GENESIS 12-13 LEARN TO TRUST THE LORD2018 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Genesis 12-13 Learn To Trust The Lord

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2018.

This morning, we're looking at the beginning, really, of the life of Abraham and walking with the Lord here in Genesis chapter 12, as well as we'll delve into chapter 13 a little bit as well. And I've titled the message this morning, Learn to Trust the Lord. Because what we see in the life of Abraham is that he was a man of faith. In fact, in the New Testament, he's called the father of faith. But

Although he trusted the Lord and he had faith, we also get to see the development of that. That he didn't start out being, you know, the man of faith that the New Testament refers to him as, but that he started with faith, but he also grew and developed in trusting the Lord throughout his walk with God through his life. And so we get to follow along with that today in our passage. We get to see the beginning and in our reading as we continue to read

Begin, you know, again, reading the Bible in three years and working our way through Genesis and the life of Abraham. We'll get to see that in the coming chapters that develop as Abraham trusts God and continues to walk with God throughout his life. Pastor David Guzik puts it this way. Abraham will certainly become a giant of faith, even being the father of the believing, yet he did not start there. We will see Abraham as an example of growing in faith and obedience.

And as we look at Abraham this morning, I want to encourage you in that, that it's a process of learning to trust in the Lord, that we trust the Lord and we go forward with the Lord, but also recognizing that we are not fully developed yet in our faith and not fully developed in our trust of the Lord yet, but that like Abraham, we're on this path of development, this path of learning to trust in the Lord.

And as we consider the life of Abraham and this kind of beginning portion of his walk with the Lord, there's a passage I want you to be considering and have in mind as we work our way through it. And it's probably a verse you've never heard or read before, but Proverbs chapter 3 verse 5 and 6 says this,

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he shall direct your paths. And as we see this great exhortation that we do know, that we are familiar with, that many people will look to this and say, this is my life verse. And you know, this is the verse that speaks to me the most throughout my life. And that's great.

And we get to see this modeled for us in the life of Abraham here in this chapter, as well as in the chapters to come as we continue to read through his life, that Abraham really was one who trusted God

in the Lord with all of his heart, not without fail. And we'll see that, but, but that he trusted in the Lord and that he acknowledged the Lord in his ways. And, and I want to encourage you to keep that in mind and, and set that before us as the objective and the goal of our hearts and lives that we would learn to trust the Lord in the same way that Abraham did.

And so we're going to be looking at Abraham this morning, or I might refer to him as Abraham because later on God renames him to be Abraham. And so forgive me if I do that, but we know who we're talking about. Abraham, Abraham, this man who was called by the Lord to become the father of the Hebrew nation and the one through whom God would bring the savior of the world.

There's five points that we'll look at this morning as we talk about learning to trust the Lord. The first one is found here in verses one through four of chapter 12, and that is trust God with an obedient step. Trust God with an obedient step. Looking again at verse one, it says, now the Lord had said to Abraham, get out of your country from your family and from your father's house to a land that I will show you.

And then in verse 4, it goes on to tell us that Abraham does this. He leaves his family and house and he heads out from Haran to Canaan. As we begin to think about this first passage here, trusting God with this first obedient step,

it's easy to look at this passage and kind of get the impression that it's like this very clear word from the Lord and then immediate decision that follows at a very specific point in time. Like Abraham went to church on Sunday. The Lord said, you need to get out from your family and go to the land that I'm going to show you. And so Monday morning, Abraham packed up his bags and he

moved his family out towards the land of Canaan. And we can kind of get that picture from these verses. And yeah, I would encourage you to consider that it probably wasn't like that at all. In fact, it was probably much more of a process of

than what we see developed in these verses. We have, you know, the summary of these events in these verses, but it's not describing all of the context and all of the details that we're going into this thing that the Lord was speaking to Abraham and, uh,

bringing him to the point of making the decision to take the step of obedience in what God had called him to. And I want to just walk through this a little bit with you, if you would bear with me, because in verse 1, it tells us, Now the Lord had said to Abram,

The details here in this verse are a little bit interesting because it says the Lord had said to Abram. And so as we're introduced to Abram here in verse one, we're coming on the scene where God has already spoken at some time in the past, this message of moving to this land that I will show you. Now, if you back up a little bit into Genesis chapter 11, you see a little bit of history about Abram and his father.

His father's name was Terah. And in verse 31 of Genesis chapter 11, it says, So we find, first of all, Abraham with his dad.

And his dad decides to move. He has a destination in mind and they begin the journey there. Now, just looking at the map a little bit to give us a little bit of context here.

