THINKING OF DROPPING OUT?

Genesis 12:6-13:4
Bob Bonner
November 7, 2004

Recently, I heard of a college student who was allowed to drop out of a course and eventually from the school simply because he failed one class. That student had come to believe that he had no hope of succeeding in that school of higher learning because of his failure, so he quit.

Have you ever felt that way about your walk with God? That your life is just a series of failures, one failure after another, to the extent that you hear voices in your head exhorting you to “Just give up. Christianity may work for others, but not for you”? If so, don’t give up. Don’t dropout from the “school of faith” until you have studied closely the life of Abraham.

Abraham is the individual who was called “the friend of God.” He is a man known for his faith. But he is also a man known for his failures as he learned to walk with God. This morning, we are going to begin a journey in the study of Abraham’s life that will continue on through to next Spring. I believe you will find great encouragement from this study of Abraham’s life as you face the challenges of growing in your faith.

Our passage for this morning begins with verse 6, we read about Abraham’s first recorded act of faith. If you remember from our study last time, it was not Abraham who left Ur on the way to the promise land, but his father Terah, who had led the way to Haran, which was conveniently on the way to Canaan. Further, Abraham had not obeyed God’s command to leave his father’s household, until God, reminded Abraham what He had first instructed Abraham to do while Abraham lived in Ur. It is after this remind, which we find in 12:1-5, that Abraham leaves Haran and his father and heads to Canaan. We read in verses 6-7, “Abram passed through the land as far as the site of Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. Now the Canaanite was then in the land. The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” So he built an altar there [at Shechem] to the Lord who had appeared to him.”

The phrase “site of Shechem,” more literally translated is “the shrine of Shechem.” At this shrine there was the “oak of Moreh.” In Hebrew “Moreh” means “teacher.” Hence, it was at this oak, near the shrine that Canannite religious teachers taught their followers. It is at that very spot after Abraham had obeyed God and had left Haran, that God first speaks to Abraham. And as a result of God’s visitation, Abraham builds an altar, and presumably moves in on the pagan religious instructors and begins educating the Canaanites about the one and only true God, Yahweh.

After his stay in Shechem, Abraham moves on, according to verses 8-9. We are told, “Then he proceeded from there to the mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord. Abram journeyed on, continuing toward the Negev. ”

Let’s stop there a moment and talk about this second place that Abraham had built an altar, between these two small cities, Bethel and Ai. These two cities were separated by an open space of two miles. Abraham and his entourage needed most of that room between Bethel and Ai for his family and friends to set up their tents, and for their flocks to graze. Right in the middle of their temporary settlement, Abraham built an altar and “called upon the name of the Lord.”

What does that mean, that he “called upon the name of the Lord”? Literally, that word, “called” is the Hebrew word for “preaching.” Abraham was preaching Yahweh to these Canaanite idol worshipers who lived on either side of him. Isn’t it interesting that in v. 2 God promised to make Abraham’s name great; and Abraham responded by proclaiming the Lord’s name in Canaan and making the Lord’s name great. And as he does, we see that God continues to bless Abraham as a result of lifting up God’s name and purposes. There is a principle here: Those who continue to exalt the name of the Lord through their obedient service to the Lord, He in turn ill exalt.

There are other lessons we can take from Abraham’s practice of pitching a tent here, and then moving on. First, remember that Abraham went from living in a house, in a sophisticated city, to living in a tent for the rest of his life. That means that Abe lived in a tent for 100 years, constantly moving around.

Let me also point out to you as well, that the Canaanites who lived in the land were not living in tents. We know from archaeological remains that the Canaanites were living in cities and permanent dwellings or homes.

So, why did Abraham not build a permanent house in which to live, like the rest of the folks? The answer to that question is given in Hebrews 11:9-10, which tells us that Abraham was looking forward to the city of God that had no earthly foundations. In other words, Abraham realized that the land of Canaan, although it was his earthly home and the place from which he was to minister, it was not his ultimate home. His ultimate home and citizenship would be in heaven. Furthermore, he had to be free to obey God and move throughout the land to fulfill his God ordained mission, which was to preach by his mouth as well as by his life, that Yahweh was the only true God.

Now understand, there is nothing wrong with owning or living in a home. But sometimes when we own an earthly home, we forget a very basic truth. This earth and my earthly house is only temporary. It is not my ultimate home. Like Abraham, my eternal home and my citizenship is with the Lord in heaven. Hence, Abraham challenges me to hold loosely my earthly home, not allowing it to keep me from following the Lord wherever He should want to lead me. If God tells me to move, I need to be free to move, not be tied to a building.

