Today, we continue a series dedicated to the life of Abraham, the father of the faith, the Patriarch who lived 4,000 years ago (Romans 4:11b). Abraham is venerated among Jews, Muslims, and Christians. Yes, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam trace their roots back to this one man.
Just how important is Abraham? Did you know that every time Catholics do the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the priest mentions Abraham? During the Muslim’s five times of prayer daily, they call upon the name of Abraham. And our Jewish friends believe Abraham was the first of the Chosen People. Abraham is so important he serves as a bridge to the nations of the world.
Shortly after 9/11 terrorist attacks, leaders of the three different faiths assembled in what was called Abraham Salons. These gatherings served to bring people of differing religious viewpoints together around Abraham. Now, Abraham is such a big deal that one NY Times best-selling author has discovered 240 different stories about Abraham when you read all the stories of the three different religions. But more importantly, Abraham occupies fourteen chapters in the book of Genesis, or around twenty pages. I think you’d agree with me that Abraham was one of the greatest people in all of history.
But what makes Abraham so great?
Abraham didn’t have any followers or disciples.
He didn’t write any books that we know of.
He wasn’t a great teacher, politician, or a great warrior.
He didn’t even technically begin a “religion”.
In fact, the only real claim to fame Abraham really has is this: God chose him and made some very special promises to him.
If you have a Bible near you, please turn with me to Genesis 12, if you will. When you find it, look up here at me so I can see your smiling faces. Would you agree with this statement: We can believe something to be true without it making much difference to us.
Fredric Baur dreamed up the iconic “Pringles” can and now’s he buried in one. That’s true. Here’s another: there are more plastic flamingos in the U.S, than real ones! I think you would agree that we can believe something to be true without it making much difference to us. But what we place our faith in something that is what is vital to the way we live. Faith is a deep-seated confidence.
I want to do everything possible to encourage you to place your faith in the very One Abraham did.
For the next few moments, I want you to see how to handle the rugged areas of life through the lens of our father, Abraham.
We are going to see 2 vignettes (if you will) into the life of Abraham.
Today’s Scripture
“Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land 11 When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to Sarai his wife, ‘I know that you are a woman beautiful in appearance, 12 and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me, but they will let you live. 13 Say you are my sister, that it may go well with me because of you, and that my life may be spared for your sake.’ 14 When Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful. 15 And when the princes of Pharaoh saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh. And the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house. 16 And for her sake he dealt well with Abram; and he had sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male servants, female servants, female donkeys, and camels. 17 But the Lord afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. 18 So Pharaoh called Abram and said, “What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? 19 Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her for my wife? Now then, here is your wife; take her, and go.” 20 And Pharaoh gave men orders concerning him, and they sent him away with his wife and all that he had” (Genesis 12:10–20).
There’s one item keep your eye on one item throughout Abraham’s life the command of God and the promises of God.
There are really two sides to one lesson Abraham is going to teach us.
1. In a Crisis, Don’t Doubt God
Now, it’s true … Abraham is our forefather in the faith. Abraham is incredibly blessed by God. Skeptics and secularists will call it luck, but in reality, the God of the universe smiled on Abraham. As we’ll see, Abraham is his own worst enemy here.
Quick Summary
Keep up with the story because it moves quickly: Abraham migrates from the land where God directed him because of a famine; He deceives Pharaoh because his wife is exceedingly beautiful; Pharaoh seizes Sarai; The Lord delivers Sarai; Pharaoh rebukes Abraham and Abraham hightails it out of Egypt with a lot more wealth. Did you get all of that? Again, Abraham is his own worst enemy here. We have to see what Abraham did wrong before we see how God turned it around.