Abram was living with his dad in Ur. That's over in Mesopotamia. It's in the area that later becomes Babylon, right off of the Euphrates River there. And Terah, it tells us in chapter 11, decides to move his family to Canaan. Now, Canaan is over on the Mediterranean Sea, but you couldn't cross straight across because that was just barren, desolate desert. And

And so instead they followed the Euphrates River up to the north. And for whatever reason, they don't continue the journey and go down to Canaan, but they stay in Haran at the north point there at the Euphrates River. And so they set out for Canaan, it says. And I think that's interesting. They had that destination in mind. It gives us the impression here in chapter 11, verse 31, that

Terah, he's the dad. He's in charge here. He's leading this course, this path. And instead of making it all the way to Canaan, he stops in Haran. They set out for Canaan. They didn't quite make it there. And then now in chapter 12, we're going to see Abram pack up his bags and he heads out of Haran and then makes his way down to Canaan. Now, what's interesting about this as we

are introduced here to verse 1, where the Lord had spoken to Abram to get out from your country, away from your family, and to go to the land that I will show you. We have an extra insight from Stephen, the first martyr of the church in Acts chapter 7, where he tells us that God had appeared to Abram in Ur before he ever reached Haran, before he ever got that far. God had appeared to Abram and spoken to him there.

about getting out of his father's house, getting away from his family, getting out of his country, and going to the land that God would show him. And so we pick up in chapter 12, and Abraham is in Haran. But some point prior to that, back when he lived in Ur, God has already spoken this to him. Now, as we look at this, there is a tendency many times, and you'll

probably hear this or read this or, you know, see this referred to many times that Abraham didn't quite, you know, do what God wanted him to do because God called him to leave and he left, but he brought his dad with him and, you know, he wasn't supposed to. He was supposed to leave his family and, you know, that kind of thing. I'm sure you've heard that and that's something you can wrestle with. But

From chapter 11 of Genesis, it gives us this impression that it's actually his dad that is leading this journey. And that would be appropriate to their culture. The dad would lead the way. And that was the appropriate thing for Abraham to go with him. But sometimes there is this kind of like, and I'm trying to be careful not to fault Abraham for the course that he took. But to then understand and develop that Abraham has been hearing from God this message.

that God has a place for him, that God wants to lead him somewhere. He's going to show him something and it's going to be separate from his family. And God has been speaking this to Abraham. It's been in the back of his mind. It's been on his heart forever.

for a long time. We don't know how long they stayed in Haran, but it's about a 600 mile journey from Ur to Haran and then another 500 to Canaan. And so he's had this on his mind for that journey to take place. He had a lot of time when God spoke to him and then later on when it's actually fulfilled. And it's not just that, you know, God said it and then the next day Abraham went, but God said it and then Abraham sat with that instruction and

for the journey north, and then later on, the time in Haran, it came to a point where it was time to go. Now again, we don't have all the details, we don't know the context, but let me just throw out a little curveball here. It could be that back in Ur, Abraham didn't want to leave. It could be, the text would allow for it, that Terah, his dad, wanted to go. He says, come on family, we're moving out of Ur, we're going to Canaan. And

And Abraham could have been the one saying, I don't want to go to Canaan. What's over in Canaan? You know, that's a long journey. We're comfortable here. It could be, and we don't know, I'm just making stuff up. But the point is, it could be that God began to speak to him then to prepare him to go with his dad, to prepare him to be in Haran, to prepare him to then move forward to Canaan. That it's not necessarily the impression that we get of a clear, you know,

Today he hears this, so tomorrow he packs up and goes. But that this is the culmination of a long process of God speaking something to Abraham. This is what we know. After God has been speaking to Abraham about this, he said this, it settled in Abraham's heart for a long time. Then it came to the point in verse 4, so Abraham departed as the Lord had spoken to him.

God had said back in Ur, he's in Haran for some amount of time. We don't know. It could have been years. It could have been decades. We don't know. But he's there for some time. And then he departs. It came to the point that the thing that God had been speaking to Abraham about, the thing that God had had upon Abraham's heart for a long time, now is the time to execute that plan. It's not that Abraham was delaying

the obedience, but that God had been speaking to him about it for a while, and now is the time to put that into practice and to begin to do the things that God has been speaking to him. I find that many times in my life, that is the way that God speaks and works. That it's not so much you hear one specific thing one time, and then the next day you just begin to implement that, but that God puts something upon your heart. And

Maybe you want to shake it. Maybe you want to kind of forget about it. Maybe you want to pretend like you never heard that from the Lord, but the Lord doesn't let it go away and it just settles there in your heart and in your mind and it's in the back of your mind. It's on your heart and, you know, that over the process of time, the Lord is building and solidifying and clarifying the thing that he desires, but then it comes to a point. There's a point in time where now it's a decision time and

Where now God says, okay, all that I've been speaking to you, that thing, I gave you hints about it. I've given you, you know, subtle reminders that that's still a plan that I have for you. Now it's time to implement that. Now it's time to act on that and to do what I've called you to do.

And that's the point of decision of trusting God or not, obeying God or not. And what we see here happen for Abraham is that he decides to trust God and he takes the step of obedience. He trusts God and he heads out. We don't see any hint of God, you know, faulting Abraham for the timing here. That this is, it's not...

the inappropriate time. It's the right time that God's been speaking this for a long time. It's come to this point of decision and now is the time and Abraham makes the right decision.

