ABRAHAM: A MAN OF GREAT FAITH
It is possible for one to read the story of
Abraham in the Bible casually and not benefit from the far reaching value of
the great faith he had.
In our time, we have the Holy Bible to consult as
a valuable resource to study how Abraham and other people walked with God in
great faith. However, in Abraham’s time, what was his reference?
He only relied on what God told him, which today
is very difficult for so many people because they think God is a man who can
tell lies and break promises and so they refuse to trust God to take Him at His
Word.
Let us first of all consider the fact that
Abraham came from a family background of idol worshippers who had never known
the Almighty God and Father of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ – Joshua 24:2.
One day, Abraham heard God’s voice and obeyed God’s
command to leave all his family and move to an unknown location far away.
Can you just imagine how Abraham’s relatives
would have taken the message and wondered what he could be talking about? But Abraham
obeyed a God neither he nor his family had ever known and left with his wife
Sarah and Lot his nephew.
Along the way God showed him to follow, Abraham encountered
danger to his life twice as a result of the beauty of his wife from men who
wanted her for themselves – first from the then Pharaoh of Egypt (Genesis
9:12-20) and second from Abimelech king of Gerar – Genesis 20:1-18.
However, as you see from the scripture references
above, God delivered Abraham from Pharaoh by scouring Pharaoh and his household
and God delivered Abraham from Abimelech, by warning Abimelech in a dream, inflicting
disease on Abimelech’s household and closing the wombs of all the women in
Abimelech’s household.
God eventually forgave and restored both Pharaoh
and Abimelech and their household when they released Sarah back to Abraham.
At his age of 75 years when men of his time had
rounded up child bearing, God promised Abraham that He would bless him and make
him a father of nations and to confirm this God changed his name from Abram (high,
exalted father) to Abraham (father of a multitude).
In-between fulfilment of this promise, Sarah,
Abraham’s wife tried to help God by giving her maid to Abraham through whom
Ishmael was born when Abraham was 86 years old but God told Abraham that
Ishmael was not the child of promise.
Eventually, Hagar the maid started mocking
Abraham’s wife Sarah for her inability to conceive and bear a child and when
Sarah complained to Abraham, God instructed him to send Hagar and Ishmael his
son away.
Again, Abraham obeyed God and did as God
instructed.
At the age of 99 years, God again reminded
Abraham of His Divine promise to give him a child through Sarah and this time
around God told him it would happen in a year’s time and it did happen as God
decreed when Isaac was born a year later.
Now God gave Abraham the ultimate test of loyalty
when God commanded him to offer up Isaac his son in sacrifice to Him, God
Almighty.
Without any hesitation or doubt, Abraham obeyed
God and received a great reward from God of a covenant promise to bless and
multiply him (Abraham) and his descendants forever- Genesis 22:1-17.
Today, the nation of Israel are descendants of
Abraham while Christians, by virtue of their being joined to Christ Jesus our
Lord are spiritual descendants of Abraham and also share in the Divine covenant
of multiplication and prosperity God promised to Abraham and his descendants
forever – Galatians 3:29.
Dear friend, we thank God Almighty and Father of
our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ for the steadfast love He showed to Abraham
and we also thank God for the great faith Abraham displayed in heeding every
directive God gave him without having a prior reference to rely on.
In today’s world where we have God’s infallible
Word, the Holy Bible and the many stories of great faith by people who followed
God including Abraham our father in faith, how many of us are willing to obey
God sincerely without doubting?
How many of us study the Holy Bible daily to see,
commit to and obey God’s Divine instruction therein?
I tell you, dear friend, as many as are willing
to study, commit to and obey God’s instruction in the Holy Bible, God has given
them the right to become His children (John 1:12) and to share in the covenant
promise to Abraham and his seed forever.
This is an everlasting decree from God because
God swore an oath to Abraham to do it when Abraham obeyed God to offer up Isaac
his son as a sacrifice to God.
It is the same God calling on you now as you read
this message to heed His Word to make Jesus Christ the Lord of your life if you
are yet to do so because the reward is far greater than the cost of rejecting
Jesus, the consequence which both dire and eternal.
I invite you dear friend to become a person of
great faith like Abraham by your simple obedience to God’s commandments in the
Holy Bible.
First, you need to search your conscience,
examine your life, take a decision to end all sin and falsehood in your life
toward God and humans, then confess your sins to God, commit to obey Him,
accept Jesus as Lord of your life and live a strict, sincere life in obedience to
Jesus’ commands in the Holy Bible.
Your life would take on a new meaning and you
will certainly reap the fine rewards of such a beautiful decision in this life and
the life to come.
May the good Lord bless you as you heed His Word today, act on it and
share with others in Jesus’ Most Powerful Name, Amen.
Gabriel Ama.
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