Walking with God and trusting Him in
the journey does not mean that we will forever live a life free of trouble. While
God guarantees security in Him, He did not say we will not have pressures from life.
We did not expect Abram to encounter a famine, for, after all, he was walking
with God. Yet the first test Abram encountered was famine. Faith Journey does
not equal clear blue skies all the time. Famine and trials are part of a growing process
in the life of faith. That’s why James in his letter said that we should count
it all joy when we encounter various trials. For trials have their purpose in our
life. When we endure them patiently we will be complete and lacking nothing in
life. So we see Abram got hit by the first test and was confronted by a famine
so he traveled to Egypt.
He must have intended to stay in Egypt
till the famine was over. Abram did not intend to abandon the Promised Land. If
that was on his mind, he would have returned to Ur. Being in Egypt was a natural
response because the River Nile ensured food in times of famine. The big
mistake in this response was in the fact that Abram did not seek God concerning
this matter. Fear must have arisen in him and he responded to his fear without
reflecting on God’s will for his life. Perhaps it would be quite different if
he had sought God. Though not a huge sin, we surmise that Abram took his eyes
off God momentarily. Like him, we often respond to a problem in life without
factoring God in our decision. We forget how great our God truly is. How easy it
is for us to go into survival mode in life’s tough moments!
The issue that confronted Abram going
to Egypt was the fact that Sarai was stunningly beautiful. Abram knew it long
ago. Perhaps it was her beauty that captured his heart in the first place. So before
he came near to Egypt, it dawned on him that his wife’s beauty could pose some
problem for him. We are told here that Sarai’s legendary beauty was eventually affirmed
by the Egyptian princes. So they told Pharaoh about it. Abram chose to act in
deceit for fear of his own life. He chose to tell a half-truth concerning his
relationship to her so as to preserve his own life. It was true that Sarai was
his half-sister, but she was also his wife. So by just not saying she was his wife,
he reckoned he did not tell a lie. We can be certain that he did not
intentionally put Sarai’s life in danger. He was just stalling for time and
must have thought it was a smart move. But that’s not an act of faith. He had
totally forgotten the promise God made to him, to give him a nation and to make
him a great name. So Abram stumbled and he did not even suspect it.
Yes, in the deception he managed not
only to preserve his life, but he was also given plenty of material goods because Pharaoh
wanted to add Sarai to his harem. To the Egyptian king, this must be a great
trade-off. He was so pleased to have captured such a beauty that he made Abram
a very rich man. So Abram prospered at the expanse of Sarai. He was given
plenty of “…sheep and oxen and donkeys and male and female servants and female
donkeys and camels.” But his act of deceit was an act not characteristic of
a man of faith. He was lavished with plenty while the love of
his life spent anxious days and restless nights in Pharaoh’s harem.
Before we become critical of Abram, let’s put a
hand over our heart and know that we must consider our own personal
unworthiness. We must see this as a call to factor God in all the decisions we
make in life. Remember God will never lead us to where His grace cannot sustain
us. We must trust him in all situations and not try to take matters into our
own hand. When we act in the flesh, we will reap carnality. We always reap what
we sow. So be careful!
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