He decides to trust God and believe God at his word. This instruction to go comes with some great promises in verse two and three, where God says, I will make you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you. I will curse him who curses you. And in you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

This instruction to Abraham, this point that he's come to to decide to trust God and go forward, comes with some incredible promises. But as you look at those promises, you can recognize they're not immediate fulfillment type of promises. You know, that everything will always be easy. But their long-term, big picture, God says, I'm going to bless you and your life is going to have an impact on me.

on many lives, on all of humanity, because of course it's through Abraham that God is going to bring forth the Savior, the Messiah. God's instruction to Abraham also came with some sacrifices. That is, there's going to be a cost, Abraham. I'm going to bless you as you obey me, but you're going to have to leave your country. You're going to have to leave your family. You're going to have to move away from your father's house, and you're going to have to go somewhere that you're not familiar with.

To a land that I will show you. It was going to require a cost, a sacrifice of his comfort, of his security, of what he had known and their traditional way of life in those days. And Abraham was going to have to lay those things aside and to trust in God.

God. I like what Alexander McLaren says about that. He says, God does not hide the sacrifices that have to be made. If we will be true to his command, he will enlist no recruits on false pretenses. As we talk about learning to trust God and trusting God with an obedient step, as God's been speaking to your heart, as God's been, you know, putting things on your mind and calling you to things, understand he's not going to try to trick anybody into anything. There are costs involved.

Jesus, as he was sharing in his ministry, he made it clear. You guys need to count the cost. You want to be my disciple? Jesus said, count the cost. There's cost involved. There's sacrifice.

To be my disciple, he says, you have to deny yourself and take up your cross and follow me. There's going to be a price. There's going to be difficulty. There's going to be, you know, situations that are hard and unthinkable even. It's worth it. The promises that he gives, you know, it's worth it, but there is a cost. And he's not tricking Abraham. He's saying, look, you're going to have to leave some things. You're going to have to let some things go. You're going to have to leave some things behind and you're going to have to move on

in faith, trusting me in this land that I will show you. It required faith. You'll have to actually trust God. I don't know about you, but you know, I like to have the whole plan set

all at once ahead of time, you know, show me the routes, show me the turns, show me the destination. If I was Abraham, I would have been asking, you know, for that list of turn-by-turn directions with the destination, maybe the street view of the destination so I can know what I'm looking for and, you know, know what it's going to look like when I get there. But Abraham didn't get any of that. God just says, go, and then when you get to where you're going, then I'll let you know that you've arrived.

Again, trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. You don't have to understand the path. You don't have to understand the route. You don't have to understand the destination. I'll let you know when we're there. I'll let you know when you have arrived. And so Abraham trusts God with an obedient step. He holds onto God's promises and believes God's going to be faithful to his promises. There's going to be some cost. There's going to be some sacrifice, but it's worth it.

I don't know where I'm going. I don't know how I'm going to get there. I don't know what's going to work, you know, and how I'm going to be provided for and how everything's going to work out once I get there. I don't know, but I'm not going to lean on my own understanding. Abraham says, I'm going to trust God and do what God has put upon my heart. I'm going to do what God has been speaking to me about for a very long time. I would ask you to consider this morning. Has God been speaking something to you about

for a while. Now, there are some things that God speaks to us, and he expects and says, you know, respond immediately. Here's what I say, now do it. But there's also a lot of things where God speaks to us, and it's not necessarily that it's for the moment, but it's part of something that he's building towards.

And he's preparing our hearts for, he's preparing us for, so that when it comes to be the right time, we're ready. We've been prepared. He's given us the hints. He's had that on our hearts and mind for a long time. And now is the time to execute. Now is the time to go forward. And maybe you're in the traveling from Ur to Haran type of phase, you know, that God is speaking something. Hold on to those things and meditate on those things and let God develop those things in your heart.

But if you're at the point where now it's time to put into practice what God has been saying, trust God with an obedient step. Your obedience will involve the same things that Abraham's did. It will involve the promises of God. One that we often refer back to is Matthew 6, verse 33. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these other things will be added to you.

That's a promise. You put God first, you trust God and you do what he said and he will take care of the needs and the practical things in your life. There's promises that God has for you as you obey.

But also, don't be mistaken, there's sacrifices, there's costs, and you're going to have to leave some comfort things. You're going to have to let some things go and let go of things that you would love to hold on to and that you wish you could have with you for the rest of your life. There's going to be some of those things that have to be removed in order to grasp hold of these promises in obedience to God. And there's going to be uncertainty.

If you're waiting for all the answers, if you're waiting for everything to be figured out and everything to be resolved before you start down the path of obedience, you're going to be waiting forever because God does not normally work that way. Sometimes he does and bless him when he does. That's great. But most of the time, he says, here's a step. And that's great because you don't have to be the finished product.

