The School Of Faith

God's test are for your own good and he offers retakes.

Genesis 12:7  Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him.

Genesis 12:10-13 At that time a severe famine struck the land of Canaan, forcing Abram to go down to Egypt, where he lived as a foreigner. 11 As he was approaching the border of Egypt, Abram said to his wife, Sarai, "Look, you are a very beautiful woman. 12 When the Egyptians see you, they will say, 'This is his wife. Let's kill him; then we can have her!' 13 So please tell them you are my sister. Then they will spare my life and treat me well because of their interest in you."

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Abram obeyed God and left home because he believed that God would give him a better place to live even though he did not know where he was going. He didn't have any of the navigation tools that God chooses to use sometimes, no pillar of fire or a star to follow, so I don't know how he knew which direction to go when he left the family property but he did it. If Abram needed the level of proof that we require he would not have left the driveway.

When God said "this is the place" Abram stopped to build the first altar to the one true God in the Promised Land. The land had plenty of altars but all of them were used to worship the gods that man had made out of rebellion.

This altar was an open confession of his religion that must have been an irritation to the people around him. Building the altar and using it to worship God confirms that Abram left his fake gods and truly believed the promise.

But this is not a story where they lived happily ever after in the new land, there are new faith lessons coming up, the life of faith isn't easy street, Abram would have to prove that his faith in God is real despite it's imperfections.

Three ways our faith will be tested:

Circumstances

Genesis 12:10

We all like to help God fix our problems so it is easy to understand why Abram left town when the famine came, he was responsible for the welfare of a lot of people and animals, but I have to wonder if maybe he wasn't supposed to move. Instead of going to Egypt, without a word from God telling him to do so, maybe he was supposed to stay in Canaan and allow God to provide for him there. (Compare what God told Isaac about staying put during a different famine in Genesis 26:1-3)

If he would have stayed in Canaan it would have been a great story about God's love and care during difficult times but Abram changes his circumstances and goes down to Egypt. A move that would prove to be the wrong choice more than once in Israel's history. (Numbers 11, 14, Isaiah 30:1-2)

“God doesn't always change the circumstances, but He can change us to meet the circumstances. That's what it means to live by faith.”

- Warren W. Wiersbe

The protection and promises of God are more important than the circumstances that we face. Abram didn't trust God in Canaan and soon we will see that he didn't trust God in Egypt either.

People

Genesis 12:11-13:4

Abram begins to think about the new circumstances that he would encounter in Egypt and the people that would be there. Abram proves that when we are out of God's will we tend to become self centered, our faith and trust in God gives way to scheming. He began to think about his own safety and thought nothing of the dangerous situation that his wife could be in.

This lack of faith looks like a minor issue of little importance but it jeopardized the promise made to Abram as well as the promise made to Eve back in the garden. (Genesis 3:15) How could the promised Messiah come from Sarai if she stayed in Pharaoh's harem?

Now it is Pharaoh’s turn to tell Abram to go. God said go with a promise of blessing but Pharaoh's demand to go away from Egypt was one of shame and disgrace. What a pitiful sight it is when we see the people of the world behaving better than God's children.

Things

Genesis 13:5-18

The carnal man would be pleased with the results of Abram's choice to go to Egypt, surviving the famine was a good thing but the bonus of getting more stuff makes it even better. (Genesis 13:1-5, Proverbs 10:2)

Problem is what looks like a blessing is about to make more trouble than Abram could have ever imagined:

• Disputes arose because of the wealth that caused the two men to separate. (Genesis 13:6-7)
• A handmaid enters the household that would make trouble later when pregnancy issues plague the marriage. (Genesis 16:4)
• The worldliness of Egypt would have a detrimental effect on Lot as he chose his direction in life. (Genesis 13:12-12)

When circumstances and people challenged Abram he was a troublemaker but in the third test he gets it right. When things caused family problems he made the right decision and became a peacemaker.

In contrast, Lot chose to let things get in the way of making good decisions, the appeal of Sodom probably reminded Lot of the good life that he experienced back in Egypt. Lot must have missed that lifestyle and was anxious to go back.

Abram caused trouble in Egypt because he was out of place, Lot caused trouble in Canaan because he was out of place

-Warren Wiersbe Bible Commentary

After their separation, God renews his promise to give Abram the land, even after all of his mistakes in Egypt, God reaffirms his promise that all of the land would still belong to Abram and his descendants even after Abram gave away some of the land to Lot. (Genesis 13:14-18)

Abram pitches his tent and built another altar to the LORD, another place to worship, another place of testimony to the one true God. These altars are a picture of the church today as a place of worship for pilgrims on their way to a better country.

Abram's journey of faith reminds us that Satan wants to:

• Satan wants to use circumstances, people and things against you but God uses them to test and grow your faith.
• Satan wants to define you by your failures but God want to show his grace and mercy through those failures.
• Satan wants to keep you away from your altar so that he can keep you defeated but God wants to meet you there to let you know how much you are loved.

Abram's imperfect journey of faith and obedience should be encouraging to all of us as we struggle with the reality of God's promises. We may not pass God's test on the first try but God is faithful to allow us as many retakes as we need. We need to resist the temptation to change our circumstances because these circumstances are a tool that God uses to grow big faith.

