Again, Abraham was not trying to do great things for God, as we are exhorted to do today. God called Abraham from one of the more sophisticated cultures of his day—Chaldean Ur. Abraham, because of his faith in God and trust in God, obeyed the Lord. Sometimes—not often—but sometimes we have to do what we feel God is asking of us even though we cannot understand what is going on. This also is the faith by which the righteous live.

Abraham lived as a sojourner in Canaan. In the future Israel will possess the land of Canaan and the resurrected Abraham will be present with his family. But Abraham was a stranger in Canaan during his lifetime on earth, as were Isaac and Jacob also.

Very early in Church history the unscriptural concept came into existence that our destination as Christians is Heaven. Actually our destination is not Heaven, although we may go there after we die and before the Lord returns to earth.

Today we are wandering in our land of promise, that is, in the earth and among earth's peoples. We are in this world but as yet not of this world. We are pilgrims and strangers in a place we afterward shall receive for an inheritance.

In the Day of Judgment we will find ourselves among people we have known all our life. They either will accuse or else excuse us, depending on how we have behaved.

One day we were traveling with family members across the country. We drove day and night, taking turns at the wheel.

When we were close to our destination we were, of course, dirty, rumpled, unshaven. We stopped at a restaurant to get something to eat. We did not want to appear in public in our disheveled state but there was little we could do about it.

We said, "They will never see us again." So we went in and ate.

We may think what we have done in secret will never be known, but it shall. What has been whispered in the ear shall be proclaimed from the housetops.

They shall see us again. The people among whom we have lived shall see us again in the Day of Resurrection.

Let us therefore live in such a manner that we will not be raised to "shame and everlasting contempt," as it says in the last chapter of the Book of Daniel, but as one who is respected and loved.

Today we are wandering in a land that one day will be given to us. We can lay hold on this understanding by faith. Those who are part of the Body of Christ have been promised the nations and the farthest reaches of the earth for their inheritance.

By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. (Hebrews 11:9—NIV)

Abraham was an exceedingly wealthy man, having hundreds of servants and much livestock. Also he was acquainted with the architectural forms of the culture of Egypt.

Abraham was well able to build a palace for himself similar to the palace of Pharaoh. But Abraham chose to live in a tent.

To be continued.