It’s Sunday, starting week 4, and today we’re in Genesis 12-17.
You’ll have to forgive me, as I may not get a post up yet today. I’m about to board a flight to California for work (about 5 minutes from now), and don’t know if I’ll have internet again today.
So… for now, I’m going to leave today’s post to you. Share your thoughts on today’s Scriptures in comments below, and I’ll make sure I update this with my own thoughts once I get internet access again.
[UPDATE: I found a connection!]
Today’s notes…
Genesis 12:10-20 (NIV)
10Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe. 11As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “I know what a beautiful woman you are. 12When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me but will let you live. 13Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared because of you.”14When Abram came to Egypt, the Egyptians saw that she was a very beautiful woman. 15And when Pharaoh’s officials saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh, and she was taken into his palace. 16He treated Abram well for her sake, and Abram acquired sheep and cattle, male and female donkeys, menservants and maidservants, and camels.
17But the LORD inflicted serious diseases on Pharaoh and his household because of Abram’s wife Sarai. 18So Pharaoh summoned Abram. “What have you done to me?” he said. “Why didn’t you tell me she was your wife? 19Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her to be my wife? Now then, here is your wife. Take her and go!” 20Then Pharaoh gave orders about Abram to his men, and they sent him on his way, with his wife and everything he had.
I read this passage immediately following Abram’s faith-based decision to leave everything he knows and go to an unknown land as God directs, and am simply baffled. I can’t understand at all why he would make this kind of decision. To have the kind of faith that it must have took to believe God would make him the father of a great nation, but then to turn around and have such a lack of faith in God protection as he and his wife entered Egypt that he’d stoop so low as to claim his wife was his sister… and allow Pharoah to take her as his wife?
Hello?
Just doesn’t make sense to me.
Just what is this about faith that we can be completely bold and fearless one moment yet cower in fear the next?
Genesis 15:1-6 (NIV)
1After this, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision:
“Do not be afraid, Abram.
I am your shield,
your very great reward.”2But Abram said, “O Sovereign LORD, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.”
4Then the word of the LORD came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir.” 5 He took him outside and said, “Look up at the heavens and count the stars — if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”
6Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.
I can understand Abram’s need for reassurance from God here. After all, he was an old man, and the idea of children at his age had to be a difficult promise to believe and trust in.
We all need reassurance of God’s promises from time to time.
Genesis 16:1-4 (NIV)
1Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian maidservant named Hagar; 2so she said to Abram, “The LORD has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my maidservant; perhaps I can build a family through her.”Abram agreed to what Sarai said. 3So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian maidservant Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. 4He slept with Hagar, and she conceived.
Again, here we find Abram demonstrating lack of faith in God again. It’s interesting… although the timing between the reassurance he’d received in chapter 15 and now is uncertain, I wonder how it’s possible for it to sway so much that he and Sarai would resort to trying to fulfill God’s promise through a maidservant.
Perhaps it was just the “far-fetched” nature of God’s promise to give them children in their old age… I don’t know. I just keep coming back to the seeming inconsistency of faith demonstrated throughout these passages.
Are we all this inconsistent? Do we just not notice it as much because we’re not faced with as big of faith-decisions as Abram and Sarai?
Hey, that’s where I’m from. What part of California are you headed towards? How do you like being here, so far? Is it any different from where you’re from?
I’m from Modesto, California. It’s sad to say but this is where the Peterson trial took place as well as the Chaundra Levy case. Luckily we live on the good side of town. We’d love to move but both sides of our families live here and we wouldn’t be able to afford it anyways. But you never know what God has planned your life.
I’m in Anaheim right now, just a few blocks down the road from Disneyland.
I definitely like the weather here… we’ve had snow on the ground almost nonstop since Thanksgiving, rarely seeing temperatures above freezing. You all can keep the traffic though! I can’t imagine dealing with six or eight lane freeways every day!
I know this might sound kind of funny but wouldn’t that be cool if God sent plagues on people who try to separate what God has joined together like He did to Pharoah in Genesis 12:17. I hope I have that kind of favor in my marriage.
In Genesis 15:4 I wonder if people in Abraham’s time had a slower aging process. So, being 100 years old probably wasn’t that bad compared to the way we look when or if we make it to 100 years old. I don’t know it’s just a thought.
In Genesis 16: 1-4 This passage reminds me of the church I use to go to. There were a lot of young christians who were called to ministry. When they found out they were called into ministry they expected immