"Abram in Egypt"
Abram makes two large mistakes in this passage.
- He chooses not to rely on God for his safety and that of his wife, Sarai. He was afraid of the possible intentions of the Egyptians towards him upon seeing his wife.
- He chooses deception as a means to protect himself. Not only is he denying God and disobeying Him, but Abram is making matters more complicated and convoluted than they need be.
To briefly fill in some background, the reason Abram was in Egypt was that there was a massive famine in Canaan, but Egypt was unharmed. In light of this, Abram decided to travel there to avoid the famine. Upon arriving there, He decides to play Sarai as his sister in the hopes that the Egyptians will not kill him to steal her.
Abram's decision had a number of outcomes:
- His wife, Sarai, was "taken to Pharaoh's household". That is, Pharaoh chose her as a concubine/wife. (Although, Pharaoh did treat Abram well because of Sarai)
- God punished Pharaoh and those in his household.
- Pharaoh demanded Abram and Sarai to leave.
Interestingly enough, the words of Pharaoh, in confronting Abram, sound as if Pharaoh would not have touched Sarai had he known she was Abram's wife.
What can we learn from this? Trust God, not any scheme you might devise yourself. God is perfect, all-knowing, and all-powerful. He can and will provide for those who serve Him. Man, however, is imperfect, fallible, and weak. There is no plan of man only that will succeed perfectly. After all, can that which is not perfect create perfection?
So, rely on God, not your own ideas and schemes; He will pull you through.
No comments:
Post a Comment