In verse one of our text, God said to Abram “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. And verse four says “So Abram went, as the Lord had told him”
First and foremost what is courage and what is obedience? Courage is the ability to do something that frightens one; it is an act of bravery. Obedience is the compliance with an order, request, or law or submission to another’s authority. This was seen in Abraham when he demonstrated courage and obeyed Gods instruction.
After Abram and his family settled in Haran, God called him to leave. What was he to leave? God said, “Go forth from your country, and from your relatives and from your father’s house”. He was called to go to a land which God would show him. The Lord assured Abram that he would be blessed.
When God called, Abram obeyed. He left with his wife, Lot, and all of their possessions. This occurred when Abram was already seventy-five years old. Why was Abram’s decision to leave his home an act of Courage? it was an act of courage because he did not know where he was going. and there was no indication that Abram had any familiarity with the land when God called him, instead, he simply put his faith in God and followed the Lord. And so acting according to God’s instructions was a sign of courage on the part of Abram.
Today God is not directly calling us to leave our homeland and relatives. But there are certainly lessons for us to learn from the example of Abram, First, we must be willing to follow God wherever He calls us to go.
Secondly, we must be willing to put God above everything. Abraham demonstrated this when he left his homeland and family to an unknown destination.
Third, we must recognize that we are strangers on the earth. But more than just acknowledging this status, we must act like we are strangers. Peter wrote, “Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul”
(1 Peter 2:11). We must “not be conformed to this world, but transformed” (Romans 12:2). Remember that “our citizenship is in heaven” (Philippians 3:20). Abram’s desire was to find “the city which has foundations whose architect and builder is God” (Hebrews 11:10). He desired “a better country, that is, a heavenly one” (Hebrews 11:16). This must be our desire as well.
Abram was willing to leave what was comfortable and familiar in order to follow the Lord. We must be willing to sacrifice anything – even our own lives (Romans 12:1) – so that we might please the Lord. It will not be easy, but we must take courage and do it.