“Living Among the Giants”

 

TOPIC:‌“Abraham's Spiritual Healthchart”

                  by Rev. Dr. Reg Dunlap

 

TEXT:‌Genesis 12:1-20

 

‌‌“And there was a famine in the land; and Abram went down into Egypt to

‌‌sojourn there; for the famine was grievous in the land” (12:10).

 

‌After the flood which God sent to destroy the human race, Noah and his sons and their families repopulated the earth. But it wasn't long before man once again plunged himself into a life of sinful idolatry. Four hundred years had past since the flood. Degeneration had set in among the sons of Shem. It was under these conditions that God was looking for a man that He could use. He turned to a young shepherd boy by the name of Abram to become the father of a great nation through whom the Messiah would come. Abraham was God's chosen instrument for the realization of the divine purpose of redemption for the human race.

 

‌There was no greater man in all of the Bible than that of Abraham. He seems to tower head and shoulders above all other men of the Old Testament. In Genesis nearly 14 out of the 50 chapters are devoted to him. Three great religions in the world today hold him as their founder. Abraham alone is identified in the Bible as “the friend of God” and “the father of the faithful.”

 

‌Abraham seems to have been the youngest of Terah's sons. He belonged to a family of shepherds who were accustomed to move about as pasture was needed. The closing six verses of Genesis chapter 11 form the introduction to chapter 12 dealing with the life and times of Abraham. Let us now begin our study of the spiritual healthchart of this man of God.

 

I.

 

‌Consider, to begin with, the DIVINE SUMMONS. The call of God to Abram is found in the words of verse 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 show thee.” Stephen declares in his address before the Sanhedrin that “the God of glory” (Acts 7:1) called him while he was still in Ur. What an experience that must have been for Abram.

 

‌Abram was about seventy years of age when God called him. How God called him I honestly don't know. But I do know the initiative came from God in sovereign power in His pursuit of Abram. He made the first move. No man can move towards God until He has first called them. If God had not called Abram might have stayed in Ur of Haran and worshipped . . .