Abraham is the father of faith, but not yet. Not in verses one through four. He's just starting out the process. He doesn't have to be the completed work. You don't have to be the completed work.

to start obeying God, you can just take this first step, this next thing that he has set before you, this next thing that he has called you to, and trust him. And that will continue the work that he's doing in you to prepare you for all that he wants to do. So trust in the Lord with all your heart and don't lean on your own understanding, but in all your ways, acknowledge him and he shall direct your paths.

Moving on to point number two. Now we're going to look at verses five through nine. Here the point is to maintain your trust in God. So you start out good. God's been speaking to you for a long time. It comes to the point of decision. Great. You started to walk with God. You started to trust God. That's great. Now,

Don't let that be the last time you trust God, the last step of obedience. But take some steps to maintain that trust and that relationship with God. We see that happen in Abraham's life. In verse 5, it goes on to say, Verse 6,

Here as Abraham goes forward, he takes the step. He begins the journey.

Now, as he works his way through the land of Canaan, he works his way to the southern part of the land of Canaan, which we would refer to today as Israel. And there, it tells us in verse 7 that the Lord appeared to Abram. Just exactly what God said he would do. He said, go to the land that I will show you. And so as Abram goes forward, he's in the land, he's traveling through, and suddenly the Lord shows up.

and says, this is it. This is the land. Remember I was telling you about the land all the way back in there? This is the land. The Lord appears to Abram. He shows up. He interrupts Abram. We don't know what Abram had on his agenda at that point. Maybe Abram did have a route in mind. He did have a route planned out perhaps. He had some thoughts about where he would go next and what might happen next. But the Lord shows up.

Abraham didn't have to figure out where the promised land was. He just had to take the step of obedience. Obedience and faith are the same thing. They're synonymous. It's obeying God at his word. That's what faith is. And so that's what he had to do. He had to take that obedient step and trust God. And then when Abraham was at the right place, God shows up and says, hey, Abraham, by the way, you're here. This is the land that I've been speaking to you about.

This is the land that I have promised to your descendants. I will give this land. And Abraham responds here in verse seven by building an altar to the Lord. And this is significant because we see this as a pattern in Abraham's life. As he is going throughout the promised land, he builds altars to the Lord. Now this is before Abraham.

The covenant that God gives through Moses and the Levites and the priests and the very specific regulations he has about the tabernacle, the temple, the altar that goes along with it. This was before all of that. So it was completely appropriate for Abraham to build an altar. This was part of his way of worshiping God. In fact, I would say it this way. Abraham, in building an altar, was making it a priority to worship God.

He was making it a priority to maintain his relationship with God. That's what this altar is about. It's a meeting place for him to meet with the Lord, for him to give himself to the Lord, for him to worship the Lord and to be with the Lord. And so he builds an altar. It's his honor, his reverence, his respect for the Lord. It's his relationship with the Lord. In response to God showing up and saying,

Here it is. This is the land I've been telling you about. Abraham says, I want to remember this place and I want to keep coming back here. I want to keep spending time with God in this way. But then we find something interesting in verse eight. It says, and he moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel and he pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord.

So the Lord shows up. The Lord appears in verse 7. Abraham builds an altar. And then in verse 8, and he moved from there. Now, why would you move from there where God has just shown up and revealed himself and said, this is the land that I'm going to give to you.

Well, first of all, when God says, this is the land I'm going to give to you, he wasn't talking about, you know, the 10 feet surrounding you, you know, this block. He's talking about this whole land, this whole region. And so as Abraham moves, he's not moving out of what God has promised to him. He's still within this land that God has promised to him, but he moves on from that specific location. It kind of reminds me of Peter at the Mount of Transfiguration. Remember when

Peter, James, and John are with Jesus and Moses and Elijah appear with him. And Jesus is transfigured and there's all this glory. And the father speaks out, you know, this is my beloved son, listen to him. And, and, and Peter's like, this is awesome. Let's build tents and let's just stay here. Abraham, he has this awesome revelation from the Lord, a great time of worship builds an altar, but God hasn't called him to build a city there and make that his kingdom.

God has called Abraham to be a pilgrim, to be on the move. And so just because God has shown up, it doesn't mean that's the end of the path. Abraham is to continue on his journey. And so he moves on, but he moves on carrying with him that relationship with God, because there, as he moves on to this place, he builds an altar to the Lord, it says in verse eight, and called on the name of the Lord. Amen.

And so he moves from that location because it's not really about the location. He moves from that location and carries with him his commitment and this priority to be a worshiper of God, to be submitted to God, to be walking with God. Alexander McLaren says, Abraham's life was permeated with worship. Wherever he pitches his tent, he builds an altar. And notice, so he fed his faith and kept up his communion with God.

