The Story of God: The Call
As we looked last week, mankind and creation broke — and things haven’t quite been right since. However, God did not throw up his hands and walk away from it all. As we will see this week, God called a faithful few to follow him in order to initiate a much larger plan to restore his connection to creation.
In Genesis 12:1-9, we read that God called Abram to uproot his life and follow him. As far as we know, Abram knew very little of God before this, and yet in a step of reckless faith, Abram stepped out and followed.
Spend some time reading through and mulling over these verses. Consider some of the questions below as you read, and share your thoughts with the rest of us.
- How do you think you would have responded had you been in Abram’s position?
- Abram’s faith in God could almost seen as reckless to those who didn’t understand it. Can there be such a thing as safe faith?
- As you reflect on your own life, can you identify with the reckless faith of Abram?
- What is the line between reckless faith and irresponsibility?
- What kind of “permission” do you need from God to take a “reckless” step of faith?
- Who are some people that you admire who you have seen take a strong step of faith?
January 26th, 2006 at 2:37 pm
A couple of thoughts as I’ve read through this story. Hopefully, we can unpack these a bit further on Sunday, but I’d love your thoughts in the meantime.
At the end of chapter 11 it says that Abraham’s father started the trek to Canaan, but ended up stopping in Haran to settle down. There is a sense of Abraham completing what his father failed to complete. I think that adds something to our story.
In our home group last night, we talked about how “Reckless Faith” has been lost in our society. Everything has to be thought through. True. We could all use a bit of reckless faith, but Abraham got a bit reckless with his faith when he tried to complete God’s promise with his wife’s handmaid and out comes Ishmael.
“Reckless Faith” is not a decision. It is a way of life. Let’s live it together!
January 27th, 2006 at 10:04 am
Comparing Abram to us, we have tremendous advantages. We have God’s written Word, thus much more revelation that Abram had, including the benefit of knowing about Abram’s experience and how it turned out. We have the Holy Spirit resident in us to continuously help us interpret and apply God’s Word to our life situations (the Holy Spirit may well have come upon Abram from time to time to guide him). And we have the Church to surround us and instruct us and encourage us. What, then, were some of Abram’s advantages? Obviously a heart open to God’s calling, faith (trust) in God that was enough to cause Abram to suffer loss and risk of more loss in exchange for future benefits, and obedience to God’s instructions (faith in action, which is the only true faith). Also the persistence to follow through with his decision, even through hardship and temptation. The strange thing to me is, we can have our advantages and Abram’s also, if only we would open our hearts to God and act on what faith He’s given us. Why don’t we do it? Are we so complacent in the blessings God has given us that we’re afraid to risk losing some of them in order to gain even more blessings?