Genesis 12:1-3 – “Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. ² And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. ³ I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

 As I read, prayed, and contemplated the Word of God, my thoughts turned to God’s call and blessing, as well as the man Abraham.  Abraham is known as the father of faith, through whom all the people on earth are introduced to God’s blessings!

Have you ever stopped to consider Abraham (Abram)?   God uses flawed vessels for His purposes.   In Genesis 12, God said, “Go out from your country, your relatives, and your father’s household to the land that I will show you.”   Verse 4 says, “So Abram left, just as the Lord had told him to do.”

Tap the brakes!    Just as the Lord told him to do?   He took Lot, his nephew, a member of his father’s household, with him.   Did Lot just tag along uninvited?  Possibly, or did Abram consider him as a son and his responsibility?  Does that even matter?  God said, “Go and leave all else and others behind!”   Then, the famine came, and Abram went to Egypt.  He told Sarai, “Tell them you are my sister so that it will go well with me.”   Remember God’s promise!   Now Abram shifts into self-preservation mode and tells a lie.  That sounds flawed to me.

In Genesis 15, God makes an incredible promise and establishes a blood covenant with Abram.  Abram suggested that since God had withheld biological children from him, a house-born servant would be the heir.   God said NO!   The covenant was cut, and God instructed Abram (Genesis 17), saying, ” live before Me in holiness and blamelessness.“

God promised a son, and old Abe didn’t refuse when Sarai offered Hagar.  That sounds flawed to me.   God came and changed their names to Abraham and Sarah with the promise of Isaac, the heir.

Genesis 15:6 is revelatory in the transformation of Abraham.  “Abram believed the LORD, and the LORD credited it as righteousness to him.” But even after all this, Abraham told Abimelech, the king of Gerar, “She is my sister.”   Self-preservation raises its head again.

Abraham, the father of faith and a powerful intercessor, was a flawed man.  Yet, God used him mightily, and through his obedience, the Seed (Jesus) came and brought us redemption.

My purpose in this is not to focus on Abraham’s flaws but to encourage you that human perfection is not what God needs or wants from us; it is trust and obedience!  Abram believed God, and despite his missteps, he never lost sight of God’s faithfulness!

God’s call and promise are not because of our perfection, performance, or specialness.   If God could use a flawed vessel like Abram (Abraham), we have hope!   You have a call, a commission, and a destiny to fulfill.  Don’t look at your inadequacies.   Look at His adequacy!   Christ in us is the key.   Believing Him is the pathway to the promise!   If we are in Christ, born again, He is our perfection!  He makes us adequate.   We are more than conquerors!

We are all flawed vessels, but as God used Abram (Abraham), He can use us!   He is looking for yielded vessels, not polished vessels.