Abraham was the beloved son of an idol trader and lived surrounded by parental care. Nevertheless, one day, God called him and said: “Abraham! Abraham! You must leave your father Farrah’s house and go wherever I direct you.” God did not warn him in advance; the instruction was given to Abraham suddenly, like a thunderbolt from a clear sky. Even under these circumstances, however, Abraham should not have hesitated. He should have set out immediately, as if he had been waiting for this instruction. If Abraham had lingered at home, it would have been a condition of Satan’s accusation and nullified all of God’s efforts throughout history. With this in mind, all people who receive God’s instructions should obey them immediately.
If Abraham went to his parents and declared, “Dad, Mom, God has commanded me to leave Ur and go to uncharted lands. I will do His bidding,” they would undoubtedly ask him, “Are you out of your mind?” So, Abraham could not say anything to his parents. Moreover, God commanded him to go not to a neighboring village, but to a foreign land, very far away — to Egypt.
Abraham was able to cope and leave home because he absolutely believed God’s Word. His love for God was absolute; he loved Him more than his parents, relatives, and home country. Nothing was more important to Abraham than God’s instructions; he took them more seriously than he did his life. He turned out to be a wanderer, and lived with complete self-denial, abandoning everything.
God exercised such providence in Abraham’s life to bring him up as a man ready to shed tears not only for his nation, but also for other nations and even for his enemies. He sent him to other nations, far from the land of his ancestors. And all his life his heart was turned to God in prayer. Because of this, God blessed him with descendants whose number is greater than the stars in the sky and the grains of sand on the earth.
Reading the Bible, it appears that God blessed and loved Abraham for no reason. But this is not the case. He had to leave everything, his family, his homeland, his property, and go to an unknown land chosen by God, constantly feeling the sorrow of God and people. He prayed much for other nations. It was only on this basis that God could call Abraham the father of faith and bless him so generously. You won’t find a description of this in the Bible, but it was the way of life that Abraham led that allowed God to give him His blessing.
Abraham was in a position where he had to sacrifice his wife and then even his beloved and only son to God. Sacrificing his son was much more difficult for him than dying himself.
What was the purpose of God raising Abraham? It was not for him, or even for his descendants. Abraham was to be the link between God and the people from faraway lands who lived in the enemy camp-the world of Satan. Abraham was to provide the foundation for the development and expansion of God’s providence.
We, like him, live like slaves in an enemy country, behind prison walls. Like him, we must have an abiding abhorrence of all that is wicked — all that has to do with the human fall. The thought of freedom should give us the creeps. If you don’t feel that, you cannot be considered true believers from Heaven’s point of view.