A Meditation on Father Abraham

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about "Father Abraham." I realized something about him that I never fully appreciated before: the incredible simplicity of his faith and relationship with God. Theologians and scholars have taken apart poor Abraham and have examined every aspect of his life minute, technical detail, wringing every last drop of meaning from every single word of his story in Genesis. While it is very important to understand and appreciate what Abraham represents in terms of our knowledge of the workings of God, we lose sight of the simplicity of his relationship with the LORD.

Here is a man, despite his human failings, who had a powerful, intimate relationship with the Creator of the Universe. And what is truly amazing about Abraham is that he had and maintained this relationship despite a complete lack of the all that we deem essential to sustain our own relationship with God.

Here is a man who had no Bible (still several centuries away from the first word being written); he had no "fellowship of believers" (except for those in his own family); there were no services to attend; either church or synagogue; no accountability groups (though this might have helped him in a few instances!); no cute little bookstores to buy inspirational books. It seems that his major source for knowing and understanding God's will and purposes was God himself!

But there is one thing, one "spiritual discipline," that Abraham certainly seemed to understand and appreciate: prayer.

If there's one practical lesson we can take away from Abraham's life, it is the essential centrality of prayer in the life of a believer. One can do away with everything else, even the Bible, but prayer is as vital to relationship with God as is breathing is necessary to live.

I think of the early monastic movements, how believers in the first few centuries of the Church would move out into the desert; away from family, friends and city life; just so they could deepen their relationship with the Creator. We laugh and ridicule those early monastics for being such extremists, but their stories are still told well over a thousand years later. Perhaps they were on to something--and rather than extremism, perhaps it was a deep, powerful devotion that led them to do what they did....

But amongst those early Desert Fathers, one thing is common in all their stories: the centrality of prayer in their lives of solitude. Having given up many of the other trappings of Christianity, the discipline of prayer remained essential.

Granny,

Thanks for your wise comments!

"A few things that come to mind as we meditate on Abraham's faith: God calls us first and we need but to answer His call; we can trust in Him, for He keeps His promises; He desires only good for us, so we benefit as we do His will."

Those are all very important observations, but there's an additional, very critical thing we learn from Father Abraham that many of us don't know quite what to do with: God will test us. As a matter of fact, I truly believe every single trial and tribulation on this earth, whether it was do to our own ignorance and weaknesses or from those of someone else, is ultimiately a testing of our faith. As the apostle James states so beautifully:

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." (James 1:2-4 NIV)

The part of Father Abraham's life that I find the most amazing is in Genesis 22 where God asks Abraham to sacrifice his only son! What a request!

Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!”
“Here I am,” he replied.
Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.”
(Genesis 22:1-2 NIV)

Wow! If God tested His best friend on planet Earth, how much more will he seek to test us! And isn't it quite possible that God will also ask us to sacrifice that which is most dear to us???

This isn't the kind of lesson that pastor's like to preach in a Sunday morning sermon, but the essential truth of God's testing is a much a part of our lives as it was Abraham's.

Thank you so much for your insight!

Wow! If God tested His best friend on planet Earth, how much more will he seek to test us! And isn't it quite possible that God will also ask us to sacrifice that which is most dear to us???
This isn't the kind of lesson that pastor's like to preach in a Sunday morning sermon, but the essential truth of God's testing is a much a part of our lives as it was Abraham's.

Indeed. Another example is that in leading the Israelites out of Egypt, He could have taken them on a straight path to the promised land, instead He had them meander around until they were positioned with the Red Sea in front and the Egyptians behind. That was a test of faith.

We've all been there - the Red Sea in front, the Egyptians behind. There is no way out but to believe Him, trust Him, surrender to Him.

I know this little meditation on Father Abraham isn't particularly polished nor profound, but as I was contemplating this meditation, I realized it is my personal, spiritual equivalent of Descartes' famous Cogito Ergo Sum. In my case the realization is best stated: "I pray, therefore I am."

I know that outside forces are quite capable of taking away everything that I associate with being a "righteous" Christian: church meetings, the Bible, Christian literature, and even Christian fellowship itself. But there is one thing no force on this earth is capable of removing from me: my ability to communicate with God through prayer.

Of course prayer, in and of itself, is nothing, unless you take into consideration who you are praying to!

I met a beautiful Indian pastor this past weekend who had a literal "Damascus Road" type conversion experience. He grew up in a Hindu family, but was extremely confused by the number and variety of gods in Hinduism. This actually caused him a great deal of stress, and so he finally prayed in desperation for the real God to make himself known! None of the Hindu gods answered, but instead he literally saw Jesus Christ standing before him, proclaiming to be the answer to his prayer!

The pastor renounced his belief in Hinduism, and declared to his family what happened to him, and how he was now going to be a follower of Jesus Christ, and Him alone. Of course his family immediately disowned him, and he was left to struggle on his own, with absolutely no support from the Hindu community.

Now, he is a pastor who oversees eleven churches, and regularly sees miracles as a normal part of ministry, including one man who was literally raised from the dead! That one resurrection did more to preach the gospel of Jesus to a Hindu village more so than 1,000 sermons, and the entire village converted en masse to Christianity.

So I have to confess to knowing at least one man who lost literally EVERYTHING to follow after Jesus; all he had left in life was his relationship with the TRUE GOD; and it was all he needed.

betty boop brought up a good point: "In following the Lord's will, we become the person He intended for us to be." So true. In order for us to truly know who we are, we must first know who it is that created us, and what he wants from us. It is a paradox, but it is very, very true that we do not really know ourselves until we know God, and agree to walk out His will for our lives. Then--and only then--do we truly know who we are!

Well, Rene Descartes was correct to state that because a man has self-awareness, then he must exist. However, to know who you are and why you exist, then you need to have God-awareness. Rational thought certainly plays a role in our search, but it's not an end in itself, nor could it possibly be.

Since arriving at the realization that our desire to reach out to God through prayer is the essential action of our existence, I have new sense of urgency regarding my own personal prayer life, and a new appreciation for the need for corporate prayer.

A sad but true issue with my own church is an almost complete lack of any sort of prayer meeting. Yes, there is the traditional Sunday morning worship service, but for reasons beyond my understanding, they don't feel it important to have any sort of gathering for the simple purpose of praying together. I'm beginning to see what a terrible thing that is, and have begun working on some possible way for a simple weekly prayer meeting to be organized.

I've responded to the lack of corporate prayer in the past by forming my own prayer meetings with anyone who was interested. However, these were not an official "church" ministry, but just something I did for my own conscience. But now I think it's time to gently prod our church leadership into action regarding prayer. It's simply too important an activity to ignore.

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PING!