God Moving on Abraham

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About four thousand years ago, God walked up to a seventy-five-year-old man and told him to basically throw his entire life away.

Leave your country. Leave your city. Leave your family. Leave the business, the land, the employees, the money — all of it. Pack it up and start over. And I'm not going to tell you where you're going.

This guy had no map. No plan. No backup. He barely even knew this God who was talking to him. He wasn't a pastor or a prophet. He was, honestly, a pagan — he came from a family that worshiped other gods.

And here's the part that should sort of stop you: He went!

Now, we usually tell this story like it's about how brave this guy was or how strong his faith was. Like he's some spiritual superhero we're all supposed to imitate.

I want to show you that we've been reading the story backwards. Because the thing that changed everything in this man's life — it wasn't something he did. It was one thing God did.

This guy’s name was Abraham. And his name shows up around three hundred times in the Bible. The whole story of God's people traces back to this one man and three of the world's biggest religions point back to him.

So you'd expect him to be flawless, right? A man of steel.

He wasn't. Not even close. This is a guy who, when he got scared, handed his own wife to another man to save his own skin. And then did it again. This is a guy whose worst decision created a family conflict that we are literally still fighting wars over today. He failed over and over.

And that's exactly why this matters for you. Because if the Abraham story was about a perfect man with unshakable faith, it would be useless to you and me. We'd have nothing in common with him.

But it's not about that. So let me show you the actual pattern — five things God did to Abraham that changed everything. Not five things Abraham did. Five things God did. Before I do, let me hit you with something.

There's a whole field of study built around how the human brain makes decisions when the future is uncertain. And what researchers keep finding is that your mind sort of freezes when it doesn't have enough information. We crave certainty. We want the plan. We want the guarantee and the data before we'll move an inch. In 2016 a study was done that shows that uncertainty actually registers in the brain a lot like physical pain – something to be fixed.

So a seventy-five-year-old man, with zero information, walking away from everything he owns on the strength of one voice? By everything we understand about the human mind, that should be impossible.

Which tells you something. The thing that moved Abraham wasn't coming from inside Abraham. It was coming from God. Let's get into it.

MOVE #1 - GOD CAME TO ABRAHAM (ABRAHAM WASN’T SEEKING GOD)

Here's the first thing, and it sets up everything else.

Abraham didn’t go looking for God. Read Genesis chapter 12. Abraham is just having a normal day. He's not praying and he's not searching. He's not on some spiritual journey trying to find his higher purpose. God shows up first.

This is completely backwards from how we usually think. We think the story starts with a man reaching up toward God. It doesn't. It starts with God reaching down toward a man who wasn't even looking.

That's the whole Bible in miniature. Nobody claws their way up to God. God comes down. Every single time, He is the first mover.

So right away, move number one destroys the self-help version of this story. Because you can't copy "God chose to speak to you first." That's not a technique. That's not a step you take. It's a gift you receive.

Abraham's entire life turned on a moment he did not start. And if you know God today, neither did yours.

MOVE #2 - GOD MADE A PROMISE

Second thing God did. He made a promise, and He made the promise do the heavy lifting — not Abraham.

Look at what God actually said. I'm going to give you a son. I'm going to make you into a great nation. I'm going to make your name great. And I'm going to bless you so that through you, the whole world gets blessed.

Now here's the problem with that promise. Abraham had no kids. His wife Sarah couldn't have children, and they were both old. So God promises a nation to a man who can't even produce a child.

That is not an accident. God set it up so it was flat-out impossible for Abraham — so that when it happened, there'd be no confusion about who pulled it off.

This is the part your brain fights. We want to be the reason things work out. We want to bring something to the table. But God arranged Abraham's whole life so that Abraham brought nothing except empty hands and a promise.

And catch this — the promise wasn't "Become great, Abraham." It was "I will make you great." The verbs belong to God. I will. I will. I will. Abraham's job wasn't to make it happen. It was to believe the One who said He would make it happen.

So what did Abraham do while he waited? Genesis says he built an altar and worshiped. That was the response. He worshiped while he waited. He trusted the One who promised.

MOVE 3 — GOD KEPT THE COVENANT ALONE

Okay. This one changed how I read the entire Bible. This is the one thing that changes everything. Genesis chapter 15. Stay with me.

Back then, when two people made a serious, binding agreement — a covenant — they'd do something intense. They'd take animals, cut them in half, lay the pieces down and separate them, and then both people would walk between the pieces. Walking through that blood was like saying, "If I break my end of this deal, may I end up like these animals."

Both parties walked through. That's how it always worked.

So God tells Abraham to set it up. Abraham cuts the animals, lays out the pieces, and gets ready. And then something strange happens. God puts Abraham to sleep.

