Genesis 12

The Voice Of God

The Lord said unto Abram. Genesis 12:1.

I wonder what impression the mention of Abraham makes on your minds. Long ago, boys and girls used to think of him as a man dressed with dress coat, tie, and trousers, like their own fathers or grandfathers. Your idea may be quite different. This is an age of pictures. One can see the dress of people from Syria or Chaldea any day, and watch how they live life as well. No doubt most of you have seen a picture of an Arab. You have admired his dark handsome face, his fine upright bearing, his flowing cloak of bright scarlet, and his novel head-dress made of a handkerchief bound on his head by a fillet of rope. And you certainly have not failed to remark the spear which he holds in his hand. That spear is more than a weapon; it is also his standard. He plants it in the ground when he pitches his tent, and it marks for his followers the center of the encampment.

This is how Abraham lived 4000 years ago. So little do fashions and customs change in the East that we can picture him as an Eastern shepherd.

Terah, his father, with the family, their bondsmen or slaves, and their various “cattle,” as well as the household belongings (which would be piled on the backs of the camels) had migrated from Ur of the Chaldees to the highlands of Northern Mesopotamia. We do not know the reason for this migration. Probably they hoped to find more room and better pasture for their flocks. Or perhaps the move had to do with their religion. In Chaldea they found themselves surrounded by people who worshipped more than one God. We are not told a great deal about Terah. It has been said that he was an idolater; but Abraham was doubtless the leading spirit in the removal, and he was no idolater. He was a man who had meditated much, he seemed ever to hear a voice calling him away, and he felt it was the voice of God.

They settled at last in Padan-aram, on a spot about fifty miles east of the Euphrates and near a city called Haran. Their encampment, when it was set up, would be something like a highland township, only with tents instead of houses. Abraham led a simple natural life there a tent of camel's hair for a house, and the open air for his day's work. Every morning he would go round to give orders, or to take a look at and perhaps count his flocks. It was work which gave plenty of time for thought, and Abraham's mind was ever busy. It was busy with thoughts of God.

As there were days in Haran, so there were nights nights of marvelous wonder and beauty. On one such night Abraham went out of his tent and gazed up into the starry heavens. The whole story of his life came back to him, and be thought of his surroundings in Haran. It was his home, yet not a real home, for there were idols in the tents. Abraham knew it. Sarah had her daily household duties, and did not seem to understand when he spoke to her about God's voice. So Abraham waited. The silence was God's opportunity. God came near and spoke. And this time He gave a command.

No one heard the command but Abraham himself. It laid hold of him in such a way that henceforth he had no will but the will of God. It said a certain course was right, and Abraham felt he must take it. Perhaps you have thought that God appeared to Abraham in the form of a man. “God has spoken to me” that is an Arab phrase, and it is used when the speaker or writer feels that a deep impression has been made on his mind.

So God's voice has spoken to many besides Abraham. You remember how it came to a little French maid in the fifteenth century. She was busy spinning in the garden under the pink petals of the apple-trees, when she heard a voice saying, “Little Jeanne, it is thou who must go to the help of the king of France: it is thou who shalt give him back his kingdom.”

Jeanne knew that her country was very unhappy, that it was being overrun by the English and that her king was uncrowned and deserted. But what could she, a peasant child of thirteen, do?

“Daughter of God,” said the voice, “thou must leave thy village and go forth into France.”

“But I am only a poor girl,” said Jeanne, “I know not how to ride a horse or how to make war”

Still the voice commanded “Go.” And you know how little Jeanne obeyed, and how she, whom we call Joan of Arc, rode forth on her white charger, bearing her white banner, and so inspired the soldiers of France that they fought till France was saved and its king was indeed crowned.

And still God speaks to men and women, boys and girls. You know we all know that there are convincing and compelling voices that have no human form behind them. We feel impelled to do a certain thing, we know not how. Yes, and God calls us by many other ways. He calls us to higher things by the beauties of nature, and He calls us to service by the cries of our suffering brothers on earth. The cries of the sick and the sad and the helpless and the oppressed are just so many voices of God calling, calling, calling, night and day.