Building the faith

Genesis 12:10-13

English Standard Version Chapter 12

10 Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land. 11 When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to Sarai his wife, “I know that you are a woman beautiful in appearance, 12 and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me, but they will let you live. 13 Say you are my sister, that it may go well with me because of you, and that my life may be spared for your sake.”

Faith? How?

English Standard Version Chapter 11

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

Well, this sounds easy, but the question is how? How can we have the assurance and conviction when we don’t even see it now? Well the easy answer is by trusting God, but the uneasy truth is that it is hard to trust someone we barely know and frankly can’t even see.

Faith is the word that we often mention in the church, but how do we have that faith? and what is it like to have the faith? Surprisingly we don’t talk about it often. So today, we will see how God is building that trust in Abram and hopefully we will learn to build that faith like him.

God’s Plan

First, we need to remind ourselves with the background information. God has shown his plan to bring blessings to the people through this one person named Abram, a 75 years old, big city living, rich man who didn’t have a future because he had no offspring. Even nowadays, unable to have a child is a big thing, but back in the days when it was even more serious, it was considered as a curse from god. However, God have chosen this “cursed” man to be the starting point of his salvation plan, which tells us that there is no one unqualified for his work. God intentional chose the most unlikely person to create a great nation, be a blessing to others.

The Journey

When Abram heard this unbelievable offer, he trusted that word, and began his journey to the land that God will show him. And you know what? the journey was rather short one. verse 5 they set out to go to the land of Canaan, and they came to the land of Canaan in that same verse.

The distance from Ur to Haran was approximately 700 miles. Abraham’s journey from Haran to Bethel was another 700 miles.

Robert D. Bergen, “Genesis,” in CSB Study Bible: Notes, ed. Edwin A. Blum and Trevin Wax (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017), 27.

From Boston to Detroit is about 707 miles

So going to the land wasn’t an issue. But staying there, trusting God is proven to be the problem.

To the South: Egypt

Now Abram trusted God, and went to the land that God has promised to give him, but when he arrived there, it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows. As matter of fact, things were worse than before. There was a severe famine in the land.

And it is like then when you become Christians. You heard about God, and trust him for all his promises of blessings, and yet you often find yourself in troubles, sometimes even worse.

When we face troubles in real life, we quickly forget all about God’s promises, and try to figure out a way on our own. Abram, the father of faith was exactly the same. After leaving behind the big city life, he found him quickly return to that life style again, by moving away from the promise land to the empire of Egypt. Well why did he move? because he thought they would have a solution for his problem, but underneath it, it was because Abram didn’t really trust God that he would provide.

The fear, and solution?

Now as he was getting closer to Egypt, his fear gradually increased. He feared that when they go to Egypt, people would look at his beautiful and fine wife Sarai, and they would kill him to take her.

Although it is a likely scenario, but did that happen? No, it was all inside of Abram’s head. The danger is not even there, but the fear already consumed him. So he came up with his own solution, which was to call Sarai his sister instead of his wife. A cowardly move. And he later even gets paid for giving up his own wife to Pharaoh. Imagine that, a shameful move isn’t it?

It is a very unfair move on Sarai, because she was basically sold by her husband. It is a very violent way to treat a person, and yet Abram, the person who was supposed to protect her and be the blessing of the nation, did this out of fear.

You can laugh at Abram all you want, but when the trouble comes and the fear consumes us, we tends to do stupid things too. The fear of uncertain future can drive people crazy at times.

The absence of God?

The odd thing is, in the midst of all the troubles, God isn’t speaking at all. He is silent. Why?

The lack of communication between Abram and God shows us the nature of the issue. Abram isn’t trusting God enough to ask him for help or think that God will guide him through out the journey.

Yet in the end, who bailed Abram out? It was God. Who protected Sarai in the midst of this urgent scene? Also God. God is not silent at all, the fact is that we mute God’s voice in our lives. We refuse to talk to him, ask him for help, question him, and communicate with him at all. We don’t recognize his presence in our lives, and yet it is God who guide you and your family through all these years.

We don’t build the faith out of our piety. The bible’s definition of faith is not a blind faith where you just constantly yell, “믿습니다" “Amen”. Rather it is a faith that is trustworthy, because of God’s character and his deeds.

It is God constantly shows us that he is being faithful to his promise. God constantly shows us that he loves and cares for us and willing to bring us to blessings. Even though Abram was obviously lacking in faith, God didn’t punish him or left him alone. God shows him that he is faithful, he is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow, that we can always count on him for his promises. It is God who builds our faith in our journey towards his promise. And he is willing to guide us despite of our shortcomings and lack of trust in him.

The graph

I have read the Abram story many times, and whenever I read them, it feels like his journey is like this graph here, where there are ups and downs in our journey of faith, but ultimately, if we listen and see God’s work in our lives, we will trust him enough to not be so shaken by the troubles and obstacles.

Living in a foreign county, our family faced many troubles in our lives. I personally experienced and still experiencing the issues and yes, the fear still troubles me in days. Yet, because I have seen God’s work and I have experienced his faithfulness in my life, my faith is being built by him and in him. There is solid and undeniable evidences in myself that I can’t help but to believe in God’s promises.

It is a journey. Although we might not be perfect in the beginning, and our faith in God is too small in insignificant to really call it a faith. God is at work, and he is showing you how faithful he is towards you. If you have question, ask him, if you doubt his presence, talk to him, call on his name. See the evidences in your life, how God has guided you in your past.