Abraham's Four Surrenders

A great many people are afraid of the will of God, and yet I believe

that one of the sweetest lessons that we can learn in the school of

Christ is the surrender of our wills to God, letting Him plan for us

and rule our lives. If I know my own mind, if an angel should come

from the throne of God and tell me that I could have my will done

the rest of my days on earth, and that everything I wished should be

carried out, o that I might refer it back to God, and let God's

will be done in me and through me, I think in an instant I would

say:



"Let the will of God be done."



I cannot look into the future. I do not know what is going to happen

to-morrow; in fact, I do not know what may happen before night; so I

cannot choose for myself as well as God can choose for me, and it is

much better to surrender my will to God's will. Abraham found this

out, and I want to call your attention to four surrenders that he

was called to make. I think that they give us a pretty good key to

his life.





I





In the first place, Abraham was called to give up his kindred and

his native country, and to go out, not knowing whither he went.



While men were busy building up Babylon, God called this man out of

that nation of the Chaldeans. He lived down near the mouth of the

Euphrates, perhaps three hundred miles south of Babylon, when he was

called to go into a land that he perhaps had never heard of before,

and to possess that land.



In the twelfth chapter of Genesis, the first four verses, we read:



"Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and

from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I

will shew thee." Now notice the promise: "And I will make of thee a

great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and

thou shalt be a blessing: and I will bless them that bless thee, and

curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the

earth be blessed. So Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken unto

him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy five years old and

when he departed out of Haran."



It was several years before this that God first told him to leave Ur

of the Chaldees. Then he came to Haran, which is about half-way

between the valley of the Euphrates and the valley of the Jordan.

God had called him into the land of the Canaanite, and