Where Was His Great Faith?

That he felt the need to lie instead of just letting God protect him?  What am I talking about?  The story of Abram and Sarai going to Egypt.  It is a story of many things.  Faith, failure, righteousness, and hope.  Abram was a faithful and righteous man in God's eyes.  So much so that in Genesis 12 God said:

Genesis 12:1-3(NKJV)

1Now the Lord had said to Abram:      “Get out of your country,     From your family     And from your father’s house,     To a land that I will show you.

2    I will make you a great nation;     I will bless you     And make your name great;     And you shall be a blessing.

3    I will bless those who bless you,     And I will curse him who curses you;      And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

Because Abram listened and followed God's instruction God went on to say:

Genesis 12:7(NKJV)

7Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” And there he built an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. 

That's why I find the next piece so interesting.

Genesis 12:10-13(NKJV)

10Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to dwell there, for the famine was severe in the land. 

11And 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. 

12Therefore 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. 

13Please say you are my sister, that it may be well with me for your sake, and that £I may live because of you.”

Where was Abrams faith in this situation that he felt the needed to ask his wife to lie to protect them instead of just depending on God?  I don’t have an answer, just the question.    Now let me share with you another section from my readings of Genesis today and then I'll tie the two of them together.

Genesis 15:1-8(NKJV)

1After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.”

2But Abram said, “Lord GOD, what will You give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” 

3Then Abram said, “Look, You have given me no offspring; indeed one born in my house is my heir!”

4And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir.” 

5Then He brought him outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.”

6And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.

7Then He said to him, “I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to inherit it.”

8And he said, “Lord GOD, how shall I know that I will inherit it?”

 

In this section we have Abram who God counted faithful and righteous, questioning God.  "Are you sure God?  This doesn't make sense to me.  You keep telling me about how all of my descendants are going to have this land but how come you haven't given me descendants? "

Now let's tie this together.  Failure and questioning God do not disqualify us from being counted faithful, righteous and useful to God.  I see Abrams getting his wife to lie to Pharaoh in Egypt as a failure of his faith.  And yet in the long run Abram was still counted as faithful.  

A lot of people think that if you are a Christian it just isn't cool to question God and is somehow a bit unChristian.  I disagree.  God gave us an intellect and I think He expects us to use it.  Questioning God didn't disqualify Abram from being counted faithful and righteous before God.   

My point is that no mater how many times we fail, no matter how much we question, as long as we continue to seek God with all our hearts and accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we are still counted as faithful and righteous and that is a great message of Hope!