‘But have walked after the imagination of their own heart...’ • Jeremiah 9:14 (KJV)
Abraham was brought up in a nation of imagination. He was born in a world that was full of idolatry - images of gods that were created through the people’s imaginations. When God called Abraham, He found a man that had faith in a God that could not be touched or seen. This was in contrast to a world that could only put their faith in something that appealed to their natural senses i.e. idols and images.
The world worships images. It is in our nature to idolise. While Moses was journeying up the mountain to seek the face of God and to receive God’s instruction, the people got frustrated and angry. They couldn’t handle waiting and they fell back into idolatry. They created an image which they worshipped and they lost sight, once again, of the true God who they could not see. Many times God will use situations to expose what is in us. God doesn’t do things the way we expect Him to do things because He tests our hearts to see whether we will follow our imaginations, or walk by faith and trust Him when it seems like there is nothing.
‘And there came one that had escaped, and told Abram the Hebrew...’ • Genesis 14:13 (KJV)
Abraham refused to bow down to the idols of his father. In Genesis 14 verse 13 Abraham is referred to as Abram the Hebrew which is the word ‘eber’ and it means to ‘cross over’. Abraham became a Hebrew when he crossed over by dealing with the images and the idolatry in his own heart. He moved from the east to the west which is from the fleshly realm into the realm of the Spirit – from his mind and thought processes to the Spirit and God’s Word. He did all of this in obedience to God’s Word by faith. It was from this spiritual position that God birthed a great promise through Abraham and Sarah.