And while Abraham is sleeping  — doing absolutely nothing — God alone passes through the pieces. Only God walks the path. Abraham never does.

Do you understand what that means? God just took both sides of the deal. God is saying, "I'll keep My promise. And if this covenant ever gets broken — I'll take the penalty for that too."

And what was Abraham contributing to the single most important covenant of his life? He was asleep. He contributed nothing.

Sometimes people ask, "What's my part? What do I bring? What do I add to what God is doing?" And Genesis 15 answers it with a picture of a man snoring on the ground while God says he will do it all.

That's the gospel. Your salvation is a covenant God makes and God keeps and God pays for — while you were spiritually asleep and could not lift a finger. You don't complete it. You receive it.

MOVE 4 — GOD STAYED FAITHFUL THROUGH ABRAHAM’S FAILURES

Now let's talk about the failures. Because this is where most people quietly assume the deal falls apart. But it doesn't.

I told you Abraham handed his wife off to another man to protect himself - twice. Genesis records it. He got scared and lied about who she was, and let her be taken. And both times — who cleaned up the mess? God did. God brought her back. Twice.

Then there's the worst one. Abraham and Sarah got tired of waiting for God and the promised a son – it was taking years. So they came up with their own plan to make the promise happen their own way, using Sarah's servant, Hagar. It blew up their family. It created a conflict between two sons that, no exaggeration, the world is still dealing with today.

So let's be honest about who this man was. There's a line I want you to remember:

Abraham was not a good man. He was a forgiven man.

That's the difference. And it's everything.

Because here's what God did not do. God did not look at the lying, the fear, the scheming, the mess, and say, "You know what, the deal's off. You failed and I’ll find someone else." The failures were real. And the promise held anyway.

Why? Go back to move three. The covenant didn't depend on the faithfulness of Abraham, it depended on the faithfulness of God. When Abraham sinned, the whole thing didn't collapse — because it was never resting on Abraham in the first place.

So, think about that for a second, because I know some of you needed to hear it today. You think your failure disqualifies you. You think you've used up your chances with God. Abraham's whole life is God saying: the promise was never held up by your performance. It's held up by Mine.

MOVE #5 — GOD PROVIDED THE SUBSTITUTE

Here's the fifth thing God did, and it's the one the whole story was pointing at the entire time.

After twenty-five years, God finally gives Abraham the promised son. His name is Isaac. This is the son the entire promise depends on. Everything rides on Isaac.

And then God says the most shocking thing in the whole story. He tells Abraham to take his son up a mountain — and offer him as a sacrifice.

Now, we don't have time for everything here, but watch the pattern. The son carries the wood for his own sacrifice up the hill on his back. He submits to his father. He's laid down on an altar. Abraham raises the knife — and God stops him. And God provides a ram, caught in a bush, to die in the son's place. A substitute. The son goes free because something else dies instead.

Do you see it? A father. A beloved son. Wood carried up a hill. A son laid down. A substitute provided so the child could live.

That's not just Abraham's story. That's a preview. Because two thousand years later, another Father sent another beloved Son up a hill, carrying wood on His back — a cross. Except this time, at the last second, nobody stopped it. This time there was no ram in the bush. Because this time, the Son was the substitute.

Jesus is the sacrifice God provided so that you could go free.

Everything God did to Abraham — calling him, promising him, keeping the covenant alone, staying faithful through failure — all of it was building to this: God Himself would provide the Lamb. God would take the penalty. God would do the dying.

That's the one thing that changed everything. Not for Abraham. For you.

Right now there might be a voice saying, "Okay, give me the steps. What do I do? How do I get faith like Abraham's?"

I want to gently say that that's the backwards reading again.

Abraham's faith was never the hero of this story. Look back at all five moves — every single one, the one doing the work is God. God called. God promised. God kept the covenant. God stayed faithful. God provided the substitute. Abraham's faith was just the empty hand that received it. At the biggest moment, he was literally asleep.

So faith is not you working up enough belief to impress God. Faith is trusting the God who has already done all the work. It's not "believe harder." It's "look at who He is."

So, if you feel like you've failed too many times. You and Abraham have the exact same résumé. Not a good man. A forgiven one. The promise was never held up by your performance. It's held up by a God who walks through the blood alone, and provides the Lamb Himself.

You don't have to be Abraham. You just have to trust Abraham's God.

Father, you are the first mover in all things. We confess how often we try to be the hero of our story. Forgive us for robbing you of the glory you deserve. Cause us to trust You — not our grip on You, but Your grip on us. In Jesus' name we pray —

Remember: You don't have to be a great man or woman of faith. You just have to trust the great and faithful God — because from the very first word to the final sacrifice, He was the one doing everything.