What Abram went
through underscores how important it is to seek God’s direction in life! He made
a wrong move and ended up living with anxiety. There was nothing he could do
except to wait and accept what Pharaoh would do. But God who called him to embark
on this journey would not let him down. So we read in verse 17 that “The Lord struck Pharaoh and his house
with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife.” The plague Pharaoh and his household
had, was probably a strange skin outbreak but Sarai was not harmed. What followed
is easy to imagine. Pharaoh must have interrogated Sarai and found out the truth
that she, in fact, was Abram’s wife.
Assuming a high moral, Pharaoh chided
Abram for not telling him the truth and quickly returned Sarai to him. Abram and
his entourage were then expelled from Egypt. For not trusting God he was left
with a bad experience. And he could not do as he had done previously: to build
an altar to God there.
We surmise that Pharaoh quickly bundled
Abram off with all his belongings. Abram, however, inherited much trouble from one
wrong move. We will see later that his gain from Egypt brought much dispute between
his herdsmen and those of Lot’s, his nephew. Years later, he would also have some
trouble with Sarai’s maid Hagai, who was an Egyptian, probably given to Sarai
by Pharaoh.
Abram
started so superbly but stumbled in humiliation and embarrassment. He did not
anticipate the famine. What he had to go through tell us that trails are part
and parcel of the Christian life. They are there to shape us into the mature people
God wants us to be. Abram stumbled because he resorted to his own scheme and devices
and left God out of the equation. This often happens to us believers when we try
to scheme and manipulate, and then find ourselves in a sticky situation. If not
for the grace and mission God had for Abram, he would be living in misery. God would
not allow that to happen.
The
message for us is clear. Like Abram, we must expect trials on the journey with
God. But trials are not there to stumble us but to build us. God does not want
us to give up and fold up. He wants us to get up, move on and grow up. So let
us respond to the trials we face in life with perseverance. We become more
patient through the trail. And patience, character, and character, hope that will not
fail us. Let us persevere in the race so
that we will finish the race gloriously.
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