Men of the Bible (Annotated, Updated)

Men of the Bible

Therefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, leaving behind all the weight of the sin which surrounds us, let us run with patience the race that is set before us – Hebrews 12:1

Dwight L. Moody

Contents

Ch. 1: Abraham – Faith and Obedience

Ch. 2: Moses – God’s Voice

Ch. 3: Naaman – God’s Methods

Ch. 4: Nehemiah – Uncompromising Vision

Ch. 5: Herod and John the Baptist – Dealing with Sin

Ch. 6: The Blind Man and Joseph of Arimathaea – Boldness

Ch. 7: The Penitent Thief – It’s Not Too Late

Dwight L. Moody – A Brief Biography

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Chapter 1

Abraham

Faith and Obedience

Many people are afraid of the will of God, but one of the sweetest lessons we can learn as Christians is to surrender our wills to God, allowing Him to plan and rule our lives. If I know my own mind and could plan my life, what would I do? If an angel would come from the throne of God and tell me that I could have my will done all the days of my life and that everything I wished for would be carried out, or else I could refer it back to God and let God’s will be done in me and through me, what would I do? I think in an instant I would say, Let the will of God be done.

I cannot look into the future. I don’t know what is going to happen tomorrow. In fact, I don’t know what might happen before tonight, so I cannot choose for myself as well as God can choose for me. It is much better to surrender my will to God’s will.

Abraham learned this himself. He surrendered to God in four different areas of his life, and these four surrenders give us a good key to his life.

Abraham’s First Surrender

In the first place, Abraham was called to give up his family and his native country and to go out, not knowing where he was to go.

While others 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, maybe three hundred miles south of Babylon, when he was called to go into a land that he perhaps had never heard of before, and he was told to possess that land.

In the twelfth chapter of Genesis we read of a promise that God made to Abram:

But the LORD had said unto Abram, Depart out of thy country and from thy nature and from thy father’s house unto a land that I will show thee. 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 those that bless thee and curse those that curse 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 when he departed out of Haran. (Genesis 12:1-4)

God had first told Abram to leave Ur of the Chaldees several years before this.¹ He went to Haran, which is about halfway between the valley of the Euphrates and the valley of the Jordan. God had called him into the land of the Canaanites, and he went halfway and stayed there. We do not know how long he stayed there, but it was probably about five years.

I believe there are a great many Christians who are what we might call Haran Christians. They go to Haran, and there they stay. They only half obey. They are not fully obedient. How was it that God got him out of Haran? Abram’s father died. The first call was to leave Ur of the Chaldees and go into Canaan, but instead of going all the way, they stopped halfway. It was affliction that drove Abram out of Haran.² Many of us bring afflictions on ourselves because we are not completely living for the Lord. We do not always obey Him fully. God had plans He wanted to work out through Abram, and He could not work them out as long as he was at Haran. Affliction came, and then we find that he left Haran and started for the promised land.

There is just one word here about Lot: and Lot went with him. That is the key, you might say, to Lot’s life. He was a weaker character than Abram, and he followed his uncle.

When they reached the land that God had promised to give him, Abram found it already inhabited by great and warlike nations – not by one nation, but by a number of nations.³ What could he, a solitary man in that land, do? Not only was his faith tested by finding the land inhabited by other strong and hostile nations, but he had only been there a little while when a great famine came upon the land.

No doubt Abram experienced a great conflict in his heart, and he probably said to himself, What does this mean? Here I am, thirteen hundred miles away from my own land and surrounded by a warlike people. Not only that, but a famine has come, and I must get out of this country.

I don’t believe that God sent Abram down to Egypt. I think He was only testing him so that he might be drawn nearer to God in his time of darkness and trouble. I believe that many times of trouble and sorrow are permitted to come to us so that we may see the face of God – that we might be compelled to trust in Him alone.

Abraham’s Second Surrender

Abram became rich, but we don’t hear of any altar after he left Canaan; in fact, we hear of no altar at Haran, and we hear of no altar in Egypt. When he came up with Lot out of Egypt, they had great possessions. They had increased in wealth, and their herds had multiplied until there was conflict among their herdsmen.

Now Abram’s character shines again. He could have said that he had a right to the best of everything because he was older and because Lot probably would not have been worth anything if it had not been for Abram’s help. But instead of standing up for his right to choose the best of the land, he surrendered that right and said to his nephew, Take your choice. If you go to the right hand, I will take the left; or if you prefer the left hand, then I will go to the right.

Here is where Lot made his mistake. If there was ever a man under the sun who needed Abram’s counsel, prayers, and influence, it was Lot. He needed to be surrounded by Abram’s friends. Lot was just one of those weak characters who needed to be bolstered up, but his covetous eye looked upon the well-watered plains of the Jordan Valley that reached out toward Sodom, and he chose them. He was influenced by what he saw. He walked by sight instead of by faith.

I think that is where a great many Christians make their mistake – they walk by sight instead of by faith. If Lot had stopped to think, he might have realized that it would be disastrous to him and his family to go anywhere near Sodom. Abram and Lot both must have known about the wickedness of those cities on the plains. Although they were rich and there was the chance of making money, Lot should have kept his family out of that wicked city. However, his eyes fell upon the well-watered plains, and he pitched his tent toward Sodom and separated from Abram.

Notice that after Abram allowed Lot to have his choice, Lot left for the plains, and God had Abram alone for the first time. His father had died at Haran, and he had left his brother Nahor there. Now, after Lot left him, Abram moved to Haran and built an altar to the Lord. Hebron means communion. It is here that God came to Abram and said:

Lift up now thine eyes and look from the place where thou art towards the Aquilon and to the Negev and to the east and to the west; for all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it and to thy seed forever. And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth, so that if someone could number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered. Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it, for I must give it unto thee.

Then Abram removed his tent and came and dwelt among the terebinth trees of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and built there an altar unto the Lord. (Genesis 13:14-18)

It is astonishing how far you can see in that country. God took Moses up on Mount Pisgah and showed him the promised land. In the land of Israel a few years ago, I found that from the Mount of Olives I could look over and see the Mediterranean Sea. I could look into the Jordan Valley and see the Dead Sea. From the plains of Sharon, I could look up to Mount Lebanon and Mount Hermon, way beyond Nazareth. With the naked eye, you can see almost the entire length and breadth of that country.

So when God said to Abram that he should look to the north, and as far as he could see, he could have the land, and then look to the south with its well-watered plains that Lot coveted, and then look to the east and the west, from the sea to the Euphrates, then God gave His friend Abram a clear title to the land with no conditions whatever. God said, I will give it all to you.

Lot chose all he could get, but it was not much. Abram let God choose for him, and God gave him all the land. Lot had no security for his choice, and he soon lost it all. Abram’s right to his land was maintained undisputed by God, the giver.

Do you know that the children of Israel never had faith enough to take possession of all that land as far as the Euphrates? If they had, Nebuchadnezzar would probably have never come and taken them captive. But that was God’s offer; He said to Abram, Unto thy seed shall I give this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates (Genesis 15:18).

From that time on, God enlarged Abram’s tents. He