Abraham

"Abram believed the Lord, and He credited it to him as righteousness." Genesis 15:6

We are studying Abraham in my Bible study right now, claimed as a patriarch by Jews, Christians and Muslims.

Abraham made some dumb moves: lying about his wife being his sister (twice) and putting her in very bad spots, and taking on a mistress to "help" God give him a son and thus keep His promise to make him a great nation.

But he is to be commended as well. God called him to leave his idol-worshipping family and go to places unknown, and he obeyed. He was also willing to sacrifice the son he dearly loved because God told him to. We see his faith grow as he journeys through life and God continually keeps His promises, sometimes in unexpected ways.

Isn’t it the same way with us? We do some dumb things too. We try to "help" God, but God has always been faithful. He has always kept His promises and taken care of us. It is sort of comforting to see that even a man held in as high esteem as Abraham was and is was just as vulnerable to sin as we are. I am so thankful for God’s character, as defined in Psalm 145:8, but actually repeated many times in the Old Testament: "The LORD is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love."