God's Will of Our Fall

[Servant Boy]

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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.
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; and when the
Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife’; and they will
kill me, but they will let you live. “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.” It came about when Abram came into Egypt, the
Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful. Pharaoh’s officials
saw her and praised her to Pharaoh; and the woman was taken into
Pharaoh’s house. 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. But the LORD struck Pharaoh and his house
with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. 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? “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.” Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him; and they escorted
him away, with his wife and all that belonged to him.

We now start journeying with Abram and his family and it is an
interesting journey indeed. God choses Abram to be the father of the
nation and tells him to go to the land God has chosen for him to
establish his family in.

Abram certainly was an obedient man and God clearly was being faithful
in showing Abram the land that He would bless him with. As Abram
journeyed to Negev, a famine hit the land and so Abram went west
towards Egypt to take a break until the famine was over.

Sounds like a rational plan until we realize that Egypt was a land
ruled by a people whose morals and ethics were far from those of
Abram's and therefore what Abram was venturing to do was a serious
risk to life and limb.

This is when he makes the most bizarre request of his wife, Sarai,
asking her to claim she is his sister. Technically speaking, this is
not wrong because she is his father's daughter from another mother,
but the reality is that she is his wife and she belongs to him and no
other man.

The question that comes to mind is not why did Abram did that but
rather why God permitted him or rather why God did not stop him?

Abram was acting as a rational human being would in his situation. His
response to the drought in Negev was to go to a better place for a
while and a little lie did not seem a big issue when we consider the
benefit.

However, He did not seem to consult God about it and God did not stop
him because he wanted Abram to realize his error. Abram was operating
in the confidence that he was God's chosen one and God would bless his
walk but Abram did not understand then that He was to operate in God's
will, not his own.

We know that God eventually rescued Abram and his family from the
Egyptians but this was at the cost of Abram failing God and his wife
in exchange for reprieve from the drought.

God reminds us today that He loves us and wants us to prosper but that
is only possible when we are obedient to God and walk with Him. We
cannot determine the course of our lives because we are obviously
shortsighted but when we follow God's plan, great things are made
possible.

I pray today that those of us who have never experienced the love of
God are able to submit our lives to Him and walk in obedience to Him.
I pray for those of us who love the Lord that we will stop operating
in our own strength and intelligence and start obeying the Lord's will
for our lives.

In His Loving Service,
ServantBoy

1 Chronicles 16:21,22 He permitted no man to oppress them, And He
reproved kings for their sakes, saying, “Do not touch My anointed
ones, And do My prophets no harm.”