Abram obeyed God and moved to
Canaan. Once there, he continued to worship God by building two
altars for Him. And when his first test of faith came by way of a
famine, he simply made a plan and moved to Egypt. But then
something happened that shows us that Abram was human after
all.
"As Abram was approaching the
borders of Egypt, Abram said to Sarai, "You are a very beautiful
woman. When the Egyptians see you, they will say, 'This is his
wife. Let's kill him; then we can have her!' But if you say you are
my sister, then the Egyptians will treat me well because of their
interest in you, and they will spare my life." Genesis
12:11-13
I was actually amazed when I read
these verses again. Here was Abram, the one who did everything
right down to the tee, now faltering in his faith. God Himself
appeared to him and promised him that He will bless him and make
him famous, and not only that, He promised that he will become the
father of a great nation and that they will occupy Canaan. Now up
and until this point Abram didn't have children, therefore God's
promise will return void if he were to be killed by the Egyptians.
And as we know, God's promises will never return void, He is
faithful and true. Therefore Abram was supposed to be confident
that he would not die now, because he was fatherless and not yet
famous as God promised him. He was supposed to cling to God's
promises and know without a doubt that he will not die as yet. He
was supposed to be confident upon entering Egypt. And yet, he
wasn't. He was scared that they were going to kill him to get to
his wife. He feared death.
Now his prediction that they would
want his wife was absolutely true. Once they arrived there, the
news of her beauty reached the ears of Pharaoh himself and upon
learning the lie that she was Abram's sister; he took her into his
harem and gave Abram several gifts. But before he could take her to
be his wife, God sent a terrible plague upon Pharaoh's household
and Pharaoh immediately realised that it was because of Sarai and
ordered Abram and his entire household to leave Egypt at once.
So there we have it. Abram was
scared, he lied, he gave his wife away and yet God stepped in and
helped him. What an amazing God we have. As I said, Abram was just
human after all. As shocking as this sounds, I doubt if any of us
would have acted differently. How many times have we received
Word/confirmation from God and before we know it we take the
situation into our own hands, too afraid that God 'might not be
able to help' or 'be too late to help'. We doubt God's promises and
try to force things to happen our way. We would have done the same
thing Abram did.
And yet look how wonderful is our
God. Despite Abram's lack of faith, God intervened and did not
allow His plans to be disrupted. He wanted Abram and Sarai to have
pure offspring that He could bless. He didn't want Sarai to be
defiled. He helped them when their faith was not strong enough. He
helped them in their time of need. And not only that, He still
calls Abram, the father of the faith, despite his moments of doubt.
He still chose to use Abram in His big salvation plan.
God chooses to see the best in us.
Sometime we need to forgive ourselves too and move on to all He has
planned for us. Hold on to His promises, He is Holy and true, our
Redeemer, the One Who never lies, and the One Who is always ready
to help. Trust in Him.
Thank you Father that Your plans
for us are good. Thank you that You have a future and a hope
planned for us. Please forgive our faithlessness and help us to see
all events in the right perspective. Help us to stand firm despite
temptations and despite fear. In Jesus' Name. Amen