Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

This is a song that David wrote for the music leader.

We trust God to help us^[a]

Abram leaves Haran

12 The Lord had said to Abram, ‘Leave your country and the people of your father's family. Go to the land that I will show you.^[a]

² I will cause your descendants to become a great nation. I will bless you. Everyone will know your name. You will bring my blessing to other people. ³ I will bless those people who bless you. But I will curse anyone who insults you. Through you, I will bless all the families of people on the earth.’^[b]

⁴ Abram did what the Lord had told him. He left Haran. Abram was 75 years old when he left Haran. Lot went with him. ⁵ Abram took his wife Sarai, and his nephew Lot. He took everything that belonged to them. He also took the people that worked for them in Haran. They all left to go to the land of Canaan.

When they arrived in Canaan, ⁶ Abram walked through the land. He went as far as Shechem, to the special oak tree of Moreh. At that time, Canaanites lived in this land. ⁷ The Lord appeared to Abram there. He said, ‘I will give this land to your descendants.’ So Abram built an altar in that place to worship the Lord.^[c] He did that because the Lord had appeared to him.

What it means to trust God

11 This is what it means to trust God: We will be sure about the things that we hope for. We will be sure in our minds about things that we cannot even see. ² It was because of their faith that God said good things about the people of long ago. ³ Because of faith, we understand about how God made the universe. He spoke his word to make it happen. In that way, God made all the things that we can see. He made them from things that nobody could see.

⁴ Abel believed God. So he offered a better sacrifice to God than Cain did. And because of Abel's faith, God accepted him as right with him. God said that he was happy with Abel's gifts. Because Abel trusted God, we can still learn from his faith. Abel died long ago, but it is like he is still speaking to us.^[a]

⁵ Enoch also believed God. Because of Enoch's faith, God took him away to heaven. He did not die like other people. As a result, nobody could ever find him, because God had taken him away. Before God took him away, it was clear that Enoch had made God happy.^[b]

⁶ Unless we trust God, it is impossible for us to make God happy. Anyone who comes to God must believe that God is there. They must also believe that God helps everyone who wants to know him.

⁷ Noah believed God too. God told Noah about bad things that would happen. Nobody could see what would happen, but Noah believed God's message. He was careful to do exactly what God told him. He built a large ship to save his family. As a result of his faith, Noah showed that everyone else in the world was wrong. Noah himself became one of those people that God accepted as right with him. They are right with God because they trust him.^[c]

⁸ Abraham also believed God. When God told him to leave his home, he obeyed God. He left his home to go to another country, but he did not know where he was going. It was the place that God had promised to give to Abraham. ⁹ Because of his faith, Abraham went to live like a stranger in that foreign country. God had promised to give that country to him, but Abraham lived there in tents. Isaac and Jacob also lived there in tents like strangers. God had also promised them that the land would belong to them one day.^{[d] 10} We see that Abraham was waiting to live in God's special place. That is the city that God himself has built. God has made it very strong so that it will be there for ever.^[e]

¹¹ Abraham and his wife, Sarah, were too old to have children. But Abraham believed God's promise that they would have children. He trusted God to do what he had promised. As a result of his faith, God made it possible for him and Sarah to have a baby.^{[f] 12} Abraham was so old that he was almost like a dead man. But from this one man there came very many grandchildren. His family became so large that nobody could count them. They were like the number of stars in the sky. They were as many as the bits of sand on the shore of the sea.^[g]