Abraham’s hills and valleys

Abraham lived in the Middle East about 4,000 years ago. There is an account of his life in Genesis 11-25 of the Bible. God gave him four great promises: a promised son (Isaac), a promised people (the Jews), a promised land (Canaan), and a promised blessing for all people (Jews wrote the Scriptures; Jesus Christ was Jewish).

Part of Abraham’s life is summarized in the graph in terms of whether he was trusting God’s promises or doubting them. It goes up when he trusted the promises and down when he doubted them.

Trust: At the beginning of Abraham’s journey of faith he obeyed the Lord and left Ur and travelled to Haran on the way to Canaan (Gen. 11:31).

Doubt: But Abraham and his family stopped and settled in Haran, about half-way to Canaan. He did not trust God as he had not yet left his family.

Trust: After God intervened and his father died, Abraham, travelled to Canaan, the Promised Land (Gen. 12:4-8; Acts 7:4). He was not afraid even though the land was occupied by the Canaanites. After God renewed His promise, Abraham built an altar and worshiped. When his faith was strong, he built a new altar each time he moved to a new locality.

Doubt: Later, when he visited Egypt, Abraham doubted God and forgot His promises which couldn’t be fulfilled unless he was alive to father a child (Gen. 12:10-20). He feared that Pharaoh would kill him to take his beautiful wife for his harem. Rather than seek God’s protection, Abraham took matters into his own hands and deceived Pharaoh. But God intervened and Abraham and his household were cast out of Egypt.

Trust: After this, Abraham worshiped the Lord again and the promises were renewed (Gen. 13:4,14-18). The Lord told him to explore the Promised Land, and this gave him a vision of God’s provision.

Doubt: Abraham, still childless, thought his servant Eliezer would be his heir as this was the law at the time (Gen. 15:1-3). He had forgotten God’s promise of numerous descendants; he was living by sight not by faith.

Trust: After God promised him a son and repeated the other promises, Abraham “believed the Lord, and He credited it to him as righteousness” (Gen. 15:6). God accepted Abraham because he believed His promises: he trusted God. God then confirmed the promises unconditionally in a covenant.

Doubt:  Sarah, unable to have any children, persuaded Abraham to father a child by her servant, Hagar (Gen. 16:2). The child was Ishmael, the ancestor of the Arabic people. It was 11 years since Abraham heard the promise of many descendants and a great nation. They lacked faith and took matters into their own hands again.

Trust: Thirteen years later the promises were repeated by God (Gen. 17:1-16). As a sign of the promises, they were instructed to circumcise every male in their household. Abraham’s faith was renewed, and he worshiped because of these reminders of the covenant.

Doubt:  When they were told that Sarah would have a son, Abraham worshiped and laughed in amazement, while Sarah laughed in disbelief as she was past the childbearing age (Gen. 17:17-18; 18:9-15). In this case Sarah doubted and needed to hear, “Is anything too hard for the Lord?”

Trust: God responded to Abraham’s request and said that Ishmael would be blessed and have many descendants, and on that day Abraham circumcised all the males in his household (Gen. 17:18-27). This obedience indicates that his faith was strong.

Doubt: Later, Abraham doubted God again because he thought he would be killed by King Abimelech, because of his wife’s beauty (Gen. 20:1-18). This was a repeat of his failure in Egypt 20 years earlier. It shows how prone we are to sin. Fortunately, God intervened again to rescue Abraham and Sarah.

Trust: The miraculous conception and birth of Isaac to parents aged 100 and 90 was a pinnacle in the life of Abraham and Sarah (Gen. 17:17; 21:1-7). This happened “at the very time God had promised.” Abraham circumcised Isaac, and Sarah acknowledged God’s miracle. This was the only promise fulfilled in their lifetime; it strengthened their trust in Him.

Trust: After 40 years, Abraham’s faith was tested when God ordered him to offer Isaac as a burnt offering (Gen. 22:1-14; Heb. 11:17-19). Isaac was the promised son through whom the other promises were to be fulfilled! But Abraham obeyed God even though it looked like the death of Isaac. He had learned his lesson to trust without doubting. He believed God could bring Isaac back to life to fulfill His promises. He passed the test, being confident in God, while God stopped it before harm could come to Isaac. Surely, Isaac remembered this incident all of his life! God then encouraged Abraham’s faith by repeating His promises (Gen. 22:15-18).

