Why God Never Gave Up On Abraham And Won't Give Up On You (Genesis Part 14)
Time Stamps
00:00:00 - Welcome to Crowd Church with Matt Edmundson & Anna Kettle
00:03:45 - Talk begins: Faith Over a Lifetime with Sue Uddin
00:12:36 - Abraham's faith journey: The ups and downs of following God
00:20:00 - The reality of faith: When we forget God's promises
00:26:19 - Why God calls Abraham "my friend" despite his failures
00:31:33 - Conversation Street: Is it luck or God answering prayer?
00:50:52 - When life turns against you: How to strengthen your faith
Faith Over a Lifetime And The Messy Journey of Trusting God
We live in a world of perfect Instagram feeds and carefully curated public personas. Even in Christian circles, there's often pressure to present our spiritual journey as a spotless testimony of unwavering faith and obedience.
But that's not how real faith works—and Sue Uddin's message reminds us that God never expected it to.
Looking at Abraham's story in Genesis, Sue revealed how this "hero of faith" was far from the flawless spiritual giant we might imagine. Yes, he listened when God spoke, obeyed divine instructions at 75 years old, and trusted seemingly impossible promises. He worshipped God, promoted peace, received divine favour, and even passed extreme tests of faith.
But Abraham's CV also included moments of panic, fear, dishonesty, and questionable decision-making.
"This is where I get great comfort," Sue explained. "Faith over a lifetime is not sanitised, it's not some linear journey. We're not robots that just go 'believe, obey, trust, believe, obey, trust.' It's not like that. It's a relationship with God."
When famine struck the promised land, Abraham forgot God's promises and fled to Egypt in fear. Instead of trusting God with his safety, he lied about his wife Sarah being his sister, putting her in a compromising position to save himself.
Years later, when God's promise of descendants seemed delayed, Abraham and Sarah decided to "help God out" with their own plan—a decision with consequences that echo throughout history.
Yet despite these failures, God never abandoned Abraham. In Isaiah, we find God still referring to Abraham as "my friend" and promising, "I will not throw you away."
This offers profound hope for all of us navigating our own messy faith journeys.
The Comfort of Abraham's Humanity
What makes Abraham's story so powerful isn't his perfection—it's his humanity.
"It's the realness of Abraham, that he wasn't some perfect robot," Sue shared. "You know, just trusting all of the time, that he did have different responses. But God didn't say to him, 'That's it. You've had your chance.' That's not what happens."
This reality challenges our tendency to believe we must present only our best selves to God. The pressure to perform spiritually—to always trust, always obey, always have the right response—melts away when we see how God continually restored relationship with Abraham despite his stumbles.
Like Abraham, our faith journeys often involve doubling back, taking detours, and sometimes completely losing our way. Life throws challenges at us—grief, financial pressures, relationship breakdowns—and our responses aren't always spiritually exemplary.
But the covenant God made with Abraham—and extends to us through Christ—isn't based on our perfect performance. It's grounded in His perfect faithfulness.
God's Provision in the Details
During Conversation Street, Sue shared beautiful examples of God's provision in seemingly small moments—finding bargains in M&S when money was tight, a stranger offering to pay for her groceries, and a neighbour's daughter appearing just when she needed a lift.
"I just felt like, God, you, God of the universe, creator of heaven and earth. I cannot believe that you provided that little detail for me here in Liverpool," Sue recalled.
These stories sparked discussion about whether such moments are "just good luck" or divine provision. The consensus? When you've walked with God long enough, you begin to recognise patterns of His faithfulness that go far beyond coincidence.
As Matt shared: "I walked out of my house, and there on the wall outside my house was a pack of Duracell batteries...I remember picking the batteries up and went 'Awesome.' You could say that was good luck, but actually I think it's just more fun to give glory on things like that." (Full story in the livestream).
When Life Turns Against You
Perhaps the most powerful moment came when discussing how to maintain faith when life seems to be falling apart. Anna emphasised the importance of lament—being honest with God about our pain, disappointment, and frustration before choosing to trust Him anyway.
"David didn't hold back in the Bible. He was like, 'Oh Lord, all my enemies are against me.' It's proper full-on. Like, 'Why are you doing this to me?' It's quite melodramatic... I like that. I like the honesty with God."
Sue added her own experience: "When everything literally is falling around you... I just had this moment where I just went, 'Okay, at the end of the day, God, it's me and you, and I've got a choice. I can either choose to pursue you somehow in this, even if it's in a very messy way, or I can just turn away.'"
Faith for the Long Haul
As Matt pointed out in closing, we often interpret our spiritual journey by what happened today or yesterday. But faith is meant to be viewed through a lifetime lens—not the short-term metrics our society values.
Abraham didn't live to see all God's promises fulfilled. Hebrews tells us that "not one of these people received all that God had promised them"—yet they continued believing, understanding they were part of a story much bigger than themselves.
This is the invitation for all of us—to see our faith not as a performance to be perfected, but as a relationship to be nurtured through all of life's seasons. To remember that God is working on a timeline that extends far beyond our limited perspective. And to trust that the God who never gave up on Abraham won't give up on us either.
Whether you're in a season of confident faith or struggling to trust God's promises, you're invited to bring your whole, honest self to Him. Not one of us is disqualified. Not one of us is thrown away.
Join us next week for Palm Sunday as we continue exploring what it means to follow Jesus with authenticity and trust. If you're new to faith or have questions, don't forget our Alpha course starts this Wednesday at 7:30pm both online and in-person—visit crowd.church/alpha to sign up.
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