Learning Through Disobedience - Daily Treasure - June 5

Learning Through Disobedience

Chuck and Sharon W. Betters

TODAY’S TREASURE

By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the Promised Land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God (Hebrews 11:8–10).

Abraham, the Bible tells us, spent much of his life traveling. After he was called by God to leave his native land, Abraham simply moved from place to place, living in tents, always leaving—every campsite just another place to rest for a short while. Yet, even though he had no place on earth to call “home,” Abraham’s home was real to him nonetheless; for his true home was based upon a promise from God to him and to his descendants, a home that lay somewhere in the distant future. Thus, it could be said that Abraham lived between two worlds—the world he actually lived in, always as a stranger, and the world he spent his life seeking as we read in Today’s Treasure:

By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the Promised Land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God (Hebrews 11:8–10).

We believe Abraham was a moon worshiper (Joshua 24:2) when God singled him out and gave him these specific instructions in Genesis:

Leave your home in Ur of Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq). Leave your father and your other relatives behind. Go to the land I, the Lord, will show you (Genesis 12:1).

God also gave him a magnificent, six-part promise, the same promise referenced in Galatians 3:9, referring to Genesis 12:1-3:

• I will make you a great nation.
• I will bless you.
• I will make your name great.
• I will bless those who bless you.
• Whoever curses you I will curse.
• All peoples on earth will be blessed through you.

Was Abraham just born “holy”? Did he immediately believe God’s promises and obey this strange call to pack his bags and move far away, even though he didn’t even know where he was going? We might imagine that, once he met with God, Abraham spent the rest of his life coasting trouble-free through this world, “living as a stranger and loving it,” and, of course, never ever faltering. We can almost see Abraham singing en route to Canaan, “This world is not my home; I’m just ’a passin’ through. My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue!”

But Abraham did not instantly or completely obey God’s call. There was a lapse between the time God gave Abraham his original instructions and the time he finally packed up and began his long trek. We know this because: 

“The LORD had said to Abram [his name when this story begins], “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.” (Genesis 12:1).

Stephen, the first martyr, in his account of this story, also provides us with a clue as to the timing of God’s call to Abraham: 

Brothers and fathers, listen to me! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran. Leave your country and your people, God said, “and go to the land I will show you” (Acts 7:2–3).

LIFE-GIVING ENCOURAGEMENT

Abraham’s obedience was not only belated, and it was defective in other ways as well. Instead of traveling only with his immediate family, when he finally left Ur and headed toward Canaan, he took his extended family with him (Genesis 11:31; 12:4). He settled with them in Haran, not Canaan. It wasn’t for another five years after his father, Terah, died that Abraham finally moved on to Canaan. In Hebrews 11:8, the words “Abraham, when called to go . . . obeyed and went” literally mean, “while he went”—in other words, that Abraham was learning obedience en route while on his life’s journey.  (Adapted from Treasures of Faith, pages 83-85)

Friends, consider this. God did not choose Abraham to be His child because of his inerrant holiness or good works. In fact, Abraham’s life is a shadow of our own, where we, too, learn, as children of God, how to “obey as we go.” Abraham’s only source of information about how to walk by faith was the presence of God Himself, truly a picture of the fulfillment of the many Scriptures teaching us to trust God’s presence and promises when we face uncertain days. 

PRAYER

Father, You know our frailties, how incapable we are of walking by faith on our own. Through Abraham’s story, you reveal the precious promise of Your presence and give us a roadmap for walking by faith wherever you place us. 

I hope these devotionals will whet your appetite and encourage you to dig deep into Hebrews 11 on your own.  They are adapted with permission from P&R Publishing. P&R is offering Treasures of Faith for $3.00 each! And the Leader’s Guide for $2.00. Supplies are limited.

More free resources for help hope & healing:

Anchoredhope.co Biblically grounded, clinically informed virtual counseling. We offer convenient and confidential virtual counseling with theologically educated and professionally trained counselors.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Sharon W. Betters is a mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, pastor’s wife, and cofounder of MARKINC Ministries, where she is the Director of Resource Development. Sharon is the author of several books, including Treasures of Encouragement, Treasures in Darkness, and co-author with Susan Hunt of Aging with Grace. She is the co-host of the Help & Hope podcast and writes Daily Treasure, an online devotional.

For more from Daily Treasure please visit MARKINC.ORG.