He took steps. He was called by God to be a pilgrim, to be moving about. But as he did, he made sure to maintain his relationship with God, his trust in God. And so he would build an altar where he would go. It's interesting to consider that in building an altar, it would typically be either out of stone or

or out of dirt. And so it would be this effort to build this altar, to pile these stones, you know, to be able to use them for sacrifices, to mound up the dirt. I don't know if you've ever grabbed a shovel and tried to do a big pile of dirt, you know, that you could offer sacrifices on. It's a lot of work. It's a serious investment. And when Abraham would go, he would invest in his spiritual life and he would

Prepare an altar for him to meet with God. Something else to consider in this passage, I think is interesting that we see in verse seven, the Lord appeared to Abraham. God initiates, right? He interrupts. He jumps on the scene and tells Abraham, this is where I've called you to be. This is the land that I'm giving to you. God revealed himself to Abraham initially. But then in verse eight, there's no mention of a appearance of the Lord, right?

But instead, Abram still builds an altar and then Abram calls out to the Lord. He calls on the name of the Lord. That is, sometimes it's God initiating the conversation and sometimes it's Abram initiating the conversation. And this is a really great picture for us of what real relationship with God is like. That sometimes it's God who is initiating conversation with us. Now,

God is always the initiator in the sense that, you know, he's the one who has reached out to us and redeemed us and offered to us forgiveness. But sometimes God just, you know, interrupts your day and speaks to you loud and clear. And he likes to do that. But also God doesn't do that every day, all throughout the day, every moment of the day, every day of your life. Sometimes he does that. But also sometimes he expects you to call out to him. Sometimes he's interrupting you. Sometimes he's waiting for you to interrupt yourself.

and to sit down, build an altar, and call on the name of the Lord. God initiates, but not in a micromanaging type of way where every time you have a connection with God and you're walking with God and hearing from God, that it's, you know, God initiates it. It's everything that he does, but that he calls us then to call on him.

And sometimes he interrupts us and speaks to us in ways that we weren't expecting, but we're also to build our altars and have those times with the Lord that we would be listening for God and letting God speak to us when he has something to say, but also not only spending time with God when he interrupts our day, but building our own altars wherever we go and investing in our relationship with God.

Well, Abraham was still not at the final destination. This wasn't his final resting place. Now he's at this new location. He's built an altar. Now this is where my kingdom goes. No, verse nine goes on to say, so Abraham journeyed going on still toward the south. Why would you leave the second altar? Why would you leave the first one? Why would you leave the second one? Why does he continue to journey? Very simply, it's because, well, it's what God had called him to.

The author of Hebrews gives us a little bit of insight in Hebrews chapter 11.

He starts out in verse 8 telling us, Then in verse 9 of Hebrews 11 it says,

For he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. Abraham was in the promised land, not looking for a city to become his home. And he wasn't there to try to build a city. He was there waiting for God to say, this is my city. He was looking for a city which has foundations.

And he's not talking about concrete. He's talking about God has established it. God hasn't called Abram to settle there. So he doesn't settle yet. He moves on to the next place. And there God hasn't called him to settle. So he moves on to the next place. He was committed to dwelling in the promised land as in a foreign country. If you go on a vacation to a foreign country, well, you...

You're on vacation. You're passing through. You don't go build a house on your vacation, right? You go stay in a hotel or you stay at a friend's house or you pitch a tent. That's what Abraham did because, well, that's what God had called him to. And so he's working his way because he's a pilgrim. He's journeying, taking steps all the while to maintain his trust in God. The solid thing in Abraham's life was not his home, not his permanent location, but

but it was his walk with God and his relationship with God. I like what Pastor Dave Guzik says about this. He says, we too are to live like tent dwellers as pilgrims on this earth. We should live as people who have their permanent dwelling place in heaven, not on earth. And then he says, too many Christians want to build mansions on earth and think they would be happy with tents in heaven. That last line I think is worth considering a little bit.

Too many Christians want to build mansions on earth and think they would be happy with tents in heaven. We can easily have our priorities reversed and mixed up. Instead of seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, we are seeking first our kingdom here, the temporary kingdom,

And thinking, well, heaven's going to be great. So I don't need to worry so much about that. I don't need to prepare so much for that. You know, I'll be cool with a tent in heaven, but I need something solid here. And Dave Guzik reminds us, the Lord calls us to a life of faith, setting our eyes on the things above.

preparing ourselves for eternity. Now, not saying that we shouldn't have homes, you know, that specific detail of Abraham's life was specific to his life. And some people are given that same call and some are not. But the point is making real investments in our spiritual life as the priority over the investments of our temporary life. That is wherever I go, I'm going to live in a tent. Think about a tent.

Right? Abraham's tent was more temporary than the altar. Abraham would pack up his tent and move on to the next location. The tent would be gone, but the altar would remain. He invested in his spiritual life. He invested in his walk with God. He took steps to maintain his trust with God. It required effort. It required steps that he would take and to build these altars.

But he kept putting God first. He kept investing in his spiritual life in that way. And so like Abraham, I want to encourage you to maintain your trust in God. Sometimes the Lord's going to interrupt your day and appear to you, but that's not the only time you should have some interaction with God. You should be building an altar and connecting with God and having a real commitment to God in your life. Maintain your trust.

