What courage it must have taken for a 75-year-old man to pull up his tent pegs and strike out by faith, not knowing where he was going. What a model of faith! But while we’re right to admire Abram’s faith, we must not forget that he was still fully human. When we look more closely at Abram up there on his pedestal, we begin to see his cracks and imperfections. We realize this icon of faith had feet of clay. Even so, God remained faithful to His promises, picking up Abram each time he failed, dusting him off, and continuing to chisel away his character until he reflected God’s image. Certainly, all of us can learn lessons from the leg of faithful Abram’s journey that we’ll explore in this message—his temporary and tragic slump into deceit and disobedience.
Yes, the biographies of the Bible consistently confirm the truth that the good and godly are still weak and imperfect. That includes you and me—all those who are righteous by faith in Christ but who constantly struggle against the temptation to cut corners, circumvent faith, rationalize disobedience, and pragmatically put our own priorities above God’s. Abram’s sudden slide from faithfulness to faithlessness serves as a reminder that we, like this great patriarch, are just one bad decision away from a stumble into disobedience.