Read Genesis 12
The Call of Abram
1 The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.
2 “I will make you into a great nation,
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.
3 I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.”
4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran. 5 He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Harran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.
6 Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. 7 The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him.
8 From there he went on toward the hills east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord.
9 Then Abram set out and continued toward the Negev.
Abram in Egypt
10 Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe. 11 As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “I know what a beautiful woman you are.12 When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me but will let you live. 13 Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared because of you.”
14 When Abram came to Egypt, the Egyptians saw that Sarai was a very beautiful woman. 15 And when Pharaoh’s officials saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh, and she was taken into his palace. 16 He treated Abram well for her sake, and Abram acquired sheep and cattle, male and female donkeys, male and female servants, and camels.
17 But the Lord inflicted serious diseases on Pharaoh and his household because of Abram’s wife Sarai. 18 So Pharaoh summoned Abram. “What have you done to me?” he said. “Why didn’t you tell me she was your wife? 19 Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her to be my wife? Now then, here is your wife. Take her and go!” 20 Then Pharaoh gave orders about Abram to his men, and they sent him on his way, with his wife and everything he had.
Go Deeper
With the first words spoken in verse one of chapter 12, God asserts His decision to create the world anew. God’s plan was to make for Himself a great nation, a people that were His own, and He chose to begin with Abram. The encounter between Abram and the One True God is one of the most vital, pivotal moments in human history because through this nation of some people, the Savior for all people would be born.
The Bible remains completely silent about Abram’s character before the call. We have no biblical reason to believe that Abram and Sarai were looking for another god in their polytheistic culture they lived in, but we know for certain God was looking for them. God gives Abram two verbal commands: leave and go. Then, without explanation or condition, He gives Abram a flood of promises—to make Abram’s name great, to make him into a great nation, a blessed nation, a protected nation, a people with a purpose. Blessed to be a blessing.
But the problem was that Abram was a no-name nobody with no children, no army or means to conquer a land, no people purposed to bless others.
Yet, verse 4 tells us, “So Abram left, as the Lord had told him.” Why did God choose Abram? Perhaps the simplest answer is because he’d go. Abram believed God would do what He said He would do. We read on to learn that Abram, like the rest of us, is deeply flawed, but his faith and obedience goes a long way. Abram didn’t know where God was leading him. The instruction God gives him is, “I will show you the way.” The only way Abram would find his destination was to walk with God faithfully and obediently, not perfectly.
The only way we will find our destination is to walk with God, faithfully and obediently. God’s promises never fail. He is faithful. Let’s go the distance.
Questions
What do you learn from the obedience of Abram (v. 1-9)? What do you learn from his disobedience (v. 10-20)?
Why do you think Abram lied to Pharaoh?
Has God called you to leave and go someplace? Something? Someone? What’s keeping you from faithful obedience?
Watch This
Check out The Bible Project’s overview of Genesis 12-50 for a preview of what’s to come in the rest of the book!
7 thoughts on “Genesis 12”
25 years ago my wife and I took a Bethel Bible class. At the end the leader gave each couple a sign to hang over their doors that said “Blessed to be a blessing. Genesis 12.”
Reading this chapter again is a wonderful reminder of that sign and how we are each blessed, so we can be a blessing.
I wish I knew the source, but recently I heard that Abraham’s blessings are not finished yet. As we bless others, his count keeps going up.
I pray I can be a blessing today! Blessings!!
HC is indeed blessed and favored by your heart to love and serve others.
Leave and go, two pivotal words I’m pondering today as being an apprentice to Jesus will certainly require action on my part. Apathy, laziness, and people pleasing must be left behind, replaced with a laser focus on being alert and equipped through scripture, prayer and the Holy Spirit to empower me to follow Jesus into the world. Roman’s 12:2 has been my verse of focus for 2024, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
Faith is hard for my brain, but not. I know that I know that God is there and faithful to me, and then I stumble or struggle and do not let Him direct my path. Knowing right and doing right are hard. By faith Abraham…obeyed. Heb 11:8. Faith without obedience is dead. James 2 14-26. and action without faith is sin. Rom 14:23. God put together faith and obedience together. We are saved by faith and our faith is evidenced by our obedience. James 2:22 You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; ( this is talking about Abraham). What makes me fearful is the test and trials along the way. (just being transparent here) I know God will bring me through it and I also know that it is my obedience in faith that makes the journey. And man oh man has He ever been there and yet I struggle (insert sad face). BUT GOD!!!!!! That is why our scripture for this year is really good for me. Please yall spur me on, I love to love and do good deeds, but I do need encouragement. (transparent here). I feel like a failure more often than a sucess.
God I am holding to the hope I profess because I know without a doubt You are faithful. God help me in my obedience to follow Your faithfulness and do right. God I see that Abraham also struggled so that gives me hope. I know that I know You are so so good to me and that as I follow Your leading with obedience all is well. Thank You for helping my unbelief. Thank You that I know that I am in a spiritual battle. Pray, pray, and pray some more because You are there walking along side of me. (2 Corinthians 1:3-4)“Praise be to the God and Father of my Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts me in all my troubles, so that I can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort I myself receive from God.”. If I lack wisdom, I know that I should ask You, God, because You give generously to all without finding fault, and it WILL be given to me. God I am looking to You for Your stength and I will seek You in these minutes of this day. God thank You for breath to give You thanks, blessings and honor. Thank You for helping me to be a light in a dark place. Thank You for words that bless those I am around in this day, in these minutes in Jesus name amen.
WOOHOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I did not write this for pats on the back, I do struggle and I feel like most do but are not transparent about it. This is here because I need your words seasoned with salt.
This phrase “blessed to be a blessing” reminds me our lives are not our own. We are blessed by God to be a blessing to others. This is his vision for blessing no matter what we find ourselves doing. May we use our God-given gifts to be a blessing to others for the utmost glory to God. Just as Psalm 24 says lift up your heads that the King of glory may come in. God is the only one who knows how to correctly handle glory and it is in our best interest to bring glory to God not self. May we trust God’s Word in this and walk in obedience.
1 “The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.”
It is so comfortable to stay where we are, where we are familiar, even if it is not ideal, but many times God calls us to another place he will show us. God, help me to hear and heed that call.
PS – This “tell them you’re my sister” passage has always disgusted me. I am often tempted to skip over it, but through it I see that God can redeem and use all of us, even the most cowardly.
Again and again, I read of the character and disobedience of the people God chose, but Abram? I get it. I ponder if I am hanging on to what God has asked me to let go of. Is this my disobedience? There are so many voices/ opinions that need to be silenced, so that I can hear God alone. This is the beginning of redemption. Humble my pride, Lord for Your ways are mightier. I praise You for Your faithfulness and I ask Your help to live by faith in trusting You alone. In Jesus’ name, Amen!
To God be the Glory!!