And do that in all of your ways. Again, Proverbs 3, 5, and 6. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge him. I would suggest to you that that's what Abraham was doing. As he built an altar everywhere he went, he was acknowledging the Lord in all his ways. Making every decision, making every location, making everything about him and his relationship with God and his walk with the Lord.

That's what God is calling us to. It's not that God doesn't call us to have a home. It's not that God doesn't have us, call us to have, you know, certain things, but that everywhere we go and all the decisions that we make, that we would be building altars, that every part of that would be part of our investment in our walk with God and our relationship with God, maintaining our trust in God because of our relationship with him.

Well, moving on now to verses 10 through 16, we get point number three, and that is trust God through the testing. Trust God through the testing. It's been great so far walking with Abraham, but now there's going to be a challenge. In verse 10, it tells us, now there was a famine in the land and Abraham went down to Egypt to dwell there for the famine was severe in the land. And it came to pass when he was close to entering Egypt that he said to Sarai, his wife,

Indeed, I know that you are a woman of beautiful countenance. Therefore, it will happen when the Egyptians see you that they will say, this is his wife and they will kill me, but they will let you live. Please say you are my sister, that it may be well with me for your sake, that I may live because of you. Here's Abraham in the promised land. Finally reached it, right? There was glorious music. You know, I'm in the promised land, but what happens?

there is now a severe famine. There is a serious famine. There is a serious lack, and there are real needs that are now right in Abraham's face. This is part of the reality of life, and it's part of the reality of faith that you will be tested. And

I share this now just as a warning in case you haven't experienced yet. You will be tested severely, seriously. Serious challenges, big hurdles, life and death situations, incredible risk. There will be serious testing ahead of you.

Your faith, your trust, your beliefs are going to be challenged and tried and tested. Pastor Warren Wisby gives us a little hint of why. He says, faith is always tested for at least three reasons. Number one, to prove whether our faith is real. Number two, to help our faith grow. And number three, to bring glory to the Lord. There's at least three things that God is doing with the testing.

There's a proving of our faith. There's a development of our faith. There's a glory that's brought to God through the severe famines that we face, through the trials that we experience, through the difficulties that we encounter. Peter tells us in 1 Peter 4, he says, don't think it's strange concerning the fiery trial, which is to try you as though some strange thing were happening to you.

Don't think it's strange. Don't consider it strange as if some, wow, this is never heard of. Can you believe a child of God experiencing a severe famine in the promised land? Like you finally get to that place where God has been speaking to you about for years. You finally get there and then there's a severe famine. Don't be surprised. That's not strange. That's normal. That's part of the way that God works.

you will be tested with a severe famine. Abraham, involved in this test in verse 10, tells us he goes down to Egypt because the famine was severe in the land. So he's in the promised land. He's in the land of Canaan. Egypt is down south. It's not hard to understand why Abraham went to Egypt, is it? I think we could all understand. And I kind of picture Abraham in his tent. There's severe famine.

You know, he's looking at the pantry. He's opening up the fridge and nothing more there today than there was yesterday. It's still empty, you know. Still not sure where the food's going to come from. How are they going to survive? He's got his wife to think about. He's got his servants and flocks and herds to think about. What are we going to do? It's a lot of pressure for Abraham. And here he is at his tent. He's watching people pass by. The Canaanites were in the land of Canaan.

And just like in the days of Joseph, I think it's safe to assume and understand that everybody knew when there's a severe famine here, there's, well, there's fresh water in Egypt. There's vegetation, there's produce, there's substance there. And Abraham's watching people journey to Egypt, maybe even hosting some of them, you know, as Abraham was known as a great host and he would have people in for dinner. And so,

He's talking with the travelers as they're passing through. Yes, we've heard great reports about all the bounty that's still in Egypt. And so we're on our way there. And hey, Abram, why don't you come with us? It'd be great to have you there in Egypt with us. And we could easily play out some scenarios in our head where it's easy to understand Abram looking at Egypt and thinking that's the right thing to do. It's the right place to go. Now you could wonder, why didn't God wait till after the famine to call Abram to Canaan?

God could have done that, right? Well, he could have just ended the famine or just given Abraham his own personal rain cloud and just provided for him individually. He could have done that too. Or he could have just waited and said, Abraham, I've called you to go to Canaan, but just wait, just like six months, okay? Just camp out here for like six months because there's a big famine. And then after that, then I'll take you in. But God didn't do that because, well, faith needs to be tested. Sometimes trust requires active obedience, right?

Abraham, pack up your stuff, get out of Haran and go down south towards Canaan. Sometimes trust requires patient waiting. Don't go anywhere. Just stay there. But there's famine. I know, but just stay there. But I don't have anything. I know, but just stay there. Now, how do you know which is which? Which time it is to go and which time it is to wait? Well, that goes back to the previous point about maintaining your trust in the Lord and building those altars and investing and hearing from the Lord. What does God want?