I remember Kerry Kellond telling us about one of her struggles before she and Mark left here to head for Japan, to serve God there, ministering to students. One of her struggles was that if they left, she would never own her own home. She would continually be moved from place to place. That was hard for her, until God spoke to her heart and reminded her that no place on earth is her home. Her home is to be with Him, wherever He takes her.

Hence, the lesson to learn from Abraham is, your house is not your home. So, don’t dig your roots too deep! If Jesus were to visit your home, would He conclude that you understand and live like your earthly home is only temporary? Or, would He conclude that your home has become your idol?

Another important insight comes from where Abraham typically pitched his tent. Every where Abraham pitched his tent, he typically located it right next to a city, that housed Canaanites in permanent buildings. In other words, Abraham didn’t avoid contact with or living in the spiritually dark world of the pagans. I imagine that if he had not had such a large entourage of people and the need for grazing room, Abraham would have liked to pitch his tent in the city center. Abraham lived right there among the Canaanites, so as to preach to them by his words as well as his lifestyle.

Furthermore, he built an altar right there between Bethel and Ai, to worship Yahweh and to make a defining statement to the Canaanites about the difference between pagan worshipers and the worshipers of the only true God, Yahweh.

Abraham’s living in a tent between Bethel and Ai also gives us a unique illustration of the daily challenge of a believer’s life, while living here on earth. Bethel means “the house of God” or the place where God dwells, like heaven. It represents being in God’s presence. In contrast to Bethel is Ai, which means “ruin.” It represents a life lived on this earth, in rebellion against God and becoming part of the world.

As believers, every day we live on earth, we live between Bethel and Ai. We are either enjoying God’s blessing by living in His presence as His missionaries to our lost world, or we are experiencing his discipline, because we have chosen to live like the lost in “ruin” or Ai. Every day, we are challenged to live in this world, but not to become part of the world’s system that rebels against God. Or to put it another way: You are to be a missionary to your world, rather than living as a mission project of your world.

Symbolically, we will see that throughout Abraham’s life, he had his days when he lived in “Bethel” and his days when he lived in “Ai.” As his knowledge of God grew, Abraham’s faith grew, and he spent more days in “Bethel” than in “Ai.” His growing faith was revealed by is growing consistency living in God’s presence while in obeying God.

Likewise, you and I are constantly challenged to look to one city or the other. We are either going to seek a “Bethel” experience with God daily, or an “Ai” experience. My growth in faith will be determined by my choice to walk worshipfully in obedience, while living in the midst of a lost world. I’m either going to live as a missionary or a mission project.

Now we come to a situation in Abraham’s life that is no different than any new believer’s life. All of us as Christians, shortly after we have come to Christ, have experienced what Abraham does in these next verses. Abraham gets his first lesson as to what it means to walk in the flesh, rather than to walk in the Spirit or to walk with God. In the rest of this chapter, we will see Abraham’s first failure in faith.

By the way, have you noticed that it is one thing to be saved, but quite another to continually walk by faith with God? Getting saved is easy. Walking where God wants to take you is another story. And that’s what Abraham is about to find out. Like us, Abraham is about to learn that walking by faith is more often learned first through our failures, than it is through our successes. And praise God, our failures, like Abraham’s, are not terminal.

In verse 10, we see what leads to Abraham’s first failure in faith. He is faced with the challenge of a severe famine. We read, “Now there was a famine in the land; so Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land.”

There is always some circumstance that comes our way as new believers as well as old believers, where we act first, and then think about what our other options could have been, later. Usually, out of fear or self-reliance, we react to a situation before we ever think to consult with God. Abraham had not yet learned or understood how personally involved Yahweh really expected to be in Abraham’s life. In addition, Abraham does not yet know that God even cares about every detail of his life. But he soon will.

Often I have encountered new Christians who don’t pray or seek after God on their own behalf because they wrongly think that God wouldn’t be really interested in their trivial needs. They will pray for others who are in need, but not for themselves. If you think that way, allow me to help enlighten you.

God is interested in every thing you do: whether or not to buy that dress, how well you retain understanding of subject so that you can pass a difficult exam, whether or not the health report will come back as a positive one or not, whether or not you should have that surgery. If it concerns you, it is a concern of His.

Abraham had a serious personal problem. A famine. A severe famine. Remember, Abraham was not just trying to feed himself, Sarah and Lot. Abraham was the leader, responsible for the whole group of people who came with him, into Canaan, to God’s promised land. Not only did Abraham have a large number of people to look after, but he also brought with him huge flocks of cattle that needed to be fed.

