Following the voice of God with Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3)

Genesis 11-23, the story of Abraham. For the full StudyMap of Genesis, click here.

Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

Lord Jesus, teach me about this text. 

Response received:

Abram, who was to become Abraham, was a simple man, and he listened to our voice. He took the risk of following us, of leaving his country, his kindred and his father’s house. He lived in idolatry, as all the persons around him. It is only by learning to listen to our voice that he was able to get away from this idolatry and to find peace and joy. We did not give him any specific direction, other than leaving and following our guidance. His wife was barren, and his hope for the future was dim, yet he did not despair but accepted to take the risk of following our guidance. Faith in God always involves risk, it involves following our voice. 

Many look for things, like houses, money or getting a spouse or children, yet all this is not the most important. What is the most important is to follow us, to learn to walk in the spirit and in love. That is why the key for Abram was to accept to go and to trust us with his life. We created the heaven and the earth, so we can provide anything that is needed, but these things should not become the center of a life. Love is the real purpose of your creation, receiving and giving love, the pure and holy love that comes from us and flows through us. 

Abram did not follow his ideas but our guidance. We did promise him blessings for him and for all the families of the earth. Our purpose was to open a new path with Abram, a path of life and peace, a path where the many deceptions of idolatry could be removed. The way we guided Abram is the way we want to guide every believer, through our voice. I am the Good Shepherd, and my sheep hear my voice, I know them and they follow me. Abram became a model for all believers in the world, who learn to listen to the voice of God, to our voice, and to follow this voice. The Bible is not here to replace us, but to guide people to us, to recognize my voice. 

When you read the stories in the Bible, the key is always to listen to our voice. It was the case with Abraham, with Moses, with David, Isaiah, Daniel, and many others. As you learn to listen, you become able to discover how faith and obedience are two facets of a same reality. As you learn to welcome our voice, to recognize our voice and to follow our directions, you learn to welcome our love and to share this love with others. One of the biggest mistakes is for people to think that they can love without help. Love is about humbly receiving and humbly giving. Love does not focus on itself but on God and your neighbor. 

Abraham learned to love as he followed our guidance. He heard me and saw my day, he rejoiced in advance about what was going to happen. Abraham did make mistakes, like lacking in the protection he should have given to His wife, letting her be taken by Pharaoh for instance (see Genesis 12:10-20). We taught him, and he learned to respect his wife (see Genesis 17, where Sarah is to be his partner of covenant with God), to be careful not to make of his dear son Isaac an idol (see Genesis 22). As he walked with us and learned from us, he became our friend. That is why we shared things about the future, like the story of Sodom and Gomorrah (see Genesis 18:16-33). We are not looking for people who obey blindly, but who listen to us and learn with us. We don’t want robots, but people who learn to love. We don’t seek control but grace and joy. 

As you learn from Abraham, we encourage you to remember that faith implies risk, that walking by faith will require to leave many things behind and to trust us. As you read the New Testament, you learn to recognize my teachings and my voice. I will never guide you to hate or lie. I will lead you in the ways of truth and love, that is the whole purpose of my coming on earth and the sending of the Holy Spirit to dwell in you. People tend to judge and condemn, yet I came to save and deliver those who would trust in me. Do not judge and you will not be judged. Do not condemn and you will not be condemned. Forgive and it will be forgiven to you. 

As you learn to walk with me, as you learn to listen to me and follow me, we shape you and transform you, we guide you to the places where you find the water of the Spirit, where you find that I am the Bread of life given by the Father. As for Abraham, we want you to be blessed and become a blessing for many. This is not about proving that you are better than others, but simply about listening and walking in our love. That is what I showed to my disciples on earth, that is what I still show to my disciple today. I am with you until the end of the age. Learn to dialogue with me, to ask so that I can respond to you, to seek so that you can find me, to knock so that I can open to you the doors of our love and guidance. We want to bless all the people and all the races of this world, yet the path we chose is a path of humility. We want to spread this love through my disciples, who follow me and do the Father’s will. This is the way we want to transform the world. Through Abraham and through his example, we want to bless all the families of the world.