Abraham — A Lifetime of Trust
Estimated reading time: 23 minutes
Context for background:
Genesis 11:27–32 KJV:
27 Now these are the generations of Terah: Terah begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran begat Lot. 28 And Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his nativity, in Ur of the Chaldees. 29 And Abram and Nahor took them wives: the name of Abram’s wife was Sarai; and the name of Nahor’s wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah, and the father of Iscah. 30 But Sarai was barren; she had no child. 31 And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran his son’s son, and Sarai his daughter in law, his son Abram’s wife; and they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan; and they came unto Haran, and dwelt there. 32 And the days of Terah were two hundred and five years: and Terah died in Haran.
Let’s take a look at Abraham and his lifetime of trust.
Romans 4:1–3 APNT
What then? Are we saying about Abraham the patriarch that he obtained [justification] by the flesh?
For if Abraham was justified by works, he had [a reason for] boasting, but not toward God.
For what does the scripture say? Abraham believed in God and it was counted to him for justification.
Abraham was not justified by works, but by believing God.
Romans 4:11–12 APNT
For he received circumcision [as] a sign and seal of the uprightness of his faith that was in uncircumcision, so that he would become the father to all those who believe from the uncircumcision (that it would be counted to them for uprightness also) and the father to the circumcision, not to those who are from the circumcision only, but also to those who follow in the footsteps of the faith of the uncircumcision of our father Abraham.
Abraham was a father to Israel to the circumcision but God didn’t call him when he was already circumcised. He called him when he was uncircumcised and that’s the reason why he can also be a father to us too.
In Acts, we see when God called Abram and how He counted righteousness to him. It wasn’t because of Abram’s behavior or works.
Believing is not works, and believing is not work. Abraham’s life shows us what believing is.
This record is when Stephen is giving a history reminder.
Acts 7:2–4 APNT
And he said, “Men, our brothers and our fathers, listen. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia before he came to live in Haran.
And he said to him: Depart from your country and from among your kinsmen, and go to the country that I will show you.
And then Abraham left the land of the Chaldeans and came [and] lived in Haran. And from there, after his father had died, God moved him to this land in which you live today.
Remember, Abram’s father’s name was Terah. His father was an idolater and he never throughout his whole life actually gave up his idols but he did believe enough to follow Abraham to Haran.
Genesis 11:31 KJV
And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran his son’s son, and Sarai his daughter in law, his son Abram’s wife; and they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan; and they came unto Haran, and dwelt there.
Terah must have felt comfortable settling in Haran because they worshipped the same gods as they worshipped in Babylonia. The moon god was popular in the city of Haran.
Genesis 11:32: KJV
And the days of Terah were two hundred and five years: and Terah died in Haran.
God gave Abram a promise and a direction. He told Abram to depart from his country. Abram was now living in Ur of the Chaldeans. Ur was in Babylonia, what we know today as Iraq. Babylon was overrun with idolatry and even Abram’s family worshiped idols. Can you picture God whispering to Abram, “Can you hear me? I have something to tell you. Follow me and I will lead you into a new country.”
God basically told Abram to start walking and we see Abram start a lifetime of trust in God when he starts walking.
Genesis 12:1–5 KJV:
1 Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: 2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: 3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
4 So Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran. 5 And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came.
We are part of the families of the earth, so we are among those who would be blessed in Abraham.
Romans 10:17 KJV:
So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
Faith, or believing, comes by hearing. In the Aramaic it is literally “by the hearing of the ear.” Faith comes by the hearing of the ear. In the Aramaic, that faith involves obedience; if you really hear it and believe it, then you’ll obey it.
We don’t yet know where Abram is going, but he walks because God told him to. That’s faith. That’s believing. That’s obedience.
Hebrews 11:8–10 KJV
8 By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. 9 By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: 10 For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
I recommend The Great Cloud of Witnesses, which is an older book but still available.
Abram went out on this journey not knowing where he was going. That’s trust. That’s faith or believing.
My little granddaughter, Elizabeth, is just learning how to walk. If I take her hand and walk, she’ll just happily go along even though she doesn’t know where she’s going. We should be like that with our Heavenly Father. That’s how Abram was.
Genesis 12:4–9 NET:
4 So Abram left, just as the Lord had told him to do, and Lot went with him. (Now Abram was 75 years old when he departed from Haran.) 5 And Abram took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, and all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Haran, and they left for the land of Canaan. They entered the land of Canaan.
6 Abram traveled through the land as far as the oak tree of Moreh at Shechem. (At that time the Canaanites were in the land.) 7 The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” So Abram built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him.
8 Then he moved from there to the hill country east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the Lord and worshiped the Lord. 9 Abram continually journeyed by stages down to the Negev.
