Genesis 22
Last week we saw how the Lord sent Abram on a journey to the promised land. A land that would birth a nation that would eventually birth a Savior for the world. It was an amazing journey that changed Abram’s life forever. It was a journey of:
- covenant
- faith
- worship
But it wouldn’t be an easy journey. There would be hardships along the way as it is with
most journeys of life.
[Flying into Phoenix mission trip, flat tires, lost, cows story.]
Every journey has the potential for problems. What matters is how we handle the problems that the Lord allows into our lives. Do we keep the faith and press on in the journey that God has given us? Or do we doubt God’s ability to help us overcome the obstacles that seek to get us off track?
You see, when we doubt that God can come through for us we take matters into our own hands and make a mess of things. We’re faced with a problem that seems so insurmountable that we do whatever it takes to get around the problem – even if we have to lie, cheat, steal, manipulate or even entice. (All of which leaves our faith, and our God, behind.)
That’s exactly what Abram does when faced with his first real problem while on the road. But as we’re going to see, it wasn’t really the problem that was the problem. It was Abram’s doubting faith that was the true problem.
I. Doubt directed Abram to Egypt
[Read Genesis 12:10.]
Abram is on the outskirts of where he’s supposed to be. He travels further south, past the future site of Jerusalem, towards the southern area of the Canaan land. But there’s a severe famine in the area so he decides to go to Egypt and wait it out. He’s not going there to set up permanent residence, but just to stay there until the famine lets up in the area of the Negev.
But the Lord had already told him that He would give him this land; The land where he was. Not Egypt! The Lord said He would bless him and guide him as to where he should go. But doubt crept up in Abram as the famine sucked the life out of the land and out of Abram’s faith at the same time. So Abram avoided the problem and went to where life would be easier.
Now, could God have provided for Abram even during a famine? Could God have lifted the famine whenever He wanted to? Could God have strengthened Abram’s faith during this time of hardship? Of course He could have and much, much more. But obviously Abram trusted himself with this particular problem more than he trusted the Lord.
But when Abram doubted God and decided to put of his God-ordained journey for a couple years, this only led to more problems – which in turn led to more doubt – which in turn led Abram into a life of deception.
II. Doubt moved Abram to deception
[Read Genesis 12:11-16.]
Abram is faced with a problem as he moved into Egypt – his wife was beautiful. She was 65 years old, which was considered middle-aged at the time, (she lived to be 127 and Abram lived to be 175). But Sarai was so fine that Abram knew that when they went into the Egyptian’s territory would probably kill him and take Sarai as their wife. This was just how it was back then. This was the unwritten law of the land. Kill your enemy and take his wife for yourself. Abram knew this and was scared for his life.
But instead of trusting God to help him through the difficult circumstances, he came up with a plan. A plan of deception. He also knew that if the enemy thought Sarai was just his sister then they would let him live and maybe even purchase her marriage rites from him.
So when they get into town it happens just like he thought. The royal officials saw how beautiful Sarai was, they wanted to impress their boss, so they suggested to Pharaoh that he take Abram’s sister into his harem. And he did! And he even gave Abram all kinds of compensation for the rite to make Sarai one of his wives. The plan worked perfectly.
Well at least for a while it did. You see, the plan was based on a lie. Abram told the officials that his wife Sarai was his sister instead of telling them she was his wife. And actually, Sarai was his sister – his half-sister.
[Read Genesis 20:12-13.]
So Sarai and Abram technically were brother and sister, but they tended to leave the marriage relationship out of the public eye when the situation suited them.
But what do we tell our kids? “A half-truth is a whole lie.” And leaving out the truth is just like lying as well. “Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth so help you God?” Abram said, “No.” He looked at this problem and decided that God couldn’t handle it so he would just lie His way out of it.
But there was more at stake in this situation than Abram realized. Yes, he was still alive,
but Sarai was now another man’s wife. How would God now build a nation through Him if his wife is with another man? God wanted to build a nation through Abram and Sarai, not Abram and just any woman; (as we’ll see in the coming week’s studies). So God steps in and handles takes care of the situation for the sake of the covenant and even for the sake of Sarai! But even though God fixes what Abram messed up, there’s a price to pay for our sins. And we see that:
III. Deception brought Abram dishonor
[Read Genesis 12:17-20.]
