God. Abram was far from perfect. He lied multiple times about his wife being his sister (which was technically a half-truth, but the purpose was deceit), and he sleeps with his wife’s servant to help God produce an heir for himself. However, he is seen as a great man of God because when God told him to do something, he would do it. He believed God, and his actions displayed that belief. Romans 4:3 says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.”

In Genesis 12:1, the Lord told Abram to “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.” At the time, Abram is seventy-five years old, yet when the Lord tells Abram to leave his home and family and travel to a faraway land— in a time when travel was slow and dangerous— Abram goes. This pattern continues throughout Abram’s life. When God told Abram he will have his own son, even though Abram is well advanced in years, the Bible says that Abram believed God. When God told Abram to circumcise himself and every male in his household, Abram does so that very day. Then, after God miraculously causes Abram’s wife, who was well past childbearing age and had been barren, to give birth to a son, God commands Abram to sacrifice his son, Abram rose early the next morning to take his son to the place the Lord told him to go for the sacrifice.

When God told Abram something, Abram believed and obeyed, which is why God counted him as righteous. Today, God has given us many more words than Abram received. God has given us the Bible as His inerrant and all sufficient revelation to us. It is not as if God has not spoken to us. His Word contains all we need. The question is whether or not we believe what God says and obey his commands. If we believe what God tells us in the Bible, we see that Jesus Christ lived a perfect life, yet was punished with a death He did not deserve. Three days later he rose again, and everyone who believes in Him will inherit eternal life because Jesus took the punishment of death they had rightfully earned.

We cannot earn our way to heaven. The punishment for a single sin is death, and the Bible makes it clear that we all have sinned. The only way to be counted as righteous is through faith in Christ. However, this faith will be evident in our lives by our obedience to our Savior. Jesus says in John 14:15, “If you love Me, you will keep my commandments.” As we read through Abram’s life, we see a man who believes God and loves God. We know this because Abram continually believes what God tells him and acts immediately to follow God’s instructions. In this, we should strive to be like Abram. Let the story of our lives be like Abram’s. When God tells us to go someplace, may the next line say, “so we went…”

written by Casey Hust