Today we’re going to continue our series on the life of Abraham and the journey of faith – I’m excited about this series, because I believe that Abram’s story is our story too.  I really hope that as a church and individually we would rediscover the adventure of faith – that following God is full of ups and downs, twists and turns, fears and doubts, times you want to give up and times it looks like there’s no hope, but in the end you’re in a better place because of the journey. And, because of the steps of faith you have taken, you know without a doubt that God is real. 

Last time I was here we looked at the beginning of Abram’s story, how God called him to leave all that was comfortable to him to go to a land he would show him, and promised him that he would provide him and his elderly, barren wife with a child who would become a father to many nations.  And Abram leaves in faith that God is trustworthy.  The first scene has culminated with Abram being told that the land he is standing on is the land God had asked him to go to.  This is amazing – he has set out in faith, not knowing where he was heading, and already he has arrived in the land that was promised to him.  So Abram builds an altar to the Lord in this place called Bethel.  But after this heroic beginning, there is an unheroic second act. 

In the spirit of adventure, we’re not going to read the whole story up front.  Instead, we’re going to walk with Abram as he continues on his journey, a little at a time.  If you have your Bibles, you can open up to Genesis 12:7. 

Read Gen 12:7-9.

The LORD appeared to Abram and said, "To your offspring I will give this land." So he built an altar there to the LORD, who had appeared to him. ⁸ From there he went on toward the hills east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the LORD and called on the name of the LORD.  ⁹ Then Abram set out and continued toward the Negev.

The story begins with Abram right in the place where God has called him to go.

There are few feelings better in the journey of faith then knowing that you are exactly where God has called you.  You know that God has brought you to where you are, and no matter what happens, good or bad, you have peace about your situation in life.  Now, maybe some of you experience that all the time.  Personally, I’ve found this to be a very difficult thing.  Sometimes I know I’m exactly where God has called me.  I think when I first came to this church, it was clear – the things I was looking for, and the things NewLife was looking for, were a perfect match.  Sometimes in my life I have known that I am exactly where God wants me to be, that this is what he created me for.

But much of the time, it is a walk of faith, hoping that I am making wise decisions about where God wants me to be.  There are times you make a decision believing that it’s the best one for you or for your family, only to find that God seems absent and there is no sense that He is leading.  So how do you know if you are where God wants you?  Sometimes you know because he has revealed it in his Word – it is right to press on in marriage, or to care for the poor.  Sometimes God has given you such a heart for a person or a group of people, a neighborhood, or job, or church, that you know there’s nowhere else you could be.  You just know this is where God wants you to be.  But sometime you’re just not sure, and you just keep going where you think you should be going.  I would encourage you this morning to ask God more often if you are where he would want you, in job, ministry, neighborhood, relationships, etc.  Sometimes you will just walk by faith, hoping you are right, but other times He will make it clear, as he did to Abram, that you are exactly where He wants you to be. 

So Abram is exactly where God wants him, but then something happens in v. 10