Hebrews 11:8-10 (HCSB)
By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed and went out to a place he was going to receive as an inheritance. He went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he stayed as a foreigner in the land of promise, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, coheirs of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
The next exhibit in the Hall of Faith is Abraham. Abraham actually has more than one exhibit from his life here, more than any other individual. But God begins from the beginning of Abraham’s faith journey.
Abraham’s father, Terah, had set out to go from Ur of the Chaldeans to Canaan with his family, but had stopped partway there, in an area that he named Haran after his son who had died back in Ur (Genesis 11:27-32). He got comfortable and lived out the rest of his life there, unwilling to continue the journey all the way to his intended destination.
After his father died, God called seventy-five-year-old- Abraham (known as Abram at that point) to complete the journey his father had started. God promised that He would give to him the land to which he was going as an inheritance for him and his descendants after him (Genesis 12:1-3).
Abraham’s faith was not simply believing that God could do what He had promised. His faith was the action he took on the basis of that rock-solid belief. He left behind the comfortable surroundings of Haran, most of his extended family, and the security of a solid support system, and set off to a place to which he had never been before (Genesis 12:4-5).
As the writer of Hebrews points out, Abraham didn’t build a city and try to set himself up as a local or territorial king. Instead, he lived in tents and traveled all over the Promised Land. God did not promise him a city. He promised to give him and his descendants the entire land, everywhere he was willing to set his foot (Genesis 13:14-18). And Abraham, in faith, traveled the land, claiming with each step the inheritance for himself and for the nation that would spring from him.
Father, Abraham is a powerful example of true faith, not simply belief that You can or will do something, but action taken on the basis of that sure belief that actively claims what You have promised. Terah stayed in Haran and missed out on what you really could give. But Abraham moved forward on the basis of Your promise and was able to claim for himself the reality. Help me, Lord, to have the faith of Abraham, to move forward in faith to claim every promise You have given me. Amen.