Trusting God

Bible readings for the day: Genesis 12-13

Abraham was willing to obey God's command to leave his country and his extended family because he believed that God always meant well and would preserve his life. If we do not believe in God, for even simple commands we will be hard to obey.

The displacement of Abraham from his family environment is important to remember that Abraham most likely come from the moon gods. Even so, Abraham did not follow the practice of idolatry. The influence of the worship of the god of the moon visible from the action of stealing Rachel terafim (small-sized statue of the god, so easy to take) belonged to his father (31:19). Given such a family context, not surprising that God wants Abraham to leave his family environment.

Imagine the difficulties and risks that must be faced by Abraham in following God's command. Abraham was a rich man who had many possessions (13:6) and many servants. Maid who can afford to go to war alone amounted to 318 people (14:14). According to the size of that era, it is clear that he could be classified as a conglomerate. Imagine also how much the journey that must be taken by Abraham and his party given the distance from Haran into Jerusalem is about 890 km. Remember also that the transportation was generally used as a vehicle and camel road conditions at that time was much worse than now. Therefore, following God's command to move from Haran to the land of Palestine is a very hard struggle, so that the necessary faith to believe and obey God's command. [P]

Hebrews 11:8
"By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going."