Advanced Level, Block 2—Result of Entering the Good Land
Week 14
Abraham’s Response to God’s Calling
Point to Emphasize: In Abraham, we see our unwillingness to respond absolutely.
Reference Reading: Genesis 11:24-32, footnotes 281, 311-2; 12:1-7, footnotes 11 (first paragraph), 12-3, 21; Acts 7:2
Memory Verse: But He said, Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it.
(Luke 11:28)
Story Sample
Do you remember that God had promised He would not destroy the earth by water? But now, after the rebellion at Babel, what would God do? God decided to have a new beginning. God started with one man, Abraham. From Abraham, God would produce a people separated to Himself and a people different from the wicked nations. These people would become the children of Israel, the Jewish nation. I’m sure you’ve heard the story of Abraham and how he was called by God. Today, instead of telling you the story of Abraham, we want to take a closer look at HOW Abraham responded to God’s call.
Initially, Abraham lived in a place called Ur of Chaldea. That place was a land full of idols and idol worshippers. No one knew God, and Abraham was like everyone else. It is striking that God came to visit, to appear to someone like Abraham, and to speak with him. In His first calling, God told him to come out of his land and from his relatives and into a land that He would show him. But Abraham did not respond to God’s calling and stayed with his family and in the same land. Finally, his father took the initiative to leave Ur. Abraham’s father took his family and settled in Haran. BUT this was not the place God wanted Abraham to go. [Use attached map.] He had left Ur but only because his father took the family to Haran, not because he was following what God had told him. So, we see that Abraham was unwilling to respond to God’s call in an absolute way. It was like Abraham was dragging his feet to answer God’s call.
Does this sound familiar to you? We are just like Abraham. We are often unwilling to do what we are asked by our parents. Have you ever considered why you sometimes don’t respond when your mother is asking you to do something? Have you asked yourself, “Why do I resist?” You might say, “Oh, I’m in the middle of reading my book” or “I’m in the middle of my video game” or another excuse. But the truth is that we are just unwilling. So, we drag our feet. Dragging our feet is evidence of our unwillingness.
I was like this too. When I was growing up, Saturday mornings were cleaning day at our house. So, usually, my sisters and I would be hesitant, unwilling to wake up when mom was calling us. We would hear her calling us, but we would just stay in bed. Well, one Saturday, mom wanted to take us to the beach early in the morning instead of cleaning. She kept calling and calling us and we dragged our feet in getting out of bed. When we finally went to the living room to join her, she told us we were going to the beach! We would have been at the beach a lot sooner if we had responded to her right away. [Storyteller, insert your example of being unwilling to answer to your parents.]
It is wonderful that God did not give up on Abraham who was unwilling to respond to His first call. God came to him a second time. This time, God told him three things. God told him to come out of his land from his relatives and from his father’s house. This time, Abraham went along with God’s calling, but he still did not do it in an absolute way. He took his nephew, Lot, with him.
It’s amazing that a story about Abraham in the Old Testament is so relevant to us today. In seeing how Abraham was, we can also see our unwillingness to respond absolutely. During these next few years, right before you become a teenager, it is healthy to look at how we respond to our mom and dad when we are asked to do something. If we find that they have to call us three or four times before we drag our feet to respond, then we should know that we are being unwilling. And at this point, we should ask our mom or dad for help on how not to be an unwilling person.