Back in Ur, Haran and the Mesopotamian valley, water was plentiful and so was food. In his travels, if Abraham ran low on feed, he’d just kept moving on to the next source of food. Typically, you just didn’t sit around and wait for food to drop out of the sky. You looked for it. Hence, there is no indication that Abraham did anything bad by going down to Egypt to find food. But what he failed to consider was that Yahweh, this personal God who had personally called Abraham from Ur to this promised land, might have a better idea as to what to do.

Like Abraham, we face tests like this every day, all during the day, tests that require us to seek God’s direction. But for me, having lived so much of my life based on my own skills and knowledge, I am still learning to turn to the ever present, personally concerned God who has saved me and left me on this earth for a reason, for His help and advice.

Abraham had not yet learned this, and it would take him a lifetime to learn it. But the key is, he wanted to know God and he wanted to learn how to walk by faith. The real question is, do we want to know Him and invite the Lord to lead our lives, or do we want to do our own thing without His interference?

When Abraham headed for Egypt, he had no plans of abandoning the Promised Land or to make Egypt his home. The term “to sojourn” indicates that Abraham was only planning for this to be a temporary solution to a very real famine problem.

Later, we discover in Scripture, that turning to Egypt for help, without God’s permission, is a picture of our reliance upon anything or anyone but God, or what the Bible calls, “walking in the flesh.” In Isaiah 31:1 we read, “Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help And rely on horses, And trust in chariots because they are many And in horsemen because they are very strong, But they do not look to the Holy One of Israel, nor seek the Lord!”

But there are also times that when we turn to the Lord, He tells us to go to Egypt, to not fear going to Egypt. In other words, He tells us to do the logical thing. For instance: In Genesis 46:3-4 God tells Jacob not to fear going to Egypt, because it is there that God was going to conceive and give birth to the nation of Israel. In Matthew 2:13, God tells Joseph to take Mary and baby Jesus and flee to Egypt for protection. So, going to Egypt is not necessarily a bad thing. But, going to Egypt becomes a bad thing, when we don’t check it out with the Lord, first, but instead act solely and independently on our own.

Today, examples of modern instances of wrongly heading to “Egypt” would include things like: Christian women marrying non-Christian men for financial security. Or, Christian men marrying unbelieving women to satisfy their own lusts. Or, Christian businessmen joining in partnership with non-Christian businessmen because of the potential capital the non-Christian brings to the table. Too many Christians court “Egypt” because they don’t know how or want to trust the Lord. Prov. 3:5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; lean not on your own understanding. Acknowledge Him and He will make your path straight.”

At this early stage in Abraham’s infant walk with God, he does not yet understand, what he will learn over time, that God is Jehovah Jireh, Abraham’s powerful, personally interested provider and protector. Just like you and me, God is a stranger to Abraham. Abraham has to get to know God and discover that God is trustworthy, just like we have to learn that. And you only learn that over time through the passing and failing of faith tests. Being a mature person of faith does not happen over night. It didn’t happen that way for Abraham, and I can assure you that it won’t happen that way for you, either.

Not knowing God and what all of Abraham’s options were, Abraham heads for Egypt, only to run into a minor complication. We read in verses 11-13, “It came about when he came near to Egypt, that he said to Sarai his wife, “See now, I know that you are a beautiful woman; and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife’; and they will kill me, but they will let you live. “Please say that you are my sister so that it may go well with me because of you, and that I may live on account of you.”

Abraham tells a half lie here, in order to save his life. Sarah was his sister...his half sister. But she was first his wife. When we stop seeking after God, when we stop depending upon Him, when we seek to live life apart from God, deceit and cowardice becomes fruits of our lives. In addition, when we walk in the flesh, when we ignore God, our actions often endanger or bring suffering on the ones we love.

Verses 14-16, “It came about when Abram came into Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful. Pharaoh’s officials saw her and praised her to Pharaoh; and the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house. Therefore he treated Abram well for her sake; and gave him sheep and oxen and donkeys and male and female servants and female donkeys and camels.

Whenever Pharaoh wanted to marry another woman, adding her to his harem, it did not happen overnight. The custom of the land was to prepare and train the woman as to what was to be expected of her, as a new member of the Pharaoh’s harem. Only after she had been trained for six to eight months was she then pronounced ready to be married.

Hence, for six to 8 months, Abraham could have turned to God for help, but he never did. And again, in all fairness to Abraham, he probably didn’t know he could turn to God for help. This relationship with Yahweh was still new to him. Keep in mind, the pagan gods he had been raised to worship were not personal and didn’t care one bit about your needs. To meet Yahweh, who does care and wanted to be apart of Abraham’s life eventually blows Abraham’s doors off.

