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Song: More Holiness Give Me
Scripture: Genesis 12:10-20
God’s command for Abraham to offer Isaac as a sacrifice was not His first test of Abraham’s faith. When Abraham entered Canaan, not only did he find a land already occupied, but famine drove him to Egypt, a hostile territory. The fact that Pharaoh took Sarai is an indication that Abram’s fears may have been justified, though his lie was not. If God saved Abram and Sarai when they lied, He could have saved them had they told the truth. But it’s not as if God just overlooked the lie of Abram.
Abram earned the reputation of a coward. What would any society think of a man who jeopardized his wife’s virtue to save his own neck?
Abram was rebuked by an unbeliever. The Lord used Pharaoh to preach to Abram a sermon on honesty. It’s hard to know whether Pharaoh’s sermonizing was an artificial zeal brought by God’s discipline or if Abram had just misjudged his host.
Abram gained wealth without pleasure. He received riches for Sarai, adding to his deception the appearance—and surely the guilty feeling—of having prostituted his wife. God, in His greatness, used the crime of Abram to teach Pharaoh about abusing power, to shame Abram himself for his imperfect faith, and to teach Abram and us about the Lord’s patience and about His faithfulness to His promises.
Jason Moore
