“Our Faith, God’s Faithfulness, Part 1: God and Abraham” by the Rev. Dr. Don Wahlig, June 7, 2026, Year A / Proper 5 (10) – Romans 4:13-25 ¨ Genesis 12:1-9
THEME: Discern and follow God’s call on your life and you will be blessed to be a blessing like Abram and Sarai.
For a book that begins with such glorious promise in the Garden of Eden, the Genesis narrative has gone downhill in a hurry. Adam and Eve’s disobedience resulted in the curse of exile, struggle, suffering and death. From that point forward, human sin and rebellion against its Creator result in one curse after another. The first murder – a fratricide, no less – leads to the curse of Cain. Cain is forced to wander the earth for the rest of his life. His sin results in the curse of violence in cities all across the land.
By Noah’s day, human wickedness has become so bad that God decides to wipe everything out and start over. It is not long, however, before Noah himself sins. So does his family. This time the curse extends down through the generations to his grandson. Then humanity’s sin sinks to a new low. Humans decide to play God. They build a tower that reaches up to the heavens. God is appalled by their prideful faithlessness. He curses them by confusing their language and scattering them to the ends of the earth. By this point, God is thoroughly disgusted and deeply disappointed with humanity. Clearly, the curses humanity has brought on itself have not changed human hearts. But God is not willing to give up on humankind.
He decides to take a new approach. To restore humanity’s relationship with its Creator, he narrows his focus to two specific human beings. God also decides that, when it comes to changing human hearts, blessing is a more powerful force than cursing. Abram and Sarai are the ones God chooses to start this bottom-up relational reset. Some years before, Abram and his family set out from their homeland of Ur, in modern day Iraq. They intended to travel to the land of Canaan, but for whatever reason, they stopped halfway and settled in the city of Haran, near modern day Turkey. But God does not want Abram in Haran. God wants Abram to go down to Canaan, 400 miles south. So, seemingly out of the blue, God speaks to Abram and gives him a command.
God says, “Abram, go. Leave your father’s house behind. Relocate with your wife Sarai and all your possessions to the land of Canaan. I have big plans for you and Sarai, Abram. I’m going to give you descendants, wealth and a great reputation.” And then God makes him a promise: “I will bless those who bless you, and curse those who curse you. And, through you, I will bless all the families of the earth.” In other words, Abram is blessed to be a blessing. At this point, we do not know much about Abram, aside from his family and his age. He is 75 years old, no spring chicken. You can bet that the idea of packing up and the prospect of a month-long journey over rough terrain under a merciless sun was not terribly appealing.
So, we have to ask a question. Why Abram? Of all people, why did God choose Abram? Did he have some special qualification? No, he did not. Did he have experience of following or working with God? Not that we know of. As far as we know, Abram did not even know this God. All we know is that God saw something in Abram that made God select him to be the bearer of God’s blessing to the world. And, if we look carefully, we have been given some clues as just to what that is. In going to Canaan, Abram was continuing a journey that his father had begun years before all the way back in Ur. The decision to leave the land of his birth, could not have been easy, but it was possible because it was a family undertaking. This is our first clue that Abram has a keen appreciation for the importance of family. He relied on it. As a result, when his father and brother died in Haran, it must have shaken him to the core. This grief amplified the pain of knowing that he and his bride, Sarai, were unable to have a family of their own. These painful experiences prepared Abram to respond to God’s call and his promise that Abram would become the father of peoples and nations. And that is exactly what he did.
In this sermon series we will walk with Abram and Sarai as they grow in faith. As they do, we will see how God responds in faithfulness. Along the way, we will learn to better recognize God’s faithfulness in our own lives. As Abram learned, when we respond to God’s call, there are three guarantees. First, we can be sure that God is going to use our skills and experience for his purposes. He uses both our positive and painful experiences alike. In other words, when God calls us, he will make sure we are equipped to undertake the call.
Second, when God calls us to serve him in new ways and new places, he first demands that we give up control. God does not negotiate. He does not accept half measures. It is up to us to seek his will, and then to follow it whole-hardheartedly, with head, hands and feet. This is the essence of faith, and nothing builds our faith like letting God lead and then following where he directs us.
Third, when we follow God’s lead, we will become more like the person God intends us to be. We will face challenges, obstacles and resistance. As we lean on God to help us overcome these, we will be changed in ways that we could only imagine. Others will also be changed, too, through the blessing of God’s love flowing through us. And we should not be surprised when God makes possible what we thought impossible.
In the next few weeks, we will see how Abram and Sarai are changed as they discover that following God’s lead is not only a blessing to others. It is a blessing to them, too. We will also see that it does not come without risk. And it does not come without sacrifice. It absolutely requires us to leave our comfort zones.
When I began to seriously consider ministry, one of the hardest things I had to overcome was the change in how I viewed myself. My identity was wrapped up in a 20-year business career. That is how others viewed me, and that is how I had always viewed myself. When I first began to openly discuss the idea of ministry with others, the look on their faces was almost always genuine surprise. Mostly, they wanted to know why I would choose to do that. They did not say it out loud, but what they were really wondering was why would I willingly give up that money and prestige?
It reminded me of the story of the young man who announces to his family over Thanksgiving dinner that he has decided to go into the ministry. There is stunned silence, until the family matriarch at the other end of the table says, “Was this your own decision, or were you poorly advised?” In retrospect, it was the best, most faithful decision I have ever made, aside from marrying my wife. But it was not easy. You do not have to go into ministry to follow God’s call. I guarantee that God is calling you to follow his lead in some way, shape or form. In whatever stage of life you find yourself, there is something – big or small – that God wants you to do in order to bless others.
Further, I guarantee that God is even now preparing you to undertake that calling. You can bs sure that God will use your past experience, skill, passion, education, relationships – all of it – in pursuing that calling. You can also be sure that God will be in the driver’s seat. That means that you are not. This does not mean that you are passive, just a mere passenger along for the ride. Far from it. It means that you are willing to listen for God’s call and willing to follow it by staying close to him, right next to him. To do that, we have to use both head and heart. Together, head and heart are how we discern God’s voice calling us to follow his lead. Frankly, it is a little scary. It takes courage and it takes faith. Further, God is not always 100% clear. He usually does not talk to us as he did to Abram, so we can get the call wrong. It is often a process of trial and error. It takes persistence. Nevertheless, this is how we build faith.
Finally, you can be sure that in following God’s calling, God will not only make you a blessing to others. He will mold you into a better, more faithful follower of Jesus Christ. And that will be a blessing to you. Whatever your call is, pursue it. When we do, God will respond with faithfulness. This is how we build faith.
May it be so.
