Like a baby who is just learning to walk, we have to fall before we learn that God is always there to catch us.

The story of Abraham is first and foremost a testimony to the faithfulness of God, but it also serves as an example of the various phases of the development of our faith. Our first spiritual steps are wobbly, but God’s faithfulness uses various trials and tribulations to forge our faith in the fire so that it is made stronger over time.  

Abram’s Calling

Read: Genesis 12:1-20

God called Abram to leave his home, family, and friends for a land that God would show him. With this came a promise that God would make Abram the father of a great nation, “To your offspring I will give this land” (Genesis 12:7). It is here that we have the first example of the faithfulness of God. The promise is not simply that God would bless Abram, but that God would be faithful to all of his descendants. 

It is here that we also see the first development of Abram’s faith. He responded to the call in obedience. This is the first step for every believer. Jesus said, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Mark 8:34). 

God called Abram and Abram responded, but there is another call here that is critical to the development of Abram’s faith. It says that he “called on the name of the LORD” (Genesis 12:9). 

In order to understand this, we need to look back to the story of Adam and Eve after they had sinned in the garden. God made a covenant with them that one of their offspring would bring salvation for their sins (Genesis 3:15). They put their hope in their two sons to bring the promise to bear. However, their first son, Cain, murdered their second son, Abel, and it crushed their hopes. Then, after their third son was born, Seth, they began to “Call on the name of the LORD” (Genesis 4:26). They were crying out to God to be faithful and keep His promises. 

When Abram called on the name of the LORD, he followed this line of thinking in the hope that his child would bring the fulfillment not only to the promise to make his own name great, but also the promise of salvation. 

Yet, in the midst of Abram’s faith and confession, we also see his own fall from grace. As he travels to Egypt to avoid a famine, he lies to the Egyptians that his wife, Sarai, is his sister. The Pharaoh takes Sarai into his harem which puts the promise of God into jeopardy until God intervenes. 

In this we have the second example of the faithfulness of God: He preserves His people so that He might keep His own promises. Even when Abram had fallen for the fear of man, God remained faithful. We also see an example of how learning to walk in faith isn’t always smooth, as Abram realized the limitations of his own ability to bring the results of God’s promises into reality. 

Abram’s Contract

Read: Genesis 15:1-21

By God’s grace, He gives Abram time to grow in his faith before the promise is fulfilled. Maturity does not happen overnight. However, Abram is getting older and he still doesn’t have the son of promise. This frustrated him and he questioned the promises of God. 

As a result, God agreed to sign a contract with Abram. There was a practice in those days to hold a lavish ceremony that bound individuals together in a covenant. They would take various animals, cut them in half, and separate them on both sides of a path. Then the participants would walk between the slain animals together, essentially saying, “May this happen to either of us if we fail to keep our end of the bargain.” 

So Abram prepared the contract. Then he began to wait, and wait, and wait. Eventually he became tired and fell asleep. That is when the LORD appeared and walked the path alone. God made a one sided covenant. There were no conditions on Abram’s side to fulfill. God was saying that if He didn’t keep His promise, He alone would be responsible for paying the consequences. 

Here we see another lesson of God’s faithfulness. The LORD is guaranteeing His word based on His own reputation. There is no higher standard. This was a beautiful picture for Abram, but his faith was not developed enough to fully grasp the implications. He continually tried to take matters into his own hands and force the hand of God. Yet, Abram’s faith was developing as he learned, albeit the hard way, to wait on the LORD. 

Abraham’s Purification 

Read: Genesis 17:1-18:33

After decades of calling and waiting on the LORD, God once again appeared to Abram and Sarai and promised them a son. They were 99 and 89, respectively. Both of them laughed when they heard the announcement. They had given up on the hope that God’s promises would ever be fulfilled. 

This time around, however, God made some major changes in Abram and Sarai’s life. First, He gave them a new name: Abraham and Sarah. Then, He instructed Abraham to circumcise himself and every male in their home. God gave Abraham a new beginning, a fresh start. This was a chance for Abraham to present himself as blameless before God. We already know that Abraham was not a perfect man. No doubt, he had these questions and doubts in his own mind. But God provided this opportunity for purification to aid the development of his faith. 

In the midst of these events, the LORD announced that He was going to destroy the wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. What transpired from this is an interesting window into the heart and mind of Abraham. 

Knowing that his nephew, Lot, had made his home in Sodom, Abraham asks if God would destroy the righteous with the wicked and if God would spare the cities if there were 50, 45, 30, 20, or even 10 righteous people there (Genesis 18:27-33). Perhaps, after all of these years, he was beginning to question whether he was good enough to receive God’s blessing. He was gauging the graciousness of God. 

This is the next stage of development for Abraham’s faith. God’s faithfulness takes into account our unfaithfulness. In His grace, He sanctifies us. Abraham needed to learn to trust in God’s forgiveness. 

 

Abraham’s Greatest Test

Read: Genesis 22:1-24

Abraham was 100 years old when Sarah, then 90, gave birth to their son Isaac. The anticipation of this promise had consumed Abraham for so long that Isaac immediately became the idol of his heart. The promise had been fulfilled, but God was not finished with him. There was still another development that needed to take place. 

God tested Abraham. He told him, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love…and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you” (Genesis 22:2). Abraham did as God commanded. He took Isaac and laid him on the altar, and raised the blade over his head, ready to take the life of his son, but God stopped Abraham from going through with sacrificing his son and provided a ram as a substitutionary offering. 

This final test seems to be the culmination of everything Abraham had struggled with throughout his life. He had initially set out in following God to an unknown land where he began to call on the name of the LORD. But his fear, impatience, doubts, and guilt were constantly in the way of seeing the faithfulness of God. He was trying to take matters into his own hands and force the end results to materialize based on his own effort. He had looked at the natural limitations and believed that the promises of God were impossible. In that moment, though, he was ready to believe in the impossible that God would raise Isaac from the dead if necessary (Hebrews 11:19). 

God did not give Abraham what he wanted immediately. Had He done so, Abraham wouldn’t have been ready for this final test. Each stage of his development reinforced his faith by proving the faithfulness of God over time. 

In the same way, our faith is forged by trials over a lifetime of experiences. We were not conformed into the image of Christ the moment we took our first steps. Like a baby who is just learning to walk, we have to fall before we learn that God is always there to catch us. 

The faithfulness of God is everlasting. We don’t have to worry about the end results, we just need to be obedient: to step out in faith, to wait on the LORD, to sanctify ourselves, and to treasure God above everything else.