The Lord got Pharaoh’s attention by sending terrible plagues to his people. The Egyptians were a very superstitious people and probably linked their new diseases with the new arrival of Abram and Sarai. Somehow they found out that she was really his wife and understood that Sarai’s God was upset with them. Many consequences followed this revelation to Pharaoh.
- Abram’s public humiliation
- Abram exiled from Egypt
- Probable rift in his marriage relationship with Sarai
- Pattern of doubt and deceit that would run through his life and the lives of his sons
- Ended up right back where he started
- Hagar
All of this because Abram’s doubt caused him to abandon God’s plan and God’s provision for him. Doubt can be so destructive. Doubt causes us to do thing we normally wouldn’t do. Doubt also causes us to simply not trust God like we should.
A man fell off a cliff, but managed to grab a tree limb on his way down. “Is anyone up there?” he cried out. “I am here, I am the Lord, do you believe me?” the voice said. “Yes, Lord I believe, I really believe, but I can’t hang on much longer.” “If you really believe you will be alright, I will save you, just let go of the branch.” The man paused for a moment then said, “Is there anyone else up there?”
Listen to this quote by K. Lawson Younger, Jr. “When Christians fail to trust God, demanding assurance when God, in fact, has already spoken, they lose out on the opportunity to be used by him to the fullest extent…We lose out on his good gifts. And worse, we may find ourselves expending all kinds of time and energy hopelessly trying to make up the difference.”
Doubt disables our faith. And even though Abram left Egypt with his wife, his life, and wealth, he knew he had failed God. So eventually Abram went back to the basics.
IV. Dedication guided Abram back to worship
[Read Genesis 13:1-4.]
Abram’s health and wealth couldn’t make up for how he had fallen away from the Lord. He knew that he had doubted the One who had spoken to him in such a way that it changed his life. I mean think about it. Abram was a pagan, God spoke to him, and everything changed. His focus and purpose in life wasn’t about himself anymore. It was about this journey, this nation, this world-wide blessing that God wanted to do through him. But somehow Abram got scared, doubted God, and had bought shame and dishonor to him, his family and even his servants.
He realizes this and goes back to where his worship of the Lord was fresh and new and vibrant. He goes back to his place of worship where he built an altar and called on God! I can imagine Abram as he drew near to the place of the altar that his heart pounded a little harder. That his eyes were searched intently the horizon for that familiar place. That his mind raced with thoughts of what he might say to his God that he had doubted. And there it was, the place where Abram built the first formal place of worship to God in the holy land. And the Bible says that, “there Abram called on the name of the Lord.”
Have you ever had to do that? Ever felt like you needed to get back to where it all started for you in your Christian life? A place of spiritual vibrance where it was just you and God and nothing else mattered?
Listen to the lyrics of the modern worship song titled “The Heart of Worship”.
When the music fades, and all is stripped away, and I simply come
Longing just to bring, something that’s of worth, that will bless your heart
I’ll bring You more than a song, for a song in itself, is not what You’ve required
You search much deeper within, through the ways things appear, you’re looking into my heart
I’m coming back to the heart of worship
And it’s all about You, all about You Jesus
I’m sorry Lord for the thing I’ve made it
When it’s all about You, it’s all about You Jesus
King of endless worth, no one could express, how much You deserve
Though I’m weak and poor, all I have is Yours, every single breath
I’m coming back to the heart of worship
And it’s all about You, all about You Jesus
Abram went back to a heart of worship. He went back to calling on the name of the Lord for help instead of trusting himself when difficult times came.
That’s where God needs to find us when problems arise – at the altar worshipping Him. He is able to help us with anything that comes into our lives. We don’t have to lie, we don’t have to cheat, we don’t have to manipulate to get ourselves out of a jam. We simply need to trust our faithful God and worship Him through every circumstance in life!
[In difficulties journal requests and answers demonstration.]
