The Call of Abram: Genesis 12:1 - 20

Abram's story begins with God's calling.  God calls him to leave his country, people, and family behind and go to a land that God will show him.  I imagine this must have been difficult for Abram.  I've had times in my life where I felt I was uprooting everything and it hasn't been easy.  But, Abram is called with a purpose as well.  Beginning in 12:2, God says:

(2)I will make you into a great nation,    and I will bless you;I will make your name great,    and you will be a blessing.(3)I will bless those who bless you,    and whoever curses you I will curse;and all peoples on earth    will be blessed through you.

God is calling him out of his land and away from his family so that his descendants will one day become a great nation that will bless everyone on earth.  Now THAT's a big purpose!  Also notice that God promises Abram protection at the beginning of verse 3.  God gives Abram assurance that he will carry out his plan to bless the earth through his descendants.

The next section gives some details about Abram's journey South to Egypt.  His passage through the land of Caanan would have been an important detail for ancient readers.  This was the land God had promised to Abram and his descendants (them).  This was the land that they, during the exodus, were journeying to.

But notice how Abram responds to the promises of God.  Even after God shows him the land he and his descendants would inherit.  In the very next section we see Abram hatching a scheme to protect himself (verses 11 through 13).  He was afraid the Egyptians would kill him and take his wife.  So he tells his wife to hide their marriage and say they are siblings (they are half-siblings from Genesis 20:12).  I'd love to criticize Abram because he so quickly forgot the purpose and  promises God gave him in verses 2 and 3.  Does he think God won't be successful?  Does he think God won't protect him?  Why should he act so dishonestly?  When I wonder these things, I also realize I probably wouldn't have acted differently.  I also quickly forget God's promises and purposes.  I quickly seek my own solutions.  I also doubt His faithfulness.  I suspect we all do.  And, this should not be surprising.  As we have already seen, we are not the hero of our stories, God is.

And on that note, we read verses 12:14-20.  Abram's scheme backfires and his wife is taken from him.  Oh, how sad it is that I can identify with his cowardice!  But God is faithful and God rescues Abram from his own failed scheme (in spite of Abram's faithlessness).