…he’s got some issues!

Please remember as you read through the Bible that, as we discussed earlier, the people aren’t the point. God did not give us Abraham’s story in order to tell us how great of a guy Abe was. God gave us Abraham’s story to show us what a great God Abe had!

Now, Abram (his name hasn’t been changed to Abraham yet) starts out great. In Genesis 12:1, God tells him to leave his homeland, following that (vs. 2-3) with the land, nation, and leader promises that we’ve already discussed. In verse 4, what does Abram do? He left! He obeys immediately. Abram’s sincere faith was evidenced by his obedience to God’s command. Nice job, Abram. Now, let’s keep reading chapter 12…

Hmmm. Abram barely gets started on his journey and he’s teetered off our pedestal. In verses 11-20, we have Abram being afraid for his life because of Sarai’s beauty, lying to Pharaoh, and generally doing his best to mess things up!  God intervenes and brings Sarai back to him.

Now, skip to chapter 15 – God is restating and expanding the promise – the promised descendants would come from Abram’s own, biological children. That seemed pretty impossible at this point, but God makes it crystal clear that it will happen. Abram’s response? Vs. 6: “And Abram believed God; then God considered him righteous on account of his faith.” (TLB)

Abram was not a righteous guy on his own. God considered him righteous because of his faith in God’s promises.

Check this out:
ch. 16: Abram and Sarai’s big mess with Hagar. Bad move there, guys.
ch. 17: God clarifies his promises and says their son would come from Sarai herself. And Abram laughs.
ch. 18: Jesus appears in the flesh to Abraham and Sarah, and says their son would be born the next year. And Sarah laughs. And then lies [to Jesus himself].
ch. 20: Abraham lies and says Sarah is his sister (AGAIN!). God rescues her from Abimelech.

We’ll look at chapter 22 tomorrow, but note this point. Abraham was not a flawless, holy man. He made some terrible mistakes. But, he believed God. His belief is what caused God to look at him as righteous.

Romans 4:3-5 says, “For the Scriptures tell us Abraham believed God, and that is why God canceled his sins and declared him “not guilty.” But didn’t he earn his right to heaven by all the good things he did? No, for being saved is a gift; if a person could earn it by being good, then it wouldn’t be free—but it is! It is given to those who do not work for it. For God declares sinners to be good in his sight if they have faith in Christ to save them from God’s wrath.” (TLB)

No matter how “good” or “bad” we are, it is our faith in Jesus Christ that saves us. We can’t be good enough to earn heaven on our own. We can’t be bad enough that He can’t save us.

Romans 3:21-24 “But now God has shown us a different way to heaven—not by “being good enough” and trying to keep his laws, but by a new way (though not new, really, for the Scriptures told about it long ago). Now God says he will accept and acquit us—declare us “not guilty”—if we trust Jesus Christ to take away our sins. And we all can be saved in this same way, by coming to Christ, no matter who we are or what we have been like. Yes, all have sinned; all fall short of God’s glorious ideal; yet now God declares us “not guilty” of offending him if we trust in Jesus Christ, who in his kindness freely takes away our sins.” TLB

Amen and thank you, Lord!

**For more reflections on the Old Testament with personal application, you might want to download a free Bible study ebook!**