Abram, later named Abraham by God …
… was a man of faith.
… was a friend of God.
… believed the LORD.
One day, about four hundred years or so after God had destroyed the entire world with a great flood, the same God of glory approached Abram, a Bedouin herdsman living in Mesopotamia, and a descendant of Shem, one of the three sons of Noah who rode out the storm on the ark, with an unbelievable promise that he, the LORD, would bring this man to a place of prominence and greatness in the world, and not just before his contemporaries, but that through this promise or covenant, his life, Abram’s life, the Bedouin herdsman, would have a blessing effect on all the families of the earth throughout the history of the earth.
So who was this man the LORD spoke to that day? He was a man who believed God. If there is one word, or phrase, by which we could identify Abram from the very beginning, it would be this. Abraham believed God.
The Apostle Paul writes to the Romans: For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God … ”
And later in Romans … “In hope [Abraham] believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told …”
And to the Galatians Paul wrote: Just as Abraham “believed God …”
Abraham, a man of faith and a friend of God. He believed God. Truly, actually believed God, as in his belief led to obedience.
GENESIS MESSAGE 19 / Genesis 12
SEASON FINALE: Abram–The Blessing and Danger of Faith
