Stepping Into The unknown (Genesis 12-22)

A Call That Changes Everything

Imagine you’ve lived your entire life in one place. It’s home. Your family is here. Your business, your security, your identity—it’s all tied to this land. But then, something happens. One of your brothers die. So, now your father wants to move to Canaan with you, your wife, and your nephew, but he stops on the way and settles in a place he calls Harran, named after your brother. Now, imagine a voice calls out to you in the dead of night: "Leave everything you know, your country, your kindred, and go to a land I will show you." No details. No roadmap. Just a command and a promise.

This was Abram’s moment. A man of seventy-five years, wealthy yet childless, secure yet unfulfilled. His wife, Sarai, carried the weight of barrenness in a culture that defined a woman’s worth by her ability to bear children. They had no son. No future. And yet—God had spoken to Abram.

"I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you. All the families of the earth will be blessed through you." (Genesis 12:2-3)

Now, we live in a very skeptical society. How would we have responded to a call like this? It's an offer that seems too good to be true, and usually those kinds of offers are just that. We might have asked some questions. We might have wanted a little more clarity about how and why God was going to do this. Abraham had lost his brother, lost his father, and he had no children. He could have been skeptical and even bitter toward God. But faith, real faith, is not about clarity. It’s about obedience. Abram didn’t have the full picture, but he had God’s voice. And so, with nothing but a promise, he stepped forward.

The Cost of the Call

Stepping into the unknown always comes with a cost. Abram and Sarai left their home, their comforts, their known world for a promise unseen. The road was long. The land of Canaan was inhabited by powerful nations. And famine struck soon after they arrived.

So they did what made sense—they went to Egypt. But fear crept in. Abram, the man of faith, faltered.

"Say you’re my sister," he told Sarai. "They’ll kill me if they know you’re my wife." (Genesis 12:13)

The man who had trusted God enough to leave everything suddenly doubted God’s ability to protect him. Pharaoh took Sarai into his house, but God intervened, sending plagues upon Pharaoh’s household.

Lesson: Faith doesn’t mean we won’t struggle. Even great faith has moments of fear. But God’s faithfulness isn’t dependent on our perfection.

Waiting on a Promise

Years passed. Abram and Sarai had obeyed, yet the promise remained unfulfilled. No child. No nation.

Sarai, desperate, took matters into her own hands.

"Take Hagar, my servant. Have a child through her." (Genesis 16:2)

Ishmael was born—but he was not the child of promise. Human effort could not bring about what only God could do. Thirteen more years passed before God appeared again. 

When God did appear, he changed the name of Abram to Abraham, meaning "Father of many nations." He also changed the name of Sarai to Sarah, meaning "Princess," signifying that she would be the mother of nations and that kings would come from her lineage.

Not only that, but God said, "Sarah will bear you a son." (Genesis 17:16)

Abraham laughed. Sarah laughed. How could a barren woman of ninety have a child? But God asked a single question: "Is anything too hard for the Lord?" (Genesis 18:14)

When faith meets delay, do we trust God’s timing, or do we try to manufacture our own solutions?

The Ultimate Test

The impossible happened. Isaac was born to a man who was 100 years old and a woman who was 90. The child of promise. Laughter filled their home, the joy of a fulfilled dream.

But then, the unthinkable.

"Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and sacrifice him." (Genesis 22:2)

The weight of that journey to Mount Moriah is unbearable to imagine. Each step, Abraham’s heart pounded. The son he had waited decades for—the son God had promised—was to be laid on an altar.

Isaac carried the wood. Does this remind you of another Son, carrying another cross?

The knife was raised.

Then—"Abraham! Do not lay a hand on the boy!"

A ram in the thicket. God provided. Not just in that moment, but in all moments. This was not just a test of Abraham’s faith; it was a glimpse into the future:

One day, God would offer His only Son. But this time, there would be no ram in the thicket. Jesus would be the sacrifice.

The New Call of God: Our Invitation to Faith

The three largest religions in the world today, Judaism, Islam, and Christianity, all have Abraham as their founder. His story is the most influential of any many but Jesus. It's important for us to realize that this story doesn't just end in the Old Testament—it points forward to a greater reality. His journey of faith sets the foundation for what God would do through Jesus Christ, inviting all of us into a life of faith and promise.

Faith in Christ is the fulfillment of God's promises to Abraham. Paul makes this clear in Galatians 3:29 when he says, "If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise." This means that the covenant God made with Abraham wasn’t just about land or physical descendants. It was always about something greater—something that would ultimately be fulfilled in Jesus. Through Him, we inherit the blessings of faith, just as Abraham did.

But Jesus takes it even further. He is the true and better sacrifice. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son…" (John 3:16). Just as Abraham was willing to offer Isaac, God actually did offer His Son. But this time, no substitute was provided—Jesus was the Lamb, the ultimate sacrifice for our sins. Because of His sacrifice, we are called to respond in faith, just as Abraham did when he followed God into the unknown.

We are also called to be citizens of heaven. Hebrews 11:9-10 reminds us, "By faith, Abraham lived in tents… looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God." Abraham wasn’t just looking for a homeland—he was looking forward to something eternal. And Jesus calls us to that same kind of faith. We are not meant to live for this world, but for the kingdom of God. Jesus calls for men to leave everything and follow him in a similar to Abraham's call.

So what does this mean for us today? It means God is still calling people out of the familiar and into the unknown. Just like He called Abraham and Sarah, He calls us to trust Him, to leave behind our own ways and comforts, and to walk by faith into the promise of salvation. Will we trust Him? Will we respond to that call?

The Challenge:

Are you willing to live as a citizen of heaven, knowing God’s eternal kingdom is greater than anything this world offers?

Will you surrender all, just as Abraham and Sarah did, trusting that God’s provision is always enough? We will face trials like they did. We will fail with weakness like he and his wife did. The wait will be longer than we'd like it to be. The struggle will be real. But God will patiently stay with us and hold to his promise.

Like Abraham and Sarah, we are called to live by faith. And like Abraham and Sarah, when we trust God, we find that He is always faithful.

Closing Call to Action:

• What is God asking you to step into by faith today?
• Are you willing to trust Him, even when the way is unclear?
• Will you surrender everything, knowing He always provides?

Like Abraham, we are called to live by faith. And like Abraham, when we trust God, we find that He is always faithful.