Ai is where the battle of Ai would occur years later under Joshua. This area is also where Moses later takes the children of Israel to Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, and where they would receive the law, with half of Israel on one side of the mountain, and half on the other.
This was also a very sacred place for the Canaanites, a place with a giant, idolatrous pillar. Right in the middle of all this idolatry, Abram builds an alter to the Most High God.
Abram did a lot of walking, because God told him to. He didn’t understand it, but he trusted God’s word to him. And God teaches Abram a series of lessons as he travels.
Genesis 12:10 KJV:
And there was a famine in the land: and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there; for the famine was grievous in the land.
Abram went to Egypt, but learned that was not his final destination. After Egypt, he backtracks north to where he was before.
Genesis 13:1–4 NET:
So Abram went up from Egypt into the Negev. He took his wife and all his possessions with him, as well as Lot. 2 (Now Abram was very wealthy in livestock, silver, and gold.)
3 And he journeyed from place to place from the Negev as far as Bethel. He returned to the place where he had pitched his tent at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai. 4 This was the place where he had first built the altar, and there Abram worshiped the Lord.
Eventually, Abram and Lot separated. Reading between the lines, one might think that Lot wasn’t convinced that God was really leading Abram.
Genesis 13:5–13 NET:
5 Now Lot, who was traveling with Abram, also had flocks, herds, and tents. 6 But the land could not support them while they were living side by side. Because their possessions were so great, they were not able to live alongside one another. 7 So there were quarrels between Abram’s herdsmen and Lot’s herdsmen. (Now the Canaanites and the Perizzites were living in the land at that time.)
8 Abram said to Lot, “Let there be no quarreling between me and you, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen, for we are close relatives. 9 Is not the whole land before you? Separate yourself now from me. If you go to the left, then I’ll go to the right, but if you go to the right, then I’ll go to the left.”
10 Lot looked up and saw the whole region of the Jordan. He noticed that all of it was well-watered (this was before the Lord obliterated Sodom and Gomorrah) like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, all the way to Zoar. 11 Lot chose for himself the whole region of the Jordan and traveled toward the east.
So the relatives separated from each other. 12 Abram settled in the land of Canaan, but Lot settled among the cities of the Jordan plain and pitched his tents next to Sodom. 13 (Now the people of Sodom were extremely wicked rebels against the Lord.)
God teaches Abram a series of lessons as He continues to communicate with him.
Genesis 13:14–18 NET
14 After Lot had departed, the Lord said to Abram, “Look from the place where you stand to the north, south, east, and west. 15 I will give all the land that you see to you and your descendants forever. 16 And I will make your descendants like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone is able to count the dust of the earth, then your descendants also can be counted. 17 Get up and walk throughout the land, for I will give it to you.”
18 So Abram moved his tents and went to live by the oaks of Mamre in Hebron, and he built an altar to the Lord there.
God tells Abram of all these descendants, but Abram and Sarai have not yet had a child! That requires some trust! Again, Abram finds himself in a place where he would worship God in the midst of idolatry all around him.
When God told Abram that his descendants would be like the dust of the earth, that communicated to Abram. Everywhere he went, everywhere he looked he saw dust. Inside the tent, outside the tent, dust everywhere. That gave Abram a visual image that painted a clear picture. His descendants would be like that!
I think God often gives us visual images to hold onto as he teaches us so that we, too, can live a lifetime of trusting God.
The moment we got born again, God counted righteousness to us. Then we began a lifetime of learning to walk with God, to hear His still small voice, and to learn to trust Him. We learn how to love, to forgive, and to trust (have faith). If the concept of faith is unclear, think of trust.
As you walk with God, you can’t help but learn to trust Him more and more.
Genesis 14:1–12 NET:
At that time Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Kedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of nations 2 went to war against Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboyim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar). 3 These last five kings joined forces in the Valley of Siddim (that is, the Salt Sea). 4 For twelve years they had served Kedorlaomer, but in the thirteenth year they rebelled. 5 In the fourteenth year, Kedorlaomer and the kings who were his allies came and defeated the Rephaites in Ashteroth Karnaim, the Zuzites in Ham, the Emites in Shaveh Kiriathaim, 6 and the Horites in their hill country of Seir, as far as El Paran, which is near the desert. 7 Then they attacked En Mishpat (that is, Kadesh) again, and they conquered all the territory of the Amalekites, as well as the Amorites who were living in Hazezon Tamar.
8 Then the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboyim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar) went out and prepared for battle. In the Valley of Siddim they met 9 Kedorlaomer king of Elam, Tidal king of nations, Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar. Four kings fought against five. 10 Now the Valley of Siddim was full of tar pits. When the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, they fell into them, but some survivors fled to the hills. 11 The four victorious kings took all the possessions and food of Sodom and Gomorrah and left. 12 They also took Abram’s nephew Lot and his possessions when they left, for Lot was living in Sodom.
