GEOBI · Teach, present & print
Abraham's Journey: A 4-Week Course
Week 1 · The Call to Leave
Genesis 11:31-32 · Genesis 12:1-4
Abraham's story begins not with something he achieved, but with God calling him. Ur of the Chaldees was one of the great centers of Mesopotamian civilization, a place of real stability. God called him to leave that very stability — without even naming the destination. The time spent with his father Terah in Haran was a kind of halfway point on the road to full obedience, and it was only after Terah's death that Abraham set out again. Scripture does not romanticize this delay, but it also shows that God was patient even with that delayed obedience.
Discuss together
Abraham set out without knowing his destination. Has there been a moment in your life when you had to obey without knowing how things would turn out?
Quiz and explanations
Where did Abraham first receive God's call?
- Ur of the Chaldees
- Haran
- Shechem in Canaan
- Egypt
Check order
1. Abraham received God's call in Ur of the Chaldees (Genesis 11:31; 15:7).
Abraham set out again after the death of whom?
- Lot
- Sarah
- Terah
- Isaac
Check order
3. Abraham stayed in Haran with his father Terah, and set out again only after Terah's death (Genesis 11:32; 12:4).
1. Week 1 · The Call to Leave
Genesis 11:31-32 · Genesis 12:1-4
Abraham's story begins not with something he achieved, but with God calling him. Ur of the Chaldees was one of the great centers of Mesopotamian civilization, a place of real stability. God called him to leave that very stability — without even naming the destination. The time spent with his father Terah in Haran was a kind of halfway point on the road to full obedience, and it was only after Terah's death that Abraham set out again. Scripture does not romanticize this delay, but it also shows that God was patient even with that delayed obedience.
Abraham set out without knowing his destination. Has there been a moment in your life when you had to obey without knowing how things would turn out?
Ur → Haran
2. Week 2 · First Altars in the Promised Land
Genesis 12:6-7 · Genesis 12:8
The first place Abraham reached in Canaan was the oak of Moreh at Shechem. There, for the first time, God pointed to an actual piece of land and confirmed the promise, and Abraham built an altar on the spot. Later, between Bethel and Ai, he pitches his tent again and builds another altar, calling on the name of the LORD. He still owned not a single square foot of the land — he was a stranger passing through — yet the altars he built at every stop show that he received this land not as something to possess, but as a place of worship.
Abraham built an altar before he owned anything at all. Do we tend to wait until we've 'received' something before we offer thanks and worship?
Shechem → Bethel
3. Week 3 · Famine and a Faith That Wavers
Genesis 12:10-20 · Genesis 15:1-6
When famine struck Canaan, Abraham went down to Egypt. There he deceived Pharaoh by calling his wife Sarah his sister to protect his own life, and it was God himself who intervened, striking Pharaoh's household with plagues to protect Sarah (Genesis 12:10-20). The fact that even Abraham, called the father of faith, stumbled out of fear tells us something important: the people of Scripture are not in their place because they were flawless, but because a faithful God held on to them despite their flaws. Later, in Genesis 15, when Abraham is still troubled that he has no heir, God renews the promise — and Abraham believes it, and that faith is counted to him as righteousness.
Abraham lied out of fear, and yet God did not abandon him. How is it comforting to know that our failures cannot undo God's faithfulness?
Egypt
4. Week 4 · Settling Down, A Place of Worship
Genesis 13:18 · Genesis 21:31-33
Abraham settles near the oaks of Mamre at Hebron and builds an altar there as well. Later, at Beersheba, he makes a covenant with Abimelech, king of that land, digs a well, plants a tamarisk tree, and calls on the name of 'the LORD, the everlasting God.' Long after leaving Ur, Abraham still did not fully possess this land — the only plot he would ever actually own would be the cave of Machpelah, where he later buries Sarah — yet his whole life was a journey where being a stranger and worship were woven together. The name he calls on at Beersheba, 'the everlasting God,' points to a faithfulness of God that reaches beyond Abraham's own lifetime.
Abraham lived as a stranger his whole life, yet left a trace of worship everywhere he went. Where do you feel your own life falls between 'settling down' and 'being a stranger'?
Hebron → Beersheba
Rebuild the journey
Choose the places in journey order to reconstruct the route.