More
than anyone else Abraham (called Abram until God changed his name) teaches us true
faith. We must have Abraham’s faith
(Rom. 4:16). Thus a study of his life is
of great importance.
His
story begins in Ur of the Chaldees (Babylon, currently Iraq), being told by God to leave
his homeland and family to go to a country that God would show him.
It
is a time of nation-building as Genesis
10 indicates. Following the flood (Gen.
6-9) the families scattered to
various places where they organized themselves into city-states. The story in Gen. 11 of the tower
of Babel shows how
religion was a necessary aspect of national life. It also illustrates how the truth about God
began to be corrupted by sinful mankind who, as always, sought to rule his own
life.
Ur, lying between the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers,
was a prosperous city known for the worship of the moon god Nannar.
A ziggurat (like the tower of Babel) was built in his honor. Abram lived in Ur long enough to obtain a
wife (Sarai) and to be involved in their worship (Josh. 24:2) Being called of God, however, he left with
his father moving to Haran, a city in northern Mesopotamia
perhaps named for his brother.
There
is a question as to Abram’s full obedience to God, since he didn’t leave his
family behind. But it can be said that Abram
listened to God. He made a major move leaving home and going
to a place of which he knew very little.
Faith listens!
What
keeps us from listening to God? Life has
no end of noise, competing voices and distractions. Technology is constantly revised and upgraded,
and we are plugged in, with our Bibles on our tablets and phones, but the
latest text, email or tune easily takes priority.
Listening to God takes quiet time. With Bible in hand there must be regular and
frequent times when we focus on our Lord.
Consider the words of F. B. Meyer
from Keep In Touch with Jesus …
Ask Him to wake you morning by morning for communion and Bible-study.
Make other time in the day, especially in the still hour of the evening
twilight, between the work of the day and the avocations of the evening, when
you shall get alone with Him, telling Him all things, and reviewing the past
under the gentle light which streams from His eyes.
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