The faith of Abram

From the beginning of Abram's story, we see God's call for him: "I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others." (Genesis 12:2) To receive these blessings, Abram was asked to believe preposterous claims; leave his home country, which was virtually unheard of at the time; wait 25 years for the first sign (a son) of the great nation he was to father; and circumcise himself and his household as a sign of his belief. A lot was asked of Abram, so it's no wonder his faith wavered at times. He didn't believe God would protect him when he went to Egypt, so he pretended Sarai was his sister to avoid any conflict with the Egyptians. Of course, some times what you work so hard to avoid, you find. Abram and Sarai's deception led to God taking out his anger on Pharoah (Genesis 12:10-20) and causing the conflict they sought to avoid. Did Abram learn from this about the value of trusting in God? He was human, and thus prone to repeating his mistakes. He used the same deception with King Abimelech of Gerer years later (Genesis 20:1-18). God himself intervened that time to stop the deception.

Abram's faith also wavered as he waited for his great nation to begin. After ten years of trying to have a baby with Sarai, they hatched a plan to circumvent God's plan by having Abram get Sarai's servant Hagar pregnant (Genesis 16). And who could blame them for trying? Taking a slave as a wife was common at the time, and they both were getting older by the day, too old for children (or so they thought). But God delivers on His promises. We just often have a hard time waiting as long we need to for the promises to happen. Abram and Sarai's attempts at creating their own future led to jealousy, disobedience, blame, cruelty, hate, and ultimately to the creation of a nation that would forever live in conflict with Abram's great nation.

And through all of this and more, God stands by Abram and Sarai. He blesses them with new names, a son to start the great nation, and patience through all of their travails. I have no idea why God didn't get angry with Abram and Sarai for their unbelief and disobedient actions, but I'm thankful that the same God who showed patience with them shows patience with me today. I need every once of mercy and grace that I can get. Thank you, Lord, for your patience with me.