Genesis Chapter 12
Abram or Abraham as we know him, was a man who sought to walk with God, but he was not perfect. The emphasis of the promise given, has to be on God not on Abram. The promise was all about what God said He would do. This promise given to Abram here in chapter 12 was a promise not only for Abram but for all the nations that would come from his lineage. And yet Abram did not act upon God’s words until he was ready. He waited until after his father died. We also need to note that God used a man who was an “outsider.” This was revealed to us by the martyred disciple of Jesus in the New Testament, Stephen. Stephen pointed out to the priests and religious leaders of his day that Abraham was not the patriarch they thought him to be.
Acts 7:2-4And Stephen said: “Brothers and fathers, hear me. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, and said to him, Go out from your land and from your kindred and go into the land that I will show you.’ Then he went out from the land of the Chaldeans and lived in Haran. And after his father died, God removed him from there into this land in which you are now living.
Let's Reflect
1. What did Abram need to do in faith, in order to receive God’s blessing and promise?
2. God promised to make Abram a great nation, yet Abram did not have any children. We learned in chapter 11 that his wife was barren. According to the promise his name would be great, and God promised that something would happen to anyone who cursed him. What would God do?
3. The end of verse 3 tells us that all the families of the earth would be _____________. Abram was to be the father of the Jewish nation, and all families would include those outside the nation of Israel. This blessing would extend to the Gentiles.
Galatians 3:8-9And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.
4. What nation occupied the land that God told Abram He would one day give to his descendants?
5. Did Abram believe that God would do this?
6. Then we read about a famine in the land. Where did Abram decide he should go because there was a famine? Have you ever looked back at your life and realized that you trusted God explicitly in one area of your life, but then in another situation you did not?
7. Abram’s plan to protect his life by calling Sarai his sister doesn’t seem to make any sense. Sin often doesn’t make sense in hindsight. But at the time he thought it was the best plan. In this particular case, God protected Sarai from a bad situation. What did God do for her and Abram? God had made a promise to bless Abram and to protect him and that is exactly what He did.
God was going to work in the life of Abram to grow his faith through many different circumstances. “Faith is not a mushroom that grows overnight in damp soil; it is an oak tree that grows for a thousand years under the blast of the wind and rain.” [Barnhouse]
