Now there was a famine in the land…
GENESIS 12:10
Uh oh… With God’s words of blessing still ringing in his ears, Abram suddenly had reason to wonder about this “land of promise.” A famine? He had mouths to feed and flocks to care for. So just what were his options? Going down to Egypt for a while made sense, so off he went, with an opportunity awaiting to learn just how trustworthy our God is.
Quickly Abraham’s fear caused him to act deceitfully, and just in the nick of time, God came to his rescue.
F. B. Meyer writes:
“How thankful should we be that the Bible does not shrink from recording the story of the sins of its noblest saints! What a proof of its veracity is here, and what encouragement there is for us! For if God was able to make His friend out of such material as this, may we not aspire to a like privilege, though we, too, have grievously violated the high calling of faith?”
“The one thing that God requires of His saints is implicit obedience – entire surrender. Where these are present, He can still make Abrahams out of us, though, by nature, the soil of our being is prone to barrenness and weeds.”
“Had God pledged Himself to give His servants an unbroken run of prosperity, how many more counterfeit Christians would there be. Well it is that He has made no such promise; though it is certainly true that ‘godliness has the promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.’”
“Do not be surprised if a famine meets you. It is no proof of your Father’s anger, but is permitted to come to test you – or to root you deeper, as the whirlwind makes the tree grapple its roots deeper into the soil.” F. B. MEYER
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