RELATED ARTICLES

9 Ways to Grow in Your Faith (billygraham.org)
What does it mean for a Christian to grow in faith? (gotquestions.org)

A Strange Battle Plan

God knows how to put you to the test. 

Joshua 5:13-15  When Joshua was near the town of Jericho, he looked up and saw a Man standing in front of him with sword in hand. Joshua went up to Him and demanded, "Are You friend or foe?"

14 "Neither one," He replied. "I am the Commander of the LORD's army." At this, Joshua fell with his face to the ground in reverence. "I am at Your command," Joshua said. "What do You want Your servant to do?"

15 The Commander of the LORD's army replied, "Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy." And Joshua did as he was told.

Joshua 6:1-5 Now the gates of Jericho were tightly shut because the people were afraid of the Israelites. No one was allowed to go out or in. 2 But the LORD said to Joshua, "I have given you Jericho, its king, and all its strong warriors. 3 You and your fighting men should march around the town once a day for six days. 4 Seven priests will walk ahead of the Ark, each carrying a ram's horn. On the seventh day you are to march around the town seven times, with the priests blowing the horns. 5 When you hear the priests give one long blast on the rams' horns, have all the people shout as loud as they can. Then the walls of the town will collapse, and the people can charge straight into the town."

Joshua 6:20 When the people heard the sound of the rams' horns, they shouted as loud as they could. Suddenly, the walls of Jericho collapsed, and the Israelites charged straight into the town and captured it.

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Here is the strangest battle that there ever was, what we have here is a contest between God and the men of Jericho, God is bringing judgment to town and the people of Jericho are ignoring God and their impending doom. Maybe the people Jericho were confident in their own strength, after all they had built a mighty strong wall, a wall that has stood up to other more power armies.

Actually they were paralyzed with fear, the news about what the God of Israel had done for them was well known by everybody in town, there were two miraculous river crossings, the Egyptians were destroyed by all of the plagues and Pharaoh and his army were killed. There were military victories that the people of Jericho had heard about. You would think that somebody would become traitors or offer a peace treaty, instead they hunker down in defiance, choosing to die.

Job 15:25 For they shake their fists at God, defying the Almighty.

Not only is the battle strange but the preparation for battle was also very different, there wasn't any deployment of military equipment, there wasn't any trenches being dug, there is just a bunch of noise outside the wall everyday and then they go back to their tents. Ordinarily the priests were excused from war but in this battle plan they are the main players.

God's plan to bring down Jericho was designed to try the faith, obedience, and patience, of the people, to see whether they would observe a command which to human logic seemed foolish to obey and believe a promise which in human probability seemed impossible to be performed.

They were also proved whether they could patiently bear the criticism of their enemies and patiently wait for the salvation of the Lord. Can you imagine the hecklers looking down the wall at them, making fun of their strange warplan.

This time the Israelites pass the test. So by faith, not by force, the walls of Jericho fell down, thats a concept that I need to remember when I am tempted to do things under my own power instead of forcing my abilities to fix the problem, I need to have faith that God has things under control.

Heb 11:30  It was by faith that the people of Israel marched around Jericho

for seven days, and the walls came crashing down.

Give me the faith Lord that can believe that your ways are right, even if they defy human logic.

The Journey of Faith

scripture

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Genesis 22:1 Some time later, God tested Abraham’s faith. “Abraham!” God called. “Yes,” he replied. “Here I am.” 2 “Take your son, your only son—yes, Isaac, whom you love so much—and go to the land of Moriah. Go and sacrifice him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will show you.” 3 The next morning Abraham got up early.

observation

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What awesome obedience! God told Abraham to go and do this difficult thing and the next morning Abraham got up early and got ready to begin the journey that God had sent him on.

Every day God attempts to send someone on a journey of faith, I say attempts to because the person he invites doesn’t always go on the journey with him, every day we have a choice. Will we get up early the next morning and go or will we stay in bed and never step out, will we ignore the voice or argue or will we faithfully obey?

Abraham stepped out peacefully, the Israelites grumbled and complained through their journey. Jonah decided to take a journey in the other direction

The disciple’s journey before Jesus resurrection could be summed up in a scary boat ride in a big storm when Jesus asked them “Why are you afraid? You have so little faith!”

I never did meet a person that enjoyed having their faith tested, maybe you are being tested by God through your financial situation or your health condition, maybe God is just being quiet when you want him to speak up, whatever the situation is it isn’t easy to take the journey but God wants you to get up the next morning and keep on going.

When Abraham came to the mountain he kept on traveling, climbing the steep terrain, he is an old guy by now but he didn’t stop his journey. When he got to the top he had to build an altar large enough to sacrifice his son on, but he kept on his journey, then the test was complete when the Lord saw that Abraham’s faith was strong.

Notice in verse five that Abraham told the servants that after they worshiped God that “we” will return. Abraham fully expected that Isaac was going to be walking down that mountain with him later that day.

application

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We need to be strong and not give up hope while we take the journey of faith. Where is he taking me, where is he taking you? In order to be found faithful we have to get up the next morning and keep on with our journey no matter how difficult it is after all that’s the part that displays our faith.

prayer

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Lord, increase my faith! Give me more and more faith as I follow you on this journey of faith. Just like Abraham I don’t know where I am going but I know that you will show me the way and provide what I need to be obedient.