Those kings attacked Sodom and Gomorrah and captured Lot. Abram takes a stand and goes to rescue Lot.
Genesis 14:14–16 NET:
When Abram heard that his nephew had been taken captive, he mobilized his 318 trained men who had been born in his household, and he pursued the invaders as far as Dan. 15 Then, during the night, Abram divided his forces against them and defeated them. He chased them as far as Hobah, which is north of Damascus. 16 He retrieved all the stolen property. He also brought back his nephew Lot and his possessions, as well as the women and the rest of the people.
At the time, Abram had been living by the Oaks of Mamre (Gen. 14:13). He chased those kings from the southern part of Canaan all the way to Damascus to rescue Lot and his family. I believe Abram was trusting God to help him during this fight. Next comes another opportunity to build Abram’s trust.
Genesis 14:17–20 NET:
After Abram returned from defeating Kedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet Abram in the Valley of Shaveh (known as the King’s Valley). 18 Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. (Now he was the priest of the Most High God.) 19 He blessed Abram, saying,
“Blessed be Abram by the Most High God,
Creator of heaven and earth.
20 Worthy of praise is the Most High God,
who delivered your enemies into your hand.”
Abram gave Melchizedek a tenth of everything.
The king of Sodom offered Abram the spoil, but Abrams’ response gives us a clue as to his growing trust in God.
Genesis 14:21–24 NET:
21 Then the king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the people and take the possessions for yourself.” 22 But Abram replied to the king of Sodom, “I raise my hand to the Lord, the Most High God, Creator of heaven and earth, and vow 23 that I will take nothing belonging to you, not even a thread or the strap of a sandal. That way you can never say, ‘It is I who made Abram rich.’ 24 I will take nothing except compensation for what the young men have eaten. As for the share of the men who went with me—Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre—let them take their share.”
Then Abram hears from God again.
Genesis 15:1–5 NET:
After these things the word of the Lord’s message came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram! I am your shield and the one who will reward you in great abundance.”
2 But Abram said, “O Sovereign Lord, what will you give me since I continue to be childless, and my heir is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 Abram added, “Since you have not given me a descendant, then look, one born in my house will be my heir!”
4 But look, the the Lord’s message came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but instead a son who comes from your own body will be your heir.” 5 The Lord took him outside and said, “Gaze into the sky and count the stars—if you are able to count them!” Then he said to him, “So will your descendants be.”
Abram had not forgotten the promise of many descendants, but he still had no heir other than Eliazer of Damascus. This is not about doubting God. This is about talking to God from the heart, fully aware that the evidence around him seems to contradict the promise. He’s asking God, and God answers in verses 4 and 5. What is Abram’s response?
Genesis 15:6 NET:
Abram believed the Lord, and the Lord credited it as righteousness to him.
God said to look at the stars (verse 5). Imagine the constellations, like Virgo, that Abram could see (there were no bright city lights to interfere with his clear view of the night sky).
Earlier we talked about the picture, the mental image, of dust. Now Abram has a mental image of the stars, not only their number, but what was foretold in the stars.
And so again, this picture, right? Every time Abram came in the daytime, he looked at all the dust. Every time at nighttime, he walked outside and he saw the stars. Oh yeah, the Messiah.
This is also why in Galatians, it talks about how the promise is not made of none effect. It’s going to continue because this promise that God made to Abraham is still partially yet to be fulfilled about how he would have the land and all the nations of the earth would be blessed in him. But Abraham was able to grab onto that picture.
Don’t you think that God will give us pictures like that? God will give us understanding and vision to help us trust Him more.
In that culture, when a woman was barren, it was common for a wife to give her handmaid, her slave, to her husband in order to father a child. That probably seemed like a normal, cultural thing to Abram.
Genesis 16:1–4a NET:
Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had not given birth to any children, but she had an Egyptian servant named Hagar. 2 So Sarai said to Abram, “Since the Lord has prevented me from having children, please sleep with my servant. Perhaps I can have a family by her.” Abram did what Sarai told him.
3 So after Abram had lived in Canaan for ten years, Sarai, Abram’s wife, gave Hagar, her Egyptian servant, to her husband to be his wife. 4 He slept with Hagar, and she became pregnant.
Genesis 16:15–16 NET:
15 So Hagar gave birth to Abram’s son, whom Abram named Ishmael. 16 (Now Abram was 86 years old when Hagar gave birth to Ishmael.)
You should read the whole story in Genesis 16 on your own.
So at 86 years of age, Abram finally has a son, but that’s not the son promised by God.
Genesis 17:1–8 NET:
When Abram was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am the Sovereign God. Walk before me and be blameless. 2 Then I will confirm my covenant between me and you, and I will give you a multitude of descendants.”
