THE MAN OF FAITH
by Alexander Maclaren
'And Abram passed through the land unto the place
of
Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh. And the
Canaanite was
then in the land. And the Lord appeared unto
Abram, and
said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and
there
builded he an altar unto the Lord, who appeared
unto
him.'--GENESIS xii. 6, 7.
Great epoch and man. Steps of Abram's training.
First he was simply
called to go--no promise of
inheritance--obeyed--came to Canaan-found
a thickly peopled land with advanced social order,
and received no
divine vision till he was face to face with the
Canaanite.
1. _God's bit-by-bit leading of us._
How slowly the divine purpose was revealed--the
trial before the
promise--did not know where, nor that Canaan was
land, but only told
enough for his first march.
So with us--our ignorance of future is meant to have
the effect of
keeping us near God and training us to live a day at
a time.
God's finger on the page points to a word at a time.
Each day's
route is given morning by morning in the order for
the day.
2. _Obedience often brings us into very difficult
places._
Abram was ready to say, no doubt, 'This cannot be
the land for me,
peopled as it is with all these Canaanites.' We are
ever ready to
think that, if we find obstacles, we must have
misunderstood God's
directions, but 'many adversaries' often indicate an
'open door.'
3. _The presence of enemies brings the presence of
God._
This is the first time we read that God _appeared_
to men.
As the darkness thickens, the pillar of fire
brightens. But not only
does God appear more clearly, but our spirits are
more eager and
therefore able to see Him. We are mercifully left to
feel the
enemies before we see Him present in His strength.
4. _The victory for us lies in the vision of God and
of His loving
purpose._
How superb the confidence of 'Unto thy seed will I
give _this_
land.'
That vision is our true strength. And it will make
us feel as
pilgrims, which is in itself more than half the
battle.
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