relationships (Genesis 12:10-20) Don't Take Matters Into Your Own Hands

(Genesis 12:10-20) 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 It came about when he came near to Egypt, that he said to Sarai his wife, “See now, I know that you are a beautiful woman; 12 and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife’; and they will kill me, but they will let you live. 13 Please say that you are my sister so that it may go well with me because of you, and that I may live on account of you.” 14 It came about when Abram came into Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful. 15 Pharaoh’s officials saw her and praised her to Pharaoh; and the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house. 16 Therefore he treated Abram well for her sake; and gave him sheep and oxen and donkeys and male and female servants and female donkeys and camels.

17 But the Lord struck Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. 18 Then 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 Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him; and they escorted him away, with his wife and all that belonged to him.

TODAY'S THOUGHTS AND MEDITATION:

"Little white" lies are never acceptable in God's eyes.  And "little" sins proceed to "bigger" sins.  So, in that "half" lie, Abram spared himself at his wife's expensive.  And by receiving gifts from the Pharoah, he basically pimped out his wife.  What was he thinking?  So, Abram was alive and well, but without his wife!  His wife was essentially gone forever!  And interestingly enough, from Pharoah's reaction, we can see that he not only knew that lying was wrong, he knew that taking someone else's wife was wrong!  And Abram had caused all of this from "just" this one lie.

Notice God never told Abram to go into Egypt, and He certainly didn't tell Abram to lie about his wife.  God had a very clear plan for Abram, but Abram decided to take matters into his own hands.  In that moment, he didn't trust that God would take care of everything.  

It's not unusual for us to trust God in the big things, but then feel like God might not bother to help us with the little things, like finding food.  God would have seen to it that they had food, but instead, Abram decided to go into Egypt.  And God would have protected him and his wife, but Abram decided to lie, which created a huge and unnecessary stress.

Even though Abram really didn't deserve to be taken out of the predicament he had put himself into, God still found a way to get him out of that situation.  Although, there was still the consequence of creating a bad relationship between himself and the Pharoah.  When we disobey God, God can spare us from some consequences, but He can also allow other consequences to remain.  

Best practice is to just trust the Lord in everything.  Of course, we are not perfect.  We will make mistakes.  God knows that and often saves us from ourselves!  And even when we haven't made mistakes, we will still go through tests and trials, like the famine in which Abram had originally found himself.  But this is when we need to continue trusting in the Lord that He will see us through and provide!