1.1 A Crisis Caused Abraham to Leave His Land
Look back up in verse 7 with me: “Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, ‘To your offspring I will give this land’” (Genesis 12:7a). Yet, the next we know, Abraham has left for Egypt. Curious move on the Patriarch’s part…
I was thinking this week about one of the most exciting things in our family’s life in recent days. Just last summer, our family took a week-long trip to Red River, New Mexico. We escaped the heat of a Texas August and we were enjoying some cool, relaxing days in the mountains before school began for the kids. In the late afternoon, four (not five) of the family members were sitting together watching TV when to my left, a bear comes running by on all four legs as a dog would run. The bear had ran by the porch of the cabin, only a few feet from the window, and had gone by us in a matter of seconds. Now, I said four of the family members but if you may remember, we have five in our immediate family. As the bear ran by, Traci and I immediately jumped up to warn our youngest child, who was fourteen years old at the time. As all four family members ran to the deck together, we were immediately confronted with a fast-sloping backyard where our son played in the tall grass near a stream. Now, this child’s listening skills are still developing … … so as I arrived on the back deck I emphatically called to him, “Matthew, come right here now. Run to me now and don’t ask questions. Come right to this spot,” as pointed to a safe spot just a few feet from me. And do you know he didn’t run to where I said? Now, picture this: he was around twenty feet away from me but he was probably another twenty feet below me because of the downward slope of the back yard. Matthew takes off running in my direction, but he didn’t run to the spot I was pointing. Instead, he ran toward the house and away from me, way over to my right. At the sight of this, I am grew inwardly upset with him. I thought, “Boy, if you would listen to me just this one time in your life!” I probably was thinking something to the effect, “If this bear doesn’t get you, then… ?” By this time, his mother (momma bear) is yelling for him to run as well. All the while, he is running away from the safe spot I had chosen. The good news is a bear didn’t eat him! Later, when he was safe, he told me why he hadn’t listened to me – he saw the bear running toward him. What I hadn’t paid attention to in my fear and excitement was the where the bear was. The bear had run around to the back of the house and was running near the very place I wanted my son to run. Matthew ran away from me because the bear was running near me. It’s good thing my son didn’t listen to his father on that day. It’s a bad thing that Abraham didn’t listen to his Father in our story.
Remember to keep your eye on one item throughout Abraham’s life the command of God and the promises of God. Remember God’s promise to the patriarch, Abraham back in Genesis 12:1: “Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you” (Genesis 12:1). The promise in verse 1 is followed by seven promises in verses 2 & 3: Genesis 12:2-3: “And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:2-3). This is a foundational promise in our Bibles and in Abraham’s life. It’s hard to overexaggerate the importance of God’s promise in world history and in Abraham’s life.
Again, God says to Abraham, “To your offspring I will give this land” (Genesis 13:17b). Almost every story of Abraham’s life, God circles back to reiterate His promise to Abraham. And again in Genesis 15:7b: “I am the LORD who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess” (Genesis 15:7b). God is saying to Abraham, “Sit, Abraham, sit. Don’t move. Stay put! This is your land and this is your home.” Yet, the moment a famine arrives, Abraham leaves the Promised Land during the time of crisis. Now, Abraham no sooner sets his feet on Promised Land soil, than he takes off for fear of famine. And if Egypt was open to Abraham, our forefather in the faith never stopped to ask God if He should go. Again, he’s his own worst enemy here. He’s getting in the way of God’s smile on him, of God’s blessing on his life. It’s going to take a plague on Pharaoh and Egypt before Abraham makes his way back to his new God-given home (Genesis 12:17). God would say of Abraham at this point, “He’s still developing his listening skills.”
1.2 A Crisis Causes Abraham to Lie
If leaving the very place God tells him to go wasn’t enough, Abraham lies about his wife. Careful Bible students will note that Sarai is actually Abraham’s sister as well as his wife (Genesis 20:2, 12). So before Abraham and Sarah set foot on foreign soil, the husband says, “Sweetheart, you are so beautiful that I need you to tell everyone you’re my sister.” It’s hard to know what Abraham is thinking here but perhaps he thought that anyone wishing to marry his “sister” would negotiate with her “brother.” During this time, maybe Abraham could work his magic and get out the sticky situation?
