The Faith of Abram (Genesis 12)

The Faith of Abram

It was the original purpose of Terah, the father of Abram, to go from the land of Ur to Canaan. But along the way he stayed in Haran and died there.

Now Abram received a command from God to leave Haran behind and to go to Canaan.


[Gen 12:1-3 KJV] 1 Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: 2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: 3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.


Though God Himself promised great blessings, it could not have been an easy decision to make.

By now Abram knew Haran by heart. Here was his father’s house and kindred. It’s called his country. 

Leaving all that behind while everything was going just fine was quite a risk, especially since he had no idea what the land of Canaan looked like.

In later verses we see that he had obtained a lot in Haran. He was not a poor man with nothing to lose. 

Why go to a strange land as a stranger while all was well in Haran?

But God had commanded it and had promised a great blessing for obedience.

And Abraham believed God.


[Gen 12:4-5 KJV] 4 So Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram [was] seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran. 5 And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came.


Though they did not constantly stay in Canaan Abram had decided to depart with Lot and his servants and wife. He brought the substance that he had gathered with him.

And so he obeyed God.

This is an example of what faith looks like.

As Hebrews says:

[Heb 11:8 KJV] 8 By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.


Faith is expressed in obedience. Abram believed that God proposed the best for him and he believed that he would be blessed. He believed he would receive the land.

In this way faith acts.

We too should act on our faith. When we believe the promises of God to us in Scripture it should make us move forward. It should make us act. This is a living faith.

Abram was 75 years old at this point. Even for that time this was already quite old. It would have been easy to stay in Haran, but faith does not look to self or circumstances.


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