Valley: About 20 years later Abraham mourned the death of his wife Sarah (Gen. 23:1-2). That would have been a difficult time for him as they had been married for over 100 years.

Hill: Soon afterwards Abraham and Isaac were comforted when Isaac married Rebekah and Abraham married Keturah (Gen. 24:66- 25:1).

So, there were plenty of hills and valleys in the life of Abraham.

Lessons for us

Abraham was given promises by God. When he forgot these promises, he failed and his faith was weak. When he remembered the promises, he obeyed God and his faith was strong. Hebrews says that Abraham, “embraced the promises” (Heb. 11:17). This shows that remembering God’s promises can promote resilience. This is like the old hymn called “Standing on the promises of God”. Are you doing that? How well do we know God’s promises to us in the Bible?

Appendix: Hills and valleys during the Exodus

After the ten plagues, Pharoah told the Israelites to leave Egypt and God guided them by a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. But Pharaoh changed his mind and commanded the Egyptian army to return them to Egypt.

Valley: The Israelites were terrified of the Egyptian army coming after them (Ex. 14:10).

Hill: But God caused the Egyptian army to be drowned in the Red Sea (Ex. 14:28). So, the Israelites praised God.

Valley: Then the Israelites grumbled because the water at Marah was bitter (Ex. 15:23-24).

Hill: God purified the water and provided more water at Elim.

Valley: Then the Israelites grumbled because of the lack of food in the desert (Ex. 16:2-3).

Hill: God provided manna and quail to eat (Ex. 16: 4-36).

Valley: Then the Israelites grumbled because of the lack of water at Rephidim (Ex. 17:3).

Hill: God provided water at Massah and Meribah (Ex. 17: 6-7).

Valley: Then Amalekites attacked the Israelites at Rephidim (Ex. 17:8).

Hill: The Amalekites were defeated (Ex. 17: 13).

Valley: Moses was wearing himself out settling disputes between the Israelites (Ex. 18:18).

OMIT Hill: Jethro told Moses to delegate the simple disputes to other men (Ex. 18: 21-22).

Hill: At Mt Sinai God made a covenant with the Israelites giving them promises, commandments instructions about the tabernacle, priests and offerings (Ex. 19 onwards).

Valley: While Moses was on Mt Sinai for 40 days, the Israelites began to worship a golden calf (Ex. 32:1-35). When God punished them about 3,000 people died and others were struck with a plague.

Hill: God appeared to Moses and renewed His covenant with the Israelites (Ex. 33:18 – 34:35).

Valley: Miriam and Aaron opposed Moses (Num. 12:1-35). Miriam was punished for her jealousy.

Hill: At Kadesh 12 men were sent to explore the promised land and reported that it was fertile and productive (Num. 13:1-27).

Valley: But most of the spies said that the people were too strong for the Israelites to defeat (Num. 13:31-33). So, the Israelites grumbled and rebelled against Moses (Num. 14:1-4; Dt. 1:26-28). They doubted God’s power. The punishment was that they would wander another 38 years in the wilderness so that all those above 20 years in age (about 600,000 men), except Joshua and Caleb, would die before they reached the promised land.

Valley: A group of 250 mean opposed Moses opposed Moses (Num. 16:1-3). God destroyed them and their families. Then the Israelites grumbled against Moses and 14,700 died in a plague.

Valley: Near the end of their wandering in the wilderness there was no water and the Israelites grumbled against Moses (Num. 20:1-13). God told Moses to speak to a rock to obtain water, but he struck is twice with his staff. Because of his disobedience Moses died before they reached the promised land.

Hill: At Hormah the Israelites defeated the Canaanites who attacked them (Num. 21:1-3).

Valley: The Israelites complained about the lack of water and the miserable food (Num. 21:4-9). God sent venomous snakes, and many died. After they confessed their sin, God told them to look at a bronze snake to be healed of the snake bite.

Hill: When the Amorites and the people of Bashan attacked, God gave the Israelites the victory and they occupied their lands (Num. 21:21-35; Dt. 2:24 – 3:11).

Valley: At Shittim the Israelites were enticed into sexual immorality and idolatry (Num. 25:1-3). As a result of this sin 24,000 died in a plague. And God told the Israelites to attack the Midianites and to take their possessions (Num. 31:1-54).

Hill: Moses blessed the tribes of Israel (Dt. 33:1-29).

Valley: Moses died outside the promised land after he viewed it from Mount Nebo (Dt. 34:1-7)

Written, July 2023