In this case, Abraham decides to go to Egypt. Now, we don't have anything actually specifically declaring that it was wrong for Abraham to go to Egypt. It may have been right. It may have been appropriate for Abraham to go to Egypt. God might have told him to go to Egypt. That's possible. But as we go forward in the passage, we see here something was wrong because as he goes forward, he does so not trusting the Lord, but trusting in deception, right?

To survive his journey to Egypt. In verse 12, Abraham tells his wife, it will happen when the Egyptians see you that they will say, this is his wife and they will kill me, but let you live. You're so beautiful, Sarah, that I'm in danger because they're going to want to take me out so they can have you for themselves. But if you're my sister, then I'm no threat to them. They don't have to kill me. So if they take you, well, they take you. Sorry about that. But I'll be blessed. You know, that's what's important. So Abraham,

Abraham and Sarah agree to this plan and she is beautiful and they do recognize her and they do bring her into Pharaoh's harem, not married yet, not, you know, violating the marriage covenant yet, but it's like right there. It's in the journey. It's, it's on that path and the Lord is going to intervene. We'll see that in just a moment.

But at this point, the way that they respond to that, the way they handle that shows us that Abraham has taken a turn that God didn't take. Remember the Lincoln Park illustration from last week, right? We're walking through the park. And if I make a turn that Kim doesn't make, we're no longer walking together. This is what happens. Here's Abraham with God walking.

Each step of the way, building altars, investing in his spiritual life. But then in this time of testing, there's a fork in the road. And whether it's specifically to Egypt or not to Egypt, there's a departure here. Abraham has made a turn that God has not taken. And he's not trusting in God at this moment. He's trusting in his tactics, in his techniques, in his deception. This morning, I want to encourage you to learn from Abraham, not just in his victories, but also in his mistakes. You will be tested.

Trust God through the testing. Trust God through the severe famine. Trust God to protect you when it's dangerous. Sometimes that's active obedience and sometimes it's patient waiting. But in all of your ways, acknowledge him and he will direct your paths. Let God lead you through the severe famines and through the glorious bountiful valleys.

Moving on to finish the chapter, verses 17 through 20, we get point number four, and that is trust God through the failures. So as this scene develops and he's lied now and deceived and Sarah's there in the harem, in verse 17, it goes on to say, but the Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarah, Abraham's wife. And Pharaoh called Abraham and said, what is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? Why did you say she is my sister? I might've taken her as my wife.

Now, therefore, here is your wife. Take her and go your way. So Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him, and they sent him away with his wife and all that he had. Abraham has deceived Pharaoh. He's told the lies and it's played out, you know, exactly like he thought and suspected and feared. He's taken a turn that God hasn't taken, but God is still protecting Abraham.

In verse 17, it says, God has promised that through Abraham and Sarah, he would bring forth the one who would be a blessing to all nations, all peoples. God hasn't given up on that plan, even though they've put themselves in this situation where it looks like, whoa, this is going to go bad real quick. But God is still involved.

Even though this is not Abraham's highest point. This is not, you know, his shining victory moment. This is, ah, yeah, you kind of blew it there. Whether the blowing it was going to Egypt in the first place, or whether it was just lying about Sarah, or both, either way. You know, you can still trust God in the midst of your own failures. In the midst of your own failures, God still is working on your behalf.

In the midst of your failures, God still wants what's best for you and is taking steps to provide for you the best eternity possible that God is still at work and you can still trust God even when you have failed.

Even when the predicament and the situation is your own doing, that doesn't mean it comes without cost. It doesn't mean it comes without price. And so just do whatever you want and just, you know, well, God's going to take care of it. No, no, there's cost involved, but understand that

Like Abraham, we fail. We fall short. We forget to trust. We fail to trust. We lapse in our investment in our spiritual walk. And so we wander and we go to Egypt and we lie about our wives and we get involved in these messed up situations. But God doesn't give up on us in the midst of that. And he doesn't just give up and say, oh, you ruined it. Forget it. Nevermind. God is still working in

And you can trust him to do that. His mercies are new every morning. You can trust him for mercy and for grace. I like what F.B. Meyer points out about this. He says, it's a comfort that the Holy Spirit permits us to trace the successive stages through which the father of those who believe made his way to the maturity of faith.

We all stumble as we step out on the difficult path, but God is patient with his dull scholars. That's you and I, dull scholars, and he protects them. He's patient with us. We get messed up. We get mixed up. We go the wrong way. But Abraham's being developed to be the father of faith. He didn't automatically start out that way. And failing in his faith is part of that development.

I want to ask you to consider James chapter 1. It's a passage we know. My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. And that's a great promise. The testing of your faith produces patience. And so you can count it joy when you fall into trials, when your faith is tested. But here's the thing I would ask you to consider about James chapter 1. That verse is not only true when you succeed in your trials, right?

