CHAPTER # 1
# 1 > In the first place, Abraham was called to give up his kindred an d his native country, and to go out, not knowing whither he went. When men were busy building up Babylon, God called this man out of that nation of the Chaldeans. He lived down near the mouth of the Euphrates, perhaps three hundred miles south of Babylon, when he was called to go into a land that he perhaps had never heard of before, and to possess the land.
# 2 > In the twelchapter of Genesis, the first verses, we read: "Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy fathers's house, unto a land that I will shew thee." Now notice the promise: "And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: and I will bless them that bless thee, an d curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. So Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy five years old and when he departed out of Haran."
# 3 > It was several years b efore this that God first told him to leave Ur of the Chaldees. Then be came to Haran, which is about half-way the valley of the Euphrates and the valley of the Jordon. God had called him into the land of the Canaanite, and and stayed there__we do not know just how long, but probably about five years.
# 4 > HE CAME HALF-WAY
Now, I believe that there are a great many Christians who are what might be called Haran Christians. They go to Haran, and there they stay. They only half obey. They are not out-and-out. How was it that God got him out of Haran? His father died. The first call was to leave Ur of the Chaldees and go into Canaan, but instead of going all the way they stopped half-way, and it was affliction that drove Abram out of Haran. A great many of us bring afflictions on ourselves, because we are not out-and-out for the Lord. We do not obey Him fully. God had plans He wanted to work out through Abram, and He could not work them out as long as he was there at Haran. Affliction came, and then we find that he left Haran, and started for the Promised Land.
# 5 > There is just one word there about Lot__"and Lot went with Abram." That is the key, you might say, to Lot's life. He was a weaker character than Abram, and he followed his uncle. When they got into the land that God had promised to give him, Abram found it already inhabited by great and warlike nations__not by one nation, but by a number of nations. What could he do, a solitary man, in that land? Not only was his faith tested by finding the land preoccupied by other strong and hostile nations, but he had not been there a great while before a great famine came upon him. No doubt a great conflict was going on in his breast, and he said to himself: What does this mean? Here I am, thirteen hundred miles away from my own land, an d surrounded by a warlike people. And not only that, but a famine has come, and I must get out of this country."
# 6 > Now, I don't believe that God sent Abram down to Egypt. I think that He was only testing him, that he might in his darkness and in his trouble be.
DRAWN NEARER TO GOD.
I believe that many a time trouble and sorrow are permitted to come to us that we may see the face of God, and be shut up to trust in Him alone. But Abram went down into Egypt, and there he got into trouble by denying his wife. That is the blackest spot on Abram's character. But when we get into Egypt we will always be getting into trouble.
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