Think with me for a moment about Abram. You know, the guy in the Bible who became known as Abraham, the father of many and source of blessing for all people groups of the earth? How would you like to carry that reputation? Talk about status! He would have been a shoe-in winner for Time magazine’s “Person of the Year.” It is clear that God had incredibly huge plans for this person (who, by the way, was seventy five years old when God’s plan for him was revealed). Among those who have been used by God, Abram was a standout.
My sense is that we might have difficulty in relating to Abram. It would be a stretch for us to think of ourselves in the same class. As I mentioned earlier, the status of being used so greatly by God surely separates those like Abram from us “common folk,” right? Before we start thinking too highly of Abram—or too lowly of ourselves—let us remember a couple of things about him that the scriptures reveal. For instance, Abram was the one who tried to pass off his wife, Sarai, as his sister when they went into Egypt, primarily to save his own skin (see Genesis 12:10ff). This eventually set her up to be taken by Pharaoh as one of his own wives. As you can expect, this didn’t work out very well for anyone involved. It brought curses upon Pharaoh and got Abram and Sarai run out of Egypt. Later Abram took Sarai’s advice (we’ll call this the “Eve principle”) and became intimate with Hagar, his wife’s handmaiden, in order to bear a child (see Genesis 16). Once again, problems arose. Sarai became defensive and Hagar was cast off from the family, along with her son.
My point, which hopefully is obvious, is that Abram was just like us. He was prone to bad decisions that resulted in problems for himself and his family. What we should find encouraging is that these bad decisions did not disqualify him from being God’s chosen instrument in blessing the people of the world. Abram still became Abraham, the father of Isaac, grandfather of Jacob, ancestor of Jesus who is the Christ. Abram is highly regarded in nearly any conversation about God’s people, and the reason is not that he was perfect. It is because he was chosen. Read Genesis 12:1-3 and you will not find any hint that Abram’s status was based on his own merit. It was because of God’s choice. So the next time your propensity for wrong choices causes you to feel unworthy, remember that you are in the good company of God’s imperfect saints. As the saying goes, God does not call the qualified, but qualifies the called.
See you along the winding path…
The Winding Path 