The testing of your faith produces patience. That's not only true when you're victorious in the trial, when you're flawless in the testing, when you pass the test. That's not the only time that James 1 verse 2 and 3 are true. You can still count it joy when you face trials and you fail in the trial because failing in the trial is still part of the development of what God is doing in you. This scene here in Genesis chapter 12 where Abraham says,

doesn't make the best decisions. He's failed. It's still part of the development. And later on, as he makes decisions, he has these lessons that he's learning to look back on and to grow from that. It's part of what God's doing in his heart. So that in your victories in the trials, God's producing patience and developing you and you can count it all joy. But also in your failures, in your bad decisions, God's producing patience.

He's teaching you lessons. He's developing you in your walk with him and your trust of him. And so you can count it all joy, even if you've failed. God is able to be trusted when we've failed. Many people expect God to lash out when they fail and give up. And you know, all the severe famines that you're experiencing, that's directly because you failed. And you know, sometimes we do experience famines because of our failures, but it's not God lashing out at us.

It's God developing us. And he's doing that in our victories and also in our failures. And so we can trust God in either case. We can trust God for his mercies, for his grace, and for him to work. If we continue to follow the example of Abraham, moving into chapter 13 for just a moment, verses one through four, we get point number five, and that is trust God to receive you when you return to him. Verse one tells us,

Then Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all that he had and lot with him to the south. Abram was very rich in livestock and silver and in gold. And he went on his journey from the south as far as Bethel to the place where his tent had been at the beginning between Bethel and Ai, to the place of the altar, which he had made there at first. And there Abram called on the name of the Lord. Abram has a bit of an awakening as he realizes, man,

I'm in trouble. I'm here in Egypt. I put myself, I put my wife, I put Pharaoh, I put everybody in a bad situation, a bad position. And so he moves back to the beginning, back to where he was when he built the altar and called out to the Lord. And he goes back to that same location. And what does he do? He calls on the name of the Lord. You can trust God through the testing. And even when you failed that testing, you can trust God again.

to receive you back when you return to him. You can trust God to receive you back. Go back to the altar. Go back to investing in your spiritual life. Go back to walking with God, to calling out to God, to worshiping God, to giving yourself to God. Go back because God will receive you. Jesus said, I will in no wise cast out the people who come to me, those who come to me, I will not cast them out. You have the opportunity now

to go back. God is not done. He hasn't given up. Learn to trust the Lord. And sometimes we stay away from God because the reality of the situation in our heart is we don't trust the Lord to forgive us and to receive us back. But trust the Lord. You can trust him. He will take you back. His mercies are new. His grace is still extended towards you.

He still wants to do a work. He still has good plans for you. And God's going to just pick up and continue on with Abraham and his life and the promises that he's promised to him. They're not null and void. He's still going to bless him. He's still going to be the father of the faith. It's just part of his development. Trust God that even your failures and your weak moments, you can come back to God and those moments

Those moments just become part of God's work in your life, just become part of God's development in your life. It's not the end. It's still progress, even though it doesn't feel like it. It's still a growth, a moving forward, even though it doesn't feel like it. Because God's that big. Learn to trust God, just like Abraham. You're not fully developed. You're not all the way there. But you can start right now with an obedient step.

You don't have to have it all figured out. You don't have to, you know, be a monster of faith. You can just take this next step. What is God speaking to you? Take that step. And maybe it's something that's been building for a while. And now is the time. Take that step. Move forward. Trust God. And as you go, make sure you take steps to maintain that trust. It doesn't just automatically, you know, continue.

You need to be connecting with God and spending time with God and making a real investment in your spiritual life. As you do recognize, it will be tested and you may fail, but it will be just part of the growth that God is doing in your life if you continue to come back to him when you return. I'll finish up with this quote from Donald Barnhouse. He says, "'Faith is not a mushroom that grows overnight in a damp soil. It is an oak tree that grows for a thousand years under the blast of wind and rain.'"

We would wish that faith would be just a finished work. You know, overnight, it's just boom, there it is. It's all grown up overnight. We would wish that that would be the case. But that's not how God develops our trust. It's developed over a long process of time, through a series of circumstances, through victories, through failures, through highs, through lows, through mountains, through valleys, through deserts, through droughts, through a variety of things.

God is using each one of these seasons of our lives and each aspect of our life to bring us to completion, to bring us to the point where we are giants of faith like Abraham. Abraham was a man just like you and I. He had no special advantage over us. In fact, you could argue that we have an advantage over him and that we have the finished work of Jesus upon the cross. We can trust with God and walk with God to the same degree that

because of what Christ has done for us if we will learn to trust the Lord. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not on your own understanding. In all of your ways, acknowledge him and he shall direct your paths. Lord, we thank you for these great promises. We pray that you would help us to trust you. And Lord, like that man who's often quoted from the New Testament, Lord, I believe, help my unbelief. Lord, help us.

We do lapse, we do lack in our faith and in our trust. So Lord, would you help us, develop us, build us up that we might trust you and walk with you as you've called us to. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of his word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.