“I Will Make Of You A Great Nation”

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. 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 the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

So Abram went, as the LORD had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. Abram took his wife Sarai and his brother’s son Lot, and all the possessions that they had gathered, and the persons whom they had acquired in Haran; and they set forth to go to the land of Canaan. When they had come to the land of Canaan,

Genesis 12:1-5

When God spoke to Abram, he obeyed at once, departing for an unknown land based only on a promise. Childless, he trusted God to make of him “a great nation.”

God often does His work through “holy fools” – dreamers who strike out in ridiculous faith. Yet many of us tend to approach our decisions with calculation and restraint. A church in Chicago once scheduled an all-night vigil during a major crisis. At length they discussed the practicality of the event before finally putting it on the calendar. It was the poorest group in the church, a group of seniors from a housing project, who responded the most. They prayed all night. They had time, and they had faith. Faith often appears where least expected and falters where it ought to thrive.

Prayer is the voice of faith.

Our Daily Bread – June 1, 2009