In the mean time, Abraham was getting rich during those months. Notice in verse 16, we are told that Pharaoh gave not only herds of animals to Abraham, but also male and female servants. Nothing like making a profit under false pretenses. This is probably the moment when Abraham acquired his slave, Hagar, who would later bear him a son, Ishmael in years to come.

In verses 17-20, God mercifully comes to Sarah’s rescue. We read, “But the Lord struck Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. [Not only does walking in the flesh harm the ones we love, but it also brings harm to those we are trying to reach for Christ.] Then Pharaoh called Abram and said, “What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? “Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her for my wife? Now then, here is your wife, take her and go.” Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him; and they escorted him away, with his wife and all that belonged to him.

As a result of Abraham’s deception, not only did Pharaoh lose all respect for Abraham, but he certainly was not attracted to Abraham’s God, even though he recognized that God was with Abraham and Sarah. The pharaoh feared God but all he could do was rebuke Abraham and tell Abraham to leave. There goes God’s missionary! He gets kicked off the field for lying to those he should be reaching for the Lord. You can’t be a light in the neighborhood, if you are kicked out!

Next, a casual observer of this episode might conclude, “What happened to Abraham wasn’t all bad. Pharaoh gave Abraham a lot of wealth, and Sarah was given her own maid, Hagar. God forgave Abraham’s sin, and he started over again. So, what’s the big problem?” The “big problem” is that everything Abraham received in Egypt later caused trouble. Because of their great wealth, you will see in the next chapter that Abraham and Lot end up unable to live together and have to separate. Later, Hagar, the Egyptian maidservant, brought division and sorrow into Abraham’s home. If there were no Hagar, we would not have the division between the Arabs and the Jews today, because there would have been no conflict between the descendants of Ishmael, the son of Hagar and Isaac, because Ishmael would never have existed. Mark it down. There are no lasting benefits from living in ignorance of or from ignoring God.

Wow! How humiliating to be kicked out off the mission field. What must all of Abraham’s followers who came with him from Haran think about Abraham and his God now? I don’t know of an honest Christian who would not have to admit to feeling the same thing Abraham must have felt at that moment: that sense of the loss of joy when we know we have done something wrong, and that longing for sweet fellowship with God we had once known. It was that longing to get back to living in the “presence of God” that place of faithful fellowship that eventually points Abraham’s spiritual nose back to Bethel. We read in 13:1-4, of his return to faithful fellowship. “So Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev, he and his wife and all that belonged to him, and Lot with him. Now Abram was very rich [“very laden” or weighed down] in livestock, in silver and in gold. He went on his journeys from the Negev as far as Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai, to the place of the altar which he had made there formerly; and there Abram called on the name of the Lord.”

Bethel was the last place that Abraham had built an altar to the Lord. While he was in Egypt, there was no altar built, no worship taking place in Abraham’s household. Fellowship with God had stopped.

When you leave Grants Pass on a business trip or vacation, what happens to your personal time alone with God? Do you build an altar or make room in your schedule for personal worship? Do you even think ahead or before hand plan how when and where you can spend time alone with the Lord? Abraham did not as he headed to Egypt, and it was a major blunder. It lead to a gnawing absence in his soul, a broken fellowship with God. It was back to the old life of living as though God did not exist. You might be able to get by living that way for a short period of time, but sooner or later, the lack of planned or disciplined fellowship with God will take its toll on your life.

Abraham knew that God had rescued him, in spite of himself. Shame and may be even a little fear swept over him. It was now time to return to that special place, Bethel, to restore fellowship with God. It was there that he “called on the name of the Lord”, which undoubtably is a reference to his admission to God that he had blown it, and that he sought God’s mercy and forgiveness, with the hope to regain full restoration to God’s favor. From the chapters that follow, it is obvious that their relationship was restored.

One final lesson we can learn from Abraham and his return to Bethel. Once you enroll in the “school of faith,” you are not allowed to “drop out” just because of failure. God has purposes to fulfill in you and through you, and He will do all that is necessary to make you succeed (Ps. 138:8; “The Lord will accomplish what concerns me; Your lovingkindness, O Lord, is everlasting; Do not forsake the works of Your hands.” Phil. 1:6 “For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.”). In order to move on to the next class in the “school of faith,” just go to God, admit you were wrong, ask Him to forgive you and He promises that He will. Clean slate. Lesson learned. Move on. You may have to take the same test of faith again, but don’t worry! God will let you keeping taking it until you get it right!

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