The Power of the Word

Abraham’s Call

After God elected Abraham in His heart, He called him and told him clearly: “Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you.” (Genesis 12.1)
This was the first test of Abraham. He had to leave his homeland, his properties, his customs, his friends, in short, he has to leave everything behind.
His surrender to God meant separation from his familiar world. God’s divine plans demanded his total departure from that place. The Lord could not shape and mould him according to His will, whilst he was subject to the influences of that society.
Getting him out of there and teaching him to depend on his faith in the promises of God was fundamental for the creation of a strong, invincible and unshakable nation.
On the other hand, to go out into the desert without a map and without a clue where he was going, was a true challenge to his faith. At first God gave him no direction where he would start, let alone direction to the north, south, east or west.
First, he had to leave the place where he was, and only then the Lord would guide him. Abraham had to learn to depend on God to provide the daily bread, day after day, through the desert.
Similarly the Lord Jesus teaches us; “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” (Matthew 16:24)
But follow Him where? It doesn’t matter! Whoever wants to follow Him doesn’t need to know where/ it is enough only to trust in His leadership. Christians live by faith, in other words, in the certainty that God will do exactly what he promised to do.
Ur was a city in Mesopotamia, the Land of the Chaldeans, situated between the river Tigris and Euphrates. It was a prosperous, important and well- developed city.
Abraham needed courage and boldness to give no ear to his relatives and friends, but only to God. The Lord Himself would guide him through the desert and show him the Promised Land. The absolute certainty that God would fulfill what He had promised was the only evidence that would beat in his heart.
Bishop Macedo