The Nitty Gritty

Abram, the man who answered God’s call and made an 800-mile trek from Ur to Canaan, now stumbles in his faith. The first test of his faith was whether he would trust God to take care of him and his family. A famine came to the land of Canaan, and Abram made an impulsive decision to go to Egypt for help because there was an abundance there. There is no record that he asked God for direction, but instead, he forgot to ask what God wanted him to do.

You can expect tests in your own journey of faith, but God does not use difficult circumstances to find out what we will do. Charles Swindoll observes, “He does not test us to observe our response of faith. He already knows us better than we know ourselves, and He already knows what the future holds. He uses tests to reveal us to ourselves!” Abram’s weakness was exposed in this test of faith, and that was his tendency to lie.

I have observed that there are two kinds of lies. The first is intentional, lying to deceive for fraudulent and malicious purposes. The second is lying to deceive for self-preservation and avoidance of conflict. Both are wrong and sinful, but the first is much worse while the latter is more common. The second category of lying is prevalent in marriage. It usually starts early in life but becomes a coping mechanism to avoid conflict. It was this second kind of lying that Abram resorted to, and it brought no good to his life and sullied his testimony before the world.

Abram agreed with Sarai, his wife, that they would refer to her as his sister because he was afraid for his life. He never calculated what would happen with this plan. Sarai wound up in Pharaoh’s haram. Sarai immediately suffered being isolated from Abram in a strange place while Abram prospered. He received from Pharaoh: donkeys, camels, and servants—a dowry. Abram got himself in a mess that he would never have been able to dig himself out of if God had not intervened (Gen 12:10-20).

Those new riches would prove to be more of a curse than a blessing.  The ill-gotten gain indeed drove a wedge between Lot’s herdsmen and those of Abram.  Then there was a young Egyptian woman named Hagar, most likely part of the gift of servants, who caused Sarai and Abram much grief. There are lessons to be learned from Abram’s experience of self-preservation vs. trusting God.

Guard your integrity:

If you detect that you are prone to veer from the path of honesty toward self-preservation when faced with a trial—then ask God for help. Seek his guidance and do not ignore such a deadly problem that will only get worse with time. You cannot extinguish what you cannot distinguish. You have to acknowledge the problem before you can work on it. You cannot change something you have not identified.

It’s never too late to do the right thing:

No matter how far you are into a decision, if you realize that it is wrong, take immediate action to reverse the decision. Cut your losses and run the other way. It’s never too late to do the right thing!

How Much Will Your Sin Cost Me?

No sin, no mistake is made in isolation. It will cost the people around you. When we forget God, we forget the world around us. When Abraham went to Egypt with his plan of survival, he left God out of the picture. His testimony before the world suffered. Our dependence on God provides for our needs and maintains our testimony to a lost world.