The Story of Abraham (I)

亚伯拉罕的故事 （之一）

从前有一个人，名叫亚伯兰，他非常爱上帝，并且对祂有信心。 亚伯兰和他的妻子撒莱住在哈兰城。 亚伯兰的许多亲戚也住在这座城市。 可悲的是，亚伯兰和撒莱不能生育。 两人年纪也都很大。 上帝第一次对亚伯兰说话时，他已经 75 岁了。 想到他们永远不会有子孙，他们一定很难过。 但这并没有阻止亚伯兰对上帝的信心。

上帝爱亚伯兰和撒莱，但上帝也爱世界上所有其他家庭。 所以上帝制定了一个计划来祝福每一个人。 祂的计划是，祂将利用亚伯兰和撒莱建立一个会变得非常非常大的家庭。 他们的家庭会大到成为一个国家，以至于整个世界将得益于这个国家。 有一天，世界上的每个人都会因亚伯兰的家人而受到祝福。

有一天，上帝告诉亚伯兰离开他的国家和他的亲戚，去祂要带他去一个新的地方。 上帝没有说新的地方在哪里。 祂只是告诉亚伯兰去，然后祂会告诉他。

信仰意味着即使你看不到它，也相信它是真实的。 尽管亚伯兰看不见祂，但他仍然相信上帝。 我们在雅各书的圣经书中读到：“信心若没有行为就是死的。” （雅各书2:17）有些人可能会说，他们对上帝有信心，但因为太害怕或不能服从祂，因此就不去服从祂。 这样的信仰，就像死了的信仰一样。

但亚伯兰有活泼的信心。 他信靠上帝，愿意遵行祂的话。 亚伯兰和他的妻子撒莱开始收拾他们所有的东西。 亚伯兰的侄子罗得和亚伯兰所有的仆人和助手也加入了他们。

很多天来，每个人都会非常忙碌。 他们会把所有的东西都收拾好，把又大又重的东西装到骆驼上。 他们的仆人和助手会为这次旅行集结亚伯兰所有的羊、牛和驴。 最后，当一切准备就绪时，亚伯兰和他的亲属永远离开了他们的祖国。 现在他们将住在帐篷里，他们将旅行到上帝吩咐他们的地方去。

在迦南地，上帝吩咐亚伯兰四处看看。 其他人住在那里，但祂说有一天亚伯兰的子孙将拥有这片土地。 他们在一个叫示剑的地方停下来，以便亚伯兰可以用石头筑一座坛来敬拜上帝。 后来他们停在一个叫伯特利的地方，做了同样的事。

他们也会去其他地方，比如埃及。 亚伯兰不是一个每次都做正确的事的完美人，但他仍然对上帝有真诚的信心。 上帝遵守了祂对亚伯兰的承诺并保护了他。 上帝对亚伯兰有一个特别的计划。

还记得亚伯兰和撒莱没有孩子吗？ 上帝应许有一天会改变这个情况。 上帝计划亚伯兰拥有一个能给每个人带来祝福的家庭。 上帝要从亚伯兰开始一个伟大的国家。

后来上帝要对亚伯兰说：“论福，我必赐大福给你。论子孙，我必叫你的子孙多起来，如同天上的星，海边的沙。你子孙必得着仇敌的城门，并且地上万国都必因你的后裔得福，因为你听从了我的话。”（创世记22：17～18）


讨论问题：

Once there was a man named Abram who loved God very much and had faith in Him. Abram and his wife, Sarai lived in the city of Haran. Many of Abram’s relatives also lived in this city.  Sadly, Abram and Sarai could not have children. Both of them were also quite old. Abram was 75 years old when God first spoke to him. It must have been sad for them to think about how they would never have grandchildren and great-grandchildren.  But this did not stop Abram from having faith in God.

God loved Abram and Sarai but God also loved all of the other families in the world.  So God made a plan to bless everyone.  His plan was that He would use Abram and Sarai to begin a family that would become very, very big.  Their family would be so big that it would be a nation.  This nation would help the world.  Everyone in the world would someday be blessed through Abram’s family.

One day, God told Abram to leave his country and his relatives and to go to a new land that He would show him. God did not say where the new land was. He just told Abram to go and that He would show him later.

Faith means believing something to be true even if you can’t see it.  Abram had faith in God even though he could not see Him.  In the Bible, book of James, we read, “If faith does nothing, then that faith is dead.” (James 2:17) Some people might say that they have faith in God but be too afraid or disobedient to obey Him.  That kind of faith is like a dead faith.

But Abram had a living faith.  He trusted in God and was willing to do what He said.  Abram and his wife, Sarai, began packing up everything they owned.   Abram’s nephew, Lot, and all of Abram’s servants and helpers also joined them.

Everyone would have been very busy for many days.  They would have packed up all their things, loaded the big, heavy objects onto their camels.  Their servants and helpers would have gathered all of Abram’s sheep and cows and donkeys for the trip. Finally, when everything was ready, Abram and his relatives left their home country forever.  Now they would live in tents and travel around wherever God told them to go.

In the land of Canaan God told Abram to have a good look around.  Other people lived there but He said someday Abram’s children and grandchildren would own this land.  They stopped in a place called Shechem so that Abram could build an altar of stones and worship God.  Later they stopped in a place called Bethel and did the same thing.

They would also go to other places, like Egypt.  Abram was not a perfect man who did the right thing every single time but he continued to have a living faith in God.  And God kept His promises to Abram and protected him. God had a special plan for Abram.

And remember how Abram and Sarai had no children?  God promised that that would change someday.  God wanted Abram to have a family that would bring blessing to everyone.  God would start a great nation from Abram.

In the future God would say to Abram, “I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.” (Genesis 22: 17~18, NASB)



Discussion Questions