Genesis 12

Genesis 12

For the common man today, the call of Abram is one of the most ridiculous statements ever made. What would you do if someone told you to just leave all that you know and go to some unknown place? But the catch is that you have no idea where it is or which direction you should go or even what should really be doing. I do not think that many of us would be too quick to adhere to this command. Now what if that command was coming from God? Would it be a different story? Furthermore, what if the promise you received for being obedient was that your name and family would be blessed and that you would be the father of many nations? The reward does sound pretty nice.

This is exactly where Abram found himself when God called him to head off to Canaan. He had no idea where he was going or what was about to happen in his life, but the amazing part about this story is that out of faith Abram got up and left, leaving it up to God to do the rest. An even more amazing part about this story is the fact that Abram was 75 at the time. If he lived as long as his father, which was about 200 years, then Abram was almost halfway through his life. So imagine being around 50 and setting out to begin something completely new in life, leaving all that you have known for 50 years. But still, Abram did this out of faith.

Taking Lot with him, Abram eventually made his way into Canaan. He knew he was in the right place because God spoke to him and told him that he had reached the land that would be promised to his descendants. At that point, Abram began establishing cities, marking off certain portions of the land.

Then, Abram’s first storm arrived in the new land. With a famine in the land, Abram had to move away so that he could survive. So he and Sarai traveled down to Egypt, to live there awhile to get away from the famine. Now remember, Egypt is one of the sons of Ham (who received the curse from Noah), but this will be more relevant later on. It is not really those in Egypt who are in the wrong in this passage. Instead, the problem comes with Abram. Abram became frightened for his own life and decided to hide behind Sarai so that he could live. By calling her his sister, he escaped death, but he subjected her to live in Pharaoh’s house, as Pharaoh’s wife. Instead of depending on God to get them through the famine, Abram took it upon himself to travel to Egypt and then lie about his relationship with Sarai. What Abram thought of as a wise move ended up backfiring.

The lesson here is that we should never forget how much God can provide. When we are in life’s darkest moments, God is still there waiting for us to turn to Him for help. He is our Provider, and we can always depend on Him to help us through anything that comes up in our lives. This is the lesson that Abram needed to learn, but it is also something that we must not forget. We are so much like the Israelites and the Disciples who continued to see God display His power, but when hard times came, they too forgot about what they had seen in the past and forgot to trust God. For Abraham this resulted in him and Sarai being kicked out of Egypt and sent back to Canaan. It also caused great plagues on the house of Pharaoh. The results of our mistakes and sins will affect not only us, but also those around us.

Matt