Years later, when David wanted to take Bathsheba as his, he killed her husband. Had Uriah been Bathsheba’s brother, then he would be alive to tell about it. So the threat is real but his faith was little. Again, he’s his own worst enemy here. No matter, a half-truth is a full lie. Abraham is choosing fear over faith here. The results are nearly a disaster.
Sarai is taken from Abraham and is now a part of Pharaoh’s house (Genesis 12:15). It was no doubt at this point, Abraham sang the popular children’s song, “Pharaoh, Pharaoh, let my partner (my girlfriend, my woman) go.” The good news is that God intervenes on Abraham’s behalf and Sarai and he are reunited (Genesis 12:17). But a crisis arrived and he failed to remember the promise of God: “And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing” (Genesis 12:2). God says in essence, “You’re not listening, Abraham. You’re forgetting what I’ve told you. You don’t need to lie to protect your beautiful wife. You have my word she’s going to be just fine.” God gets more specific later: “And God said to Abraham, ‘As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. 16 I will bless her, and moreover, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall become nations; kings of peoples shall come from her” (Genesis 17:15-16). God had promised Abraham children through Sarah in 1 minute but in the next minute, he runs off thinking Sarai needs his lie for her protection.
If God promises something, does God need your help to make it happen? If Jerry Jones wants to add on to Cowboy Stadium, would get a second job to loan him the money? If God promises Abraham he will be a great nation, Abraham take that promise to the bank. Do you forget the promises of God in times of crisis? Let me ask you, did you need to work on your listening skills? Do you choose fear over faith in crisis?
By the way, did you notice how God came through even though Abraham failed? Did you notice that when Sarai was threatened by Pharaoh’s romantic desires, God rescued her? Remember when God promised: “and him who dishonors you I will curse” (Genesis 12:3b)? God was true to His word even when Abraham failed to believe it.
Years later, Paul will write this: “if we are faithless, he remains faithful— for he cannot deny himself” (2 Timothy 2:13). Would somebody give God an Amen? Someone give Him a Hallelujah? If God handed out report cards, than Abraham would have failed miserably. Yet, God consistently stayed “on point” in pushing Abraham to his final destination.
Lesson #1: In Crisis, Don’t Doubt God
2. In a Crisis, Express Your Confidence in God
Abraham is hurting his mistakes as enters back into the Promised Land. He’s wealthier than he was before He left because God smiled on Him even when He was stubborn. In our second story, the narrative isn’t between Abraham and his wife, but Abraham and his nephew, Lot. And if there’s one “Abraham” on the earth today, a man of faithful to God… … but there are dozens of “Lots” today.
The key sentence in chapter 13 is found in verse 8 and 9. Pick up reading with me in verse 2, if you will: “Now Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold. 3 And he journeyed on from the Negeb as far as Bethel to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai, 4 to the place where he had made an altar at the first. And there Abram called upon the name of the Lord. 5 And Lot, who went with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents, 6 so that the land could not support both of them dwelling together; for their possessions were so great that they could not dwell together, 7 and there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock. At that time the Canaanites and the Perizzites were dwelling in the land. 8 Then Abram said to Lot, “Let there be no strife between you and me, and between your herdsmen and my herdsmen, for we are kinsmen. 9 Is not the whole land before you? Separate yourself from me. If you take the left hand, then I will go to the right, or if you take the right hand, then I will go to the left” (Genesis 13:2–9).
Abraham and Lot had both prospered to such an extent that the land with its water and grazing resources won’t sustain both of them. Abram is a rancher now, a cattleman, if you will. He has flocks and herds; he has cattle and sheep — and Lot has all these as well. And there’s not enough grazing land for the two of them. There’s not enough grass. There’s not enough clover. There’s not enough alfalfa. They must divide up the land among themselves. Abraham is in the position of power because he is older and Lot’s uncle. Plus, Lot’s blessing comes through Abraham. No doubt, Abraham was singing, “Oh, give me a home where the my shepherds can roam.” Abraham could have insisted that he gets first choice of land, but he does not. Instead, he gives Lot the choice.
