Devotion Acts 7:1-51 Irrefutable Defense Part 2

Acts 7:1-51 / 4-5 – “So he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Harran. After the death of his father, God sent him to this land where you are now living. 5 He gave him no inheritance here, not even enough ground to set his foot on. But God promised him that he and his descendants after him would possess the land, even though at that time Abraham had no child.

““So he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Harran. After the death of his father, God sent him to this land where you are now living. 5 He gave him no inheritance here, not even enough ground to set his foot on. But God promised him that he and his descendants after him would possess the land, even though at that time Abraham had no child.”  Stephen tells how Abraham was obedient to the call of God.  God told Abraham ““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.” (Genesis 12:1-3).  Here we see that God promised the land of Israel for all of Abraham’s descendants.  God promised to bless them and said that He will cause Abraham’s descendants to be a great nation.  He said Israel would be a blessing to the world and that He would bless all who bless Israel.  He also let Abraham know that He would protect Israel and that those nations that oppose Israel would find their opponent not to be a nation of men, but their opponent would be God Himself.  God will curse those who curse Israel.  What a great promise!  This promise was made to only one people and those people would be the descendants of Abraham. 

Abraham did not go straight through to the Promised Land that God was leading him to.  He stopped at Harran as it seems his father was ill.  Abraham stayed there till his father died and then he continued on. 

Abraham in listed in Hebrews 11 list of Heroes of The Faith. Hebrews 11:13 says of Abraham and the other heroes “All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth.”  Abraham lived in faith in God and in the promise He gave Abraham.  Abraham never physically possessed the Promised Land, but believed God that his descendants would.  Abraham obeyed God and set up his descendants to also walk in the faith and for them to inherit the promises that God had given to Abraham.

God promised in Genesis 12 that Abraham’s descendants would possess the land of Israel when he was already an old man with no children.  Abraham, when he continued on from Harran, was seventy-five years old without any children.  Abraham, a childless man, believed God and faithfully followed Him even though the promise seemed too much to believe.  God promised Abraham that his many descendants would possess the Promised Land even when Abraham was childless.  Abraham left the city he lived in, most of his family and the inheritance he would receive, to receive a promise of God that seemed impossible.  He travelled across land where he expected to survive because God would protect him and provide for him.  Abraham did not know how God would fulfill His promises, but Abraham wholeheartedly, and was firmly convinced in his mind that God would.  Amazing faith!

How about us?  If we were called by God to leave all we knew to go to a foreign land to fulfill the will of God, would we?  Do we even to submit to God to do his will in the land we live in, around the home that He gave us, or in the work and life that He gave us?  If we won’t share the Gospel with all those around us as we are commanded to do (Matthew 28:18-20), because man tells us not to, or intimidates us, how would we be as faithful as Abraham?  Abraham had no reason to believe that at his age he would have a child.  He had no reason to believe that at his age he would be able to make this long journey safely.  He had no reason to believe that his descendants (whom there was no physical evidence of) would possess this land that he had not previously seen or even known of.  He had no reason to believe any of these things except for God.  And because God said it Abraham believed it and that settled it.  Abraham did not have any scriptures to read, re-read, and lean upon.  He had the word of God and that was enough.  How about us?  With the Word, we have so much more (volume, not truth) to lean upon, to encourage us, and yet, do we have even a little of the great faith that Abraham had?  Really?  Family, let faith transform what we know God promises us in His Word and make it something tangibly real and proof positive that all God has said to us is truth and reality to us now (Hebrews 11:1).  Let us walk on the bridge that we cannot see.  Why, because God said we could.   Let us believe as Abraham believed and obey as Abraham behaved.  Because Abraham walked in faith God used Abraham for great things.  The heroes of faith have all walked in faith and by doing so were approved of and blessed by God (Hebrews 11:2).  If we have faith in God, and that is borne out by what we do, then God will also use us.  God using us is the highest honor.  And He does.  Praise God!