Genesis 12:10-20 Are God’s Promises in Jeopardy?

Do you recall a time in which everything seemed to be going just great and then all of a sudden a catastrophe hit you? One moment you are rejoicing at God’s goodness to you. The next minute you find yourself flat on your back in a hospital, or you have lost your job, or your spouse left you, or one of your parents died unexpectedly.

If you have ever felt that way, you are not alone. In fact, Abraham experienced a similar situation. In Genesis 12 God had spoken to him and given him magnificent promises. In 13:1 things dramatically change, “There was a famine in the land.” This was not any old famine; it was a severe famine (12:10).

How could God promise Abraham a land and then fail to provide food for him in that land? Where is God when it counts? How could this happen to him, the one with whom God had made his special covenant?

Abraham decided to go to the land of Egypt. As he drew near to this new land Abraham did something else. Knowing that his wife was very beautiful, he feared that people would kill Abraham in order to take his wife. So Abraham told his wife to pretend that they were brother and sister rather than husband and wife.

Have you ever tried to get out of a tight situation by devising a scheme? When faced with a difficulty do you and I try to make things happen by some cleverly arranged trick or falsehood?

God had not forgotten Abraham or the promises. Abraham should have trusted the Lord to care for him, but things seemed too murky. It seemed easier to take things into his own hands even if doing so involved a little white lie or two.

When Pharaoh’s officials saw Abraham’s beautiful wife they took her to Pharaoh’s household. Then the Lord stepped into the situation by striking Pharaoh’s household with diseases on account of Abraham’s wife.

Realizing what had happened Pharaoh called Abraham to the official residence and lectured him. Then he returned Abraham’s wife to him and expelled him from the country.

The Lord had not forgotten Abraham, but Abraham had forgotten the Lord. The Lord was fully able to protect Abraham and his family, but Abraham was not fully trusting in the Lord to do so.

Abraham was a man of faith, but he had moments of weakness just as you and I. Even so, God blessed him and protected him.

Today, you and I may face some difficulty. When we do, we must remember to trust the Lord. Even if the situation looks bleak and without hope, the Lord can fix it. He is “a very present help in trouble.”

The Lord wants us to be faithful. He doesn’t need us to lie and scheme in order to serve Him. We should do what He wants us to do in obedience to Christ, in the power of the Spirit, leaving the results up to Him.

God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord. – 1 Cor 1:9