2.1 Lot’s Passion
Lot grabs the best land, the prime real estate of the day.
“And Lot lifted up his eyes and saw that the Jordan Valley was well watered everywhere like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, in the direction of Zoar. (This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.) 11 So Lot chose for himself all the Jordan Valley, and Lot journeyed east. Thus they separated from each other. 12 Abram settled in the land of Canaan, while Lot settled among the cities of the valley and moved his tent as far as Sodom. 13 Now the men of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against the Lord” (Genesis 13:10-13).
Lot looked out there, and he saw that knee-high grass. He saw those lush pastures. He could just imagine his cattle sleek and well-fed. And he made a decision based upon one thing: materialism. He chooses that lush grazing area near the two exciting cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Lot starts very well; he got rich, and that was the beginning of his troubles.
The Bible says in verse 11: “Lot chose for himself…” (Genesis 13:11a). That is, he chose for himself. He wasn’t thinking about God. He wasn’t thinking about Abraham. He wasn’t thinking about his family. He just chose for himself. He was more interested in his gold than he was in his God. He was more interested in his cattle than he was in his children. He was more interested in his fortune than he was in his family. Do you know anyone like Lot? Someone who puts financial growth before everything. In the beginning, Lot moved into Sodom but somewhere along the way, Sodom moved into Lot. If we were playing golf, you’d put a ball marker down. Put your mark next to Lot and Sodom for we will see this come back again in the coming weeks.
2.2 Abraham’s Proposition
Now, watch how magnanimous Abraham is with his nephew: “The Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, “Lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward, 15 for all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever. 16 I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth, so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your offspring also can be counted. 17 Arise, walk through the length and the breadth of the land, for I will give it to you” (Genesis 13:14–17).
Now, why do you think Abraham gave Lot the first choice? What strategy motivated older, Uncle Abraham to give younger, ambitious Lot the first choice of the land? Remember, land is money. Even today in Texas, land is money. So why give Lot the first choice when Abraham was older? Why give Lot the first choice when Abraham had been promised the land? Surely, part of the reason is that Abraham sought to avoid conflict. Yet, I’ll give you that – part of the reason he gave ambitious Lot first choice was to minimize conflict. But there’s a bigger reason and here it is: Abraham could offer Lot any part of the land he wished and it would all been his no matter what Lot did. Remember, Almighty God of Heaven had told Abraham the land would belong to his descendants. Who was puny Lot to God’s promise?
2.3 Abraham’s Progress
Abraham had learned an important lesson in Egypt: No matter who or what came against God, God’s unbreakable promises would prevail. God has said to Abraham, “To your offspring I will give this land” (Genesis 13:17b), so it didn’t really matter if Abraham gave Lot the best of the land, the land would return to Abraham’s descendants no matter the choice. “I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies…” (Genesis 22:17).
I wonder if Abraham ever got into in the middle of night from his tent and tried to count the stars above? Do you think Abraham ever stepped to a beach and grabbed a handful of sand and began to count? Abraham is progressing in the school of faith. Where before he chose fear over faith, he’s now chosen faith over fear. Abraham teaches us well here for he chose faith over fear. When life gets tough, people say, the tough get going. For believers, when life is tough, you hang onto the promises of God. And when life is really tough, so tough we nearly lose our grip, then we hang onto God’s promises even if it means we hang on only by our nails in the rock of His great promises. Remember, there’s only one lesson to keep your eye in Abraham’s life: the command of God and the promises of God.
So how are your listening skills? How well do you listen to God? Do you have life-changing faith in His promises? Or are they facts like flamingos and Pringles cans mentioned from before? Which one of these commands do you need to hear today? Which one of these promises do you need to cling to with even your fingernails when life’s tough?
“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you” (Exodus 20:12). Remember my anxious friends Jesus’ words: “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they” (Matthew 6:25-26)? “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). “And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:9). “and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me” (Psalm 50:15). “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths” (Proverbs 3:5-6).
We can believe something to be true without it making much difference to us. But what we have faith in can make a vital difference in our lives.