3 Abram bowed down with his face to the ground, and God said to him, 4 “As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of a multitude of nations. 5 No longer will your name be Abram. Instead, your name will be Abraham because I will make you the father of a multitude of nations. 6 I will make you extremely fruitful. I will make nations of you, and kings will descend from you. 7 I will confirm my covenant as a perpetual covenant between me and you. It will extend to your descendants after you throughout their generations. I will be your God and the God of your descendants after you. 8 I will give the whole land of Canaan—the land where you are now residing—to you and your descendants after you as a permanent possession. I will be their God.”
God told Abram (now Abraham) to walk before Him and be blameless. That’s not blameless because of works; Abraham didn’t earn blamelessness. That’s a picture of justification. The Aramaic word picture of justification shows God’s very high standard. This is trusting that God has made him righteous, God has counted him as blameless because Abraham believed God.
Romans tells us that man believes unto righteousness. Abraham, called the friend of God, was the first person to have this kind of relationship with God. Righteous by faith. Something that we perhaps take for granted every day.
When God changed Abram’s name to Abraham (verse 4), he did it by inserting another letter into Abrams’ name. God inserted the fifth letter in the Hebrew alphabet, ה He. The fifth letter of the Hebrew alphabet stands for grace.
The idea of grace is now a part of Abraham’s name.
God gives instructions regarding the covenant between Him and Abraham.
Genesis 17:9–11 NET:
9 Then God said to Abraham, “As for you, you must keep the covenantal requirement I am imposing on you and your descendants after you throughout their generations. 10 This is my requirement that you and your descendants after you must keep: Every male among you must be circumcised. 11 You must circumcise the flesh of your foreskins. This will be a reminder of the covenant between me and you.
In verse 14 God says, “The sign of my covenant will be visible in your flesh as a permanent reminder.”
Circumcision was a seal of God’s promise, a reminder.
Genesis 18:9–14 NET:
9 Then they [the angels] asked him, “Where is Sarah your wife?” He replied, “There, in the tent.” 10 One of them said, “I will surely return to you when the season comes round again, and your wife Sarah will have a son!” (Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, not far behind him. 11 Abraham and Sarah were old and advancing in years; Sarah had long since passed menopause.) 12 So Sarah laughed to herself, thinking, “After I am worn out will I have pleasure, especially when my husband is old too?”
13 The Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will I really have a child when I am old?’ 14 Is anything impossible for the Lord? I will return to you when the season comes round again and Sarah will have a son.”
Is anything impossible for the Lord? Does that remind you of Mary’s reply after being told that she was going to have a child by the Holy Spirit? Mary said, “with God all things are possible.”
In the Greek is the idea that no word spoken is too difficult for God.
Abraham continued to trust God, even after Isaac is born. Trusting God was not just a one-time thing for Abraham.
I get so humbled sometimes because I’ve probably gained more Aramaic insights and understanding in the last four months than I did for many, many years before. And I’m almost flabbergasted that there’s just so much in God’s Word to learn and to understand. And all we have to do is just be willing to learn it.
Just say, Father, what do you have to teach me today? I’m willing. I’m going to hold your hand. I’m going to walk with you. I don’t know where we’re going. I don’t know what it’s going to look like. But I trust you. Don’t fear. Only believe.
We have the same promise, though we are looking back at what Abraham looked forward to, Jesus Christ.
Romans 4:16–17 ESV:
16 That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, 17 as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.
Abraham is a great example for us. It’s not about what things look like, it’s about what God says.
Romans 4:20–25 ESV:
20 No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, 21 fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. 22 That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.” 23 But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, 24 but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, 25 who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.
Abraham grew strong in faith. See? It’s a process. We need to encourage each other and to not be judgmental.
Have you ever said (or heard someone say), “I must not have been believing?” Actually, you’ve been believing since the day you were born again. Now, we all need to grow in believing.
So let’s not stagger at the promise of God, but ask him to teach us the things that we need to know so that we can really see the promise come to pass. Being fully persuaded that what he had promised, he was able also to perform, and therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness.
Remember when it was imputed to Abram for righteousness? He was 75 years old. He did not have a son until he was over 100. The son, Isaac, was not born until Abraham was over 100. God called him when he was 70. God gave him a promise when he was 75. He had Ishmael when he’s 86, and then it takes till he’s 99. But he believed God the entire time.
Let’s ask God to help us have the kind of trust in Him that a little child has, and say, “Father, I’ll go.” When we make mistakes, we just tell God we’re sorry and that we want to hold His hand and walk with Him for the rest of our lives.
This audio teaching is also available from the Acts Now Fellowship website.
See Also:
Related Teachings on the Acts Now Fellowship website:
Bookstore Suggestions:
