"8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. 9 By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. 11 By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised. 12 Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.
13 These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. 14 For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. 15 If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city."
Hebrews 11:8-16
It is very striking to see what in particular in the Genesis story gripped the Apostle and impressed his spirit: Look at 10, 13, 14, 16; the inference is obvious. Abraham had a forward look, his eyes were on the world to come. This is not something immediately obvious to us as we first read the story, but it was clear and plain to the Divine Chronicler, and we may trust his Spirit-given insight. It throws a flood of light on Abraham's experience and on Christian experience in general. For it means that when God called Abraham to go out, He gave him a stake in the world to come. And not only so: He planted in his heart a hunger that nothing but the world to come could ever satisfy. Something decisive happened to Abraham that day in Ur of the Chaldees - there was awakened within him, in a vibrant and compelling way, a yearning and a hunger for God's eternity. To understand this is perhaps the biggest lesson a man can ever learn. It has enormous significance - practical significance - in our daily lives. Long ago, St. Augustine prayed, "O Lord, Thou hast made us for Thyself and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in Thee". This is true of every man - there is a God-shaped blank in every human heart. But when God calls us to Himself in the gospel, it is quickened and intensified a thousand fold, and made to yearn for Him. This is how we are to understand Abraham's 'forward-look'. It was the deep in his heart calling out to the deep of God's eternal love. Not every Christian has learned this truth about himself, and it is this that explains why so many spend so much of their lives hoping for satisfaction and fulness of life from things - and people - that in the very nature of things can never give them. Read Hymn 441 'O the love that drew salvation's plan'.