Transitions: An Unbeliever in Transition

We have now begun a new series called “Transitions.” In the coming weeks, we’ll be looking at some of the transitions certain Biblical characters faced and see what Scripture has to teach us about how to process changes in our own lives.

In this first week, we’ll look at how the Old Testament patriarch Abram (later renamed Abraham) transitioned from knowing about God to knowing God personally. This is the kind of transition that has repercussions for all of life. Because when we experience a transition that is spiritual at its core, it sets us on a new course. Moving forward with God means walking with Him and learning to trust Him. His attributes, qualities, and holy character provide the steady and sure foundation for all the changes we face. As God’s children, we walk within the framework of His sovereign will and can therefore navigate the challenges, newness, and even chaos that sometimes comes our way. 

How to Use This Guide 

Thank you for taking the time to do this Bible study. When we dig deeper into God’s word, He promises to bless us. We follow in the footsteps of King David, who wrote in Psalm 119:105: “Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.

This guide will provide a weekly framework for spiritual conversations with friends or family. We encourage you to reach out to a friend or two, pick a time to get together each week, and work through this guide together. This Bible study can also be a good tool for families, perhaps coordinated with mealtimes.

What does the Bible say?

Read about God’s initial call to Abram in Genesis 12:1-8. As you ponder the following questions, write down your thoughts.

What kind of change does God ask Abram to make in 12:1? Make a list of the things God promises He will do if Abram obeys in 12:2-3? How does Abram respond in 12:4? What do you think you would have done? 

Who went with Abram on his journey of obedience (12:4-5)? Have you ever had to make a move due to someone else’s decision or call? Perhaps it was a parent or spouse who set the final course. How did you feel about that? What was your process for accepting such a change? What happened? What did you learn about God? Yourself? What about your journey? When you think of the places you have lived, what kinds of life transitions happened in each place? What did you learn about God in those places?

Where did Abram stop in 12:6? What happened to him there? Places or sites can be markers for life-changing events. Can you remember a specific time or place where God revealed Himself to you in a special way? The great tree of Moreh was a famous site in Canaan. Perhaps this is why Abram went to this place, hoping to meet God there. Were his hopes satisfied (see verse 7)? What is God’s promise to Abram at Moreh? What did Abram do in response?

This is only the second time someone built an altar in the Old Testament. Noah built the first one after he and his family, the lone survivors of the Great Flood emerged from the ark in Genesis 8:20-21. Significantly, the first thing Noah did was worship God and offer sacrifices to Him. What was God’s response to Noah’s sacrifice in 8:21-9:17?

Unfortunately, by the time of Abram, the people who lived on the earth had created myriad gods to whom they gave worship and made sacrifices. Even Abram had worshipped other gods in his homeland (Joshua 24:2). It is significant that Abram build an altar to God and that he did so in the midst of the people of Canaan. He worshiped the God who promised to bless His family. If you look back into the ancestry of the Canaanites, you’ll find that Noah’s son, Ham, was the father of the Canaanites. Due to a disrespectful encounter with his father in Genesis 9:24-27, Noah cursed Canaan and his lineage but blessed his other sons, Shem and Japheth. Noah established allegiance to God on Shem's behalf and declared that Canaan would be his brother Shem’s servant (Genesis 9:26).

Abram was a descendent of Shem, Noah’s son. While the Canaanites worshiped many gods, the line of Shem persisted in worshiping God, even to this day. The Semites, or the descendents of Shem, became the Jewish people via Abram, his son Isaac, and then Isaac’s son Jacob. Jacob was renamed Israel by God. This is how the Israelites, the Jewish people, came to be.

Let’s look closer at Abram’s family tree so that we can see how Abram came to move to Canaan. Abram’s grandfather was Nahor, and Abram’s father was Terah, Nahor’s son. After Abram married Sarai (later named Sarah), Abram’s father set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. How far did they go, according to Genesis 11:31-32? Terah had another son who did not accompany the family - Nahor, Sarai’s brother. This relative would become important later when Abraham and Sarah’s son Isaac was old enough to marry (Genesis 24). 

It is important to recognize that Abram and Sarai did not appear on the scene out of nowhere. They were aware that they were of the lineage of Shem and that Shem was destined to rule over Canaan, the cursed son of Shem’s brother Ham. Since Abram’s father Terah intended to go to Canaan in response to the promise of God to his family, he must have taught Abram and Sarai their destiny as well. The first step of faith that Abram and Sarai took was to head out with their father/father-in-law to the land of Canaan. But, perhaps the family's allegiance to the true God had not solidified; they did not reach their destination with Terah.  When God appeared to Abram after his father Terah died, God reestablished His plan of blessing through Abram and Sarai. This time, they went and arrived in Canaan. 

We cannot go so far as to say that Abram was an unbeliever. He did believe, albeit in a limited and general way. He knew that God had blessed his family and understood that his family was destined to reign over the land of Canaan. But, Abram could not have perceived the full picture. Instead of a military conquest over the Canaanites, which would happen after Israel became a nation, God’s end goal was to bless the entire earth through a Person who would be the Savior of all. 

God gave Abraham a glimpse of what He was going to do many years later when God asked Abraham to sacrifice his beloved son Isaac on an altar (Genesis 22). After Abraham proved his willingness to do so, God provided a substitute, a ram, so that Isaac would be saved. God would eventually sacrifice His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ on a cross for us. There was no need for a substitute.

Throughout Abram’s life, we can see how God protected his line so that Jesus would eventually be born. Luke traces this important genealogy in his gospel (Luke 3:23-38) beginning with his earthly father Joseph and going back to Abraham (3:34), Noah and his son Shem (3:36), and finally Adam, the son of God (3:38). 

The plans of God are magnificent and beyond what our finite minds can understand. Sometimes we cannot recognize the work of God until we see the results. All who follow Christ were once unbelievers who transitioned from knowing about God to knowing God personally. This change of heart might have been simple and easy for you or it could have come through pain and loss. Only in looking back can we see how God accomplished His plan of salvation in us, perhaps through the prayers of a relative or friend, or via circumstances that brought us to knowledge and belief. This is the story that we must tell the world. Write down your story. How did you transition from knowing about God to knowing Him personally? Every time Abram stepped out in faith, God increased His blessing and strengthened Abram’s belief in Him. Have you found this to be true for yourself? And what about the people in your life who have not committed themselves to God? Think about and imagine that transition for them. Each person has a unique story. Ask God to help you play your part in another’s story of faith.

Prayer: Lord, I believe in You. I worship You for Your great and powerful promises and thank You for being powerful enough to keep them all. Help me in the places where I do not believe to learn to trust in You and follow You wherever You lead me. Show me how I can be a part of someone else’s story of faith. Amen.

*All Scripture quotations are taken from the New International Version of the Bible.