So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he parted from Haran. Abram took his wife Sarai and his brother's son Lot, and all the possessions they had gathered, and the persons whom they had acquired in Haran; and they set forth to go to the land of Canaan. When they had come to the land of Canaan, Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. Then the Lord appeared to Abram, and said, "To your offspring I will give this land." So he built there an alter to the Lord, who had appeared to him. From there he moved on to the hill country on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an alter to the Lord. And Abram journeyed on by stages toward the Negeb.
Genesis 12:1-9
This weeks story from the first testament is wonderful, isn't it! The creator is doing a new thing. Just as creative as the first creation but different - "God was going to make a special family, a people to bless everyone on the Earth. And God was going to rescue the world through Abraham's family" (Sally Lloyd Jones). The rescuer would be Jesus, he would come from this beginning and would defeat the powers of sin and evil forever. The amazing thing is that Abraham and Sarah didn't have any children - how could they be the parents of this family?! This wonderful story of Abraham is the beginning of Israel.
God calls Abraham and Sarah and in their old age to follow him. And they say yes! Not a qualified yes, not a maybe yes, let me think about it but, likely yes. An unqualified, yes! They say 'yes' not to a future that is known but to promises that they believe, to something big enough to give themselves to. This is faith, it is saying yes to God's way of living. It is taking a step out even when you don't know the final destination. It is trusting that God loves you and goes with you. It is trusting that when you mess up God will forgive you and help you find your way. It is living your everyday life trusting God.
In Hebrew 11 it says this,
"Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen... by faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that were not visible...By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to set out for a place that he was to receive as an inheritance; and he set out not knowing where he was going... for he looked forward to that city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God... if they had been thinking of the land they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is they desire a better country, that is a heavenly one..."
Something must have caught in Abraham's imagination and in his heart. Maybe Abraham thought, "This sounds like the biggest and best thing I have ever been asked to do in my life. And now even though I am so old, God asks me? I am honoured. I am a little unsure how we will move all of these people and uproot such an established life but I trust that God will be our help. We have lived our whole lives among these people. What will our life look like when the routines of our daily life and the relationships that have been dear to us are no longer? I know I can't do it in my own strength or by sheer ambition but only by faith in God... How will God make us into a great nation that will bless all the families of earth?!"
I wonder and marvel at Abraham's response to God. Now this certainly isn't to say that Abraham didn't question this, or wrestle with these promises of God - over his life he certainly did. But he is credited with faith! Faith for stepping out on the journey, for believing the promises of God. Faith that a long infertile couple would now, after all of these years, have a child. Faith for taking that long walk up Mt Moriah with Isaac and trusting that God would make a way.
Life for Abraham is really just beginning, isn't it!
In Hebrews it says, "From one person, and this one as good as dead, descendants were born, as many as the stars of heaven and as innumerable as the grains of sand by the seashore."(11:12) Abraham, in his old age has a holy imagination and puts this faith in action!
There are few things that inspire me more than my elders, who are still on the journey. Those who have experienced enough of the grind of daily life, enough disappointment and loss to have given up long ago still and yet choose to lean into the promises of God and live with their lives open to Him. Those who have 'gained the earth', and yet know that the real gain is in the cross of Christ and in lives spent for him. If you know elders of faith whose lives are a witness this, go and tell them how they have blessed you and instructed you and remember to pray for them with thanksgiving.
Now, I think the stories of people who are faithful and follow God with their whole lives are really important in the spiritual formation of children. They allow us to imagine other ways of being in the world; they open up possibilities, reveal to us truth and chip away at the cultural narratives on 'the good life' that are so strong in our society and in our families. The stories that we have in scripture, from our brothers and sisters in Christ reveal to us the mysteries of the kingdom of God, they remind us that we are all strangers and foreigners on earth, they hint at the country, the homeland, the city God has prepared for us.
I have included some of the story of Abraham as told by Catherine Vos in the Child's Story Bible. Though this is an old re-telling and some of her language reflects this, I think it is very well done. I like the way she places Abraham in context between creation and Christ - looking back and pointing forward. This is always helpful in coming to understand biblical story.
Abraham Follows God
After the flood people again increased in number. They were not as wicked as men had been before the flood. They remembered very well how dreadfully God had punished wickedness.
Now God began to prepare the world for the coming of that man whom He had promised. You remember that when God cursed the serpent for leading Eve into sin. He said said that someday a child of Eve's would crush the head of the serpent.
Of course, the serpent was really Satan. When God promised that someday a child of Eve's would crush the serpent's head, he meant to say that someday a child would be born who would defeat Satan. Satan had caused sin and death to come into the world, but someday one of Eve's children would again bring everlasting life by taking away the sin of the world.
That man is the very Son of God, our Saviour, Jesus Christ.
The first thing God did to make the world ready for the coming of the promised Saviour was to pick out one man and separate him from all the other people in the world, so that knowledge about God and trust in God would not be entirely lost again, as had nearly happened before the flood.
The man God chose was Abraham, his wife's name was Sarah. God told Abraham to leave his country and his family and friends and to go to another country. He did not even tell him where that new country was. Abraham was simply to follow where God lead, in trust.
God said to Abraham, "I will make a great nation. In you all families of the earth will be blessed." That wonderful blessing to all the families of the earth, including yours and mine, would come from Jesus, who would at last be born in Abraham's family.
Abraham did as God had commanded. He took his wife Sarah and his nephew Lot, whose own father was dead, and his servants, and left his own country to start out on that long journey to a country he did not know. He trusted God would take care of him and show him where to go. When Abraham said good-bye to his friends and relatives, it was forever. He never saw any of them again.
Abraham was not a young man when he set out on this strange journey. He was seventy five years old. Sarah was ten years younger, but men and women did not age as rapidly then as they do now.
Although Abraham and his family lived in tents on this journey - and indeed, continued to live in tents the rest of their lives - Abraham was a very rich man. He had a great many cows, oxen, sheep, donkeys and camels. He had more than three hundred men-servants and probably as many woman-servants. The men-servants took care of the animals and the women servants milked the cows, mad the cheese and butter, cooked the meals for all that large family and wove the sheep's wool into cloth to be made into clothes.
Sarah was a very beautiful woman. I am sure she had many pretty clothes to wear. She must have had beautiful golden bracelets for her arms, golden anklets for her feet, and golden rings for her fingers. With her rich clothes and sparkling jewels she must have looked very attractive indeed.
At that time, of course, there were no trains or cars. Abraham could not travel quickly to his faraway country. He had to travel by camel. He and Sarah and Lot and his wife rode on finely harnessed camels. the servants rode on donkeys or walked. Most of the servants were married and there were many with little children among them - even little babies. These little ones had to be carried in their mother's arms, while the mothers rode on donkeys. Big baskets were flung across the back of donkeys, one on each side, and then children who were to young to walk were put in these baskets and carried that way.
It seemed as if a whole village travelled along when Abraham began his journey to this faraway country which God was going to show him. Abraham was a true chieftan - a man who had many servants and flocks and herds.
After a very long tripAbraham and his family pitched their tents in a land called Canaan. There God appeared to Abraham and said, I will give this land to your children. And there Abraham built an alter to the Lord.
- Taken from Catherine F. Vos 'The Child's Story Bible'
The Psalm for this morning is
Psalm 121
I lift my eyes up to the hills -
from where will my help come?
My help comes from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth
He will not let your foot be moved,
but he who keeps you will not slumber.
He who keeps Israel
will neither slumber or sleep.
The Lord is your keeper;
The Lord is your shade at your right
hand.
The sun shall not strike you by day,
nor the moon by night.
The Lord will keep you from all evil;
he will keep your life.
The Lord will keep
your going out and your coming in
from this time on and forevermore.
Though the Psalms were written after Abraham and Sarah wandered around, waited on and trusted in God, I think they might have known this Psalm in their hearts. The Lord did indeed keep them and show them his grace, mercy and love.
This is a wonderful psalm for children, for all of us to become familiar with. The one thing my girls always thank God for/ask for is safety. It intrigues me that they are so preoccupied with being safe since from my perspective have known very little insecurity. It speaks to the deep vulnerability that we feel and for the longing that we have to be kept, to be loved. What a gift to know as a child that this love comes from Christ and that it can be found even when life is turned upside down.
I lift my eyes to the hills and I think of the creator
The one who made heaven and earth, He is my helper!
This is also a nice psalm for us to pray over the team going to Haiti, as they step out on this journey where much is unknown may they know God, the creator, to be their help, and their keeper.
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