As he was about to enter Egypt, Abram said to his wife
Sarai, “I know what a beautiful woman you are. When the Egyptians see
you, they will say, ‘This is his wife’. Then they will kill me but will
let you live. Say that you are my sister, so that I will be treated well
for your sake and my life will be spared because of you.” Genesis 12:11-13
I imagine that in every marriage there are times when husband and wife have to have a rather difficult conversation.
And I imagine that this was the case between Abram and Sarai when (along with their wider family, servants and livestock) they decided to visit Egypt to escape famine in Canaan.
Abram begins to see a snag in what at first seemed a great idea…
“Er, Sarai, I’m beginning to have second thoughts about going into Egypt. The Egyptian kings are very powerful men, you know, and they like to have lots of wives. Now, you’re a very beautiful woman, so I’m afraid the king might want to take you into his harem, and to get me out of the way I might be killed. I’ll tell you what – let’s pretend that you’re my sister, not my wife; then the king can have you as an unmarried woman, and there’ll be no reason to kill me. Are you happy with that?”
(We aren’t told what Sarai’s reply was…)
To my mind this episode prompts two big questions.
First, how on earth could Abram stoop to such shabby, shameful behaviour?
Remember, this is the man chosen by God to be the founding father of his people on earth. He was a man of great faith, impressively obedient to God’s call to leave everything he knew and to step out into the unknown (see Genesis 12:1-5).
Yet suddenly now, as he stands at the border of Egypt, he is gripped with fear and plain cowardice. Where is his faith now!
Fear leads to lies – he gets Sarai to agree to practice deception in order to save his skin. And, in the process, he treats her with total contempt, with a complete disregard for her dignity as a person. In effect, he plans to sell her off – and to pick up a pretty handsome bride-price as a result (verse 16).
Nice work, Abram!
So back to the question: How could this happen?
The simple answer is this. Both the Bible and Christian history demonstrate only too clearly the sad truth: very godly people can do very godless things.
Moses “killed the Egyptian and buried his body in the sand” (Exodus 2:12). David committed adultery with Bathsheba and arranged the death of her husband (2 Samuel 11). Simon Peter, having sworn undying allegiance to Jesus, ended up cursing and swearing in a very different way as he denied all knowledge of him (Matthew 26).
There can be no excuses, of course; but the fact is… it happens.
Even the greatest men and women of God are still far from perfect, and therefore subject to lapses. Perhaps it’s all the more likely to happen when someone has been on a spiritual high and, in reaction, lets their guard down. Remember how the prophet Elijah collapsed into a great quivering heap of self-pity immediately after his miraculous victory over the powers of darkness (1 Kings 18-19).
Christian history is littered with examples of fine, Spirit-filled people who – perhaps in a moment of weakness, perhaps in a moment of madness, perhaps at a time of special stress or difficulty – act as weakly or as despicably as Abram.
But what really matters is… it can happen to us too – yes, even to us who are permanently indwelt by God’s Holy Spirit.
We can of course draw comfort from the fact that Abram was forgiven by God. As were David and Moses and Elijah and Peter and all the rest. But be careful! The message still stands: no complacency! God can be appealed to, but he is not to be presumed upon.
Paul sums it up perfectly in 1 Corinthians 10:12: “If you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall.” Yes, the battle against sin and temptation will last until the day we die.
Putting it more light-heartedly: we are all works in progress, not yet the finished article. As the wall-poster says: “Be patient; God hasn’t finished with me yet!”
Abram acted in a way which, I suspect (and hope!), he later hated himself for. Is this a warning you or I need as we reflect today on his sad fall?
Father God, thank you for the honesty of your word, and for the way it portrays great people of faith with all their faults and failings. Help me to take these warnings seriously, and not to fall into the same trap. Amen.
(I said the story of Abram and Sarai prompted two questions in my mind, but I’ve only had space to open up one. So I’ll keep the other one till next time: Could Sarai have done more?)
I imagine that in every marriage there are times when husband and wife have to have a rather difficult conversation.
And I imagine that this was the case between Abram and Sarai when (along with their wider family, servants and livestock) they decided to visit Egypt to escape famine in Canaan.
Abram begins to see a snag in what at first seemed a great idea…
“Er, Sarai, I’m beginning to have second thoughts about going into Egypt. The Egyptian kings are very powerful men, you know, and they like to have lots of wives. Now, you’re a very beautiful woman, so I’m afraid the king might want to take you into his harem, and to get me out of the way I might be killed. I’ll tell you what – let’s pretend that you’re my sister, not my wife; then the king can have you as an unmarried woman, and there’ll be no reason to kill me. Are you happy with that?”
(We aren’t told what Sarai’s reply was…)
To my mind this episode prompts two big questions.
First, how on earth could Abram stoop to such shabby, shameful behaviour?
Remember, this is the man chosen by God to be the founding father of his people on earth. He was a man of great faith, impressively obedient to God’s call to leave everything he knew and to step out into the unknown (see Genesis 12:1-5).
Yet suddenly now, as he stands at the border of Egypt, he is gripped with fear and plain cowardice. Where is his faith now!
Fear leads to lies – he gets Sarai to agree to practice deception in order to save his skin. And, in the process, he treats her with total contempt, with a complete disregard for her dignity as a person. In effect, he plans to sell her off – and to pick up a pretty handsome bride-price as a result (verse 16).
Nice work, Abram!
So back to the question: How could this happen?
The simple answer is this. Both the Bible and Christian history demonstrate only too clearly the sad truth: very godly people can do very godless things.
Moses “killed the Egyptian and buried his body in the sand” (Exodus 2:12). David committed adultery with Bathsheba and arranged the death of her husband (2 Samuel 11). Simon Peter, having sworn undying allegiance to Jesus, ended up cursing and swearing in a very different way as he denied all knowledge of him (Matthew 26).
There can be no excuses, of course; but the fact is… it happens.
Even the greatest men and women of God are still far from perfect, and therefore subject to lapses. Perhaps it’s all the more likely to happen when someone has been on a spiritual high and, in reaction, lets their guard down. Remember how the prophet Elijah collapsed into a great quivering heap of self-pity immediately after his miraculous victory over the powers of darkness (1 Kings 18-19).
Christian history is littered with examples of fine, Spirit-filled people who – perhaps in a moment of weakness, perhaps in a moment of madness, perhaps at a time of special stress or difficulty – act as weakly or as despicably as Abram.
But what really matters is… it can happen to us too – yes, even to us who are permanently indwelt by God’s Holy Spirit.
We can of course draw comfort from the fact that Abram was forgiven by God. As were David and Moses and Elijah and Peter and all the rest. But be careful! The message still stands: no complacency! God can be appealed to, but he is not to be presumed upon.
Paul sums it up perfectly in 1 Corinthians 10:12: “If you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall.” Yes, the battle against sin and temptation will last until the day we die.
Putting it more light-heartedly: we are all works in progress, not yet the finished article. As the wall-poster says: “Be patient; God hasn’t finished with me yet!”
Abram acted in a way which, I suspect (and hope!), he later hated himself for. Is this a warning you or I need as we reflect today on his sad fall?
Father God, thank you for the honesty of your word, and for the way it portrays great people of faith with all their faults and failings. Help me to take these warnings seriously, and not to fall into the same trap. Amen.
(I said the story of Abram and Sarai prompted two questions in my mind, but I’ve only had space to open up one. So I’ll keep the other one till next time: Could Sarai have done more?)
No comments:
Post a Comment