“Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to dwell there, for the famine was severe in the land. And it came to pass, when he was close to entering Egypt, that he said to Sarai his wife, “Indeed I know that you are a woman of beautiful countenance. Therefore it will happen, when the Egyptians see you that they will say, “This is his wife”; and they will kill me, but they will let you live. Please say you are my sister, that it may be well with me for your sake, and that I may live because of you.”
Genesis 12:10-13
Sometime after Abram started south to the Negev (the Hebrew word for south) famine struck the land lifeless. Abram then goes down to Egypt to dwell. Egypt in the Old Testament pictures the flesh. For those who are a bit unfamiliar with this word, the flesh is the sensual part of the human nature that seeks to satisfy the sinful nature of mankind. I once heard sin explained as, “taking your rights from the hands of the God who died for them.” You see, upon death Jesus signed, sealed, and delivered us from the damnation we were doomed to receive. He ransomed us from sin and death. I think it’s pretty safe to say Jesus owns the rights to us, for without Him we are dead in our sin. But often after being ushered into this new life with Jesus we turn around and play the old “snatch and run”, taking ourselves from His hands and running off to our own passions and desires.
“For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.”
2 Corinthians 5:14-15
Nowhere in scripture was Abram instructed to go to Egypt, in fact, while in Egypt we see a side of Abram that is not exactly testifying that God is in control. Abram panics over His wife being really hot (not exactly something I see need to panic over, but I guess that’s just me). Fearing that the Egyptians would want her so bad that they would kill him, he decides to lie about his relationship to her and based on fear and assumptions, snatches himself out of God’s hands and tries to manage the situation. This is the same guy who just a couple verses back was worshipping and proclaiming the name of God in his difficulties.
How did this change?
As we see in Abram’s life, famine lead to fear and fear is not faith. Faith drives us to worship the Lord instead of panicking during dry and lifeless situations.
Has famine ever ravaged your life?
Maybe not physically, but perhaps in your relationship with God it’s been a while since you’ve eaten well from God’s word, leaving you fearful instead of full of the faith to get you through the trying times. Things seem dry and you don’t know why, so you give into the flesh, the part of your natural self that only wants to satisfy your right to yourself, instead of satisfying God’s right to you.
Because of our natural tendency to struggle through things by our own might and power, God allows us to go through trials. This isn’t a selfish attempt to trap us, but a gracious act by our father to show us his loving-kindness in our needy lives. He’ll allow us to stubbornly go at it alone, so that we realize our need for His powerful loving-kindness in our lives. Famine is simply another one of those things in life that are meant to drive us deeper into our faith in the Lord. Here’s the downer about choosing fear instead of faith when famine enters the picture. You not only give into sin, hurting your relationship with God, but your choice hurts those around you too. It’s kind of like dropping a pebble in a pond; the ripple effect of this action touches everyone in the pond with you. Abram’s lack of faith more than likely hurt his wife. His fear kept him from standing up for Sarai as a husband, she was then taken by the demand of those in rule, which more than likely meant Sarai entered the Pharaoh’s harem to satisfy whatever Pharaoh had in mind sexually. However, God in His goodness and faithfulness stepped in and stopped anything from happening to Sarai, He graciously covered over Abram’s error, while whooping up on Pharaoh and the boys with plague (vs.17).
Faith allows God to show Himself powerful in impossible situations, so that those who look on might have the faith to believe. Fear only disconnects you from that power and leaves you panicky and paranoid, drawing everyone’s attention from faith in God, to the fear in you.
Choose faith in the challenging times and see God reveal His glory through you in your situation.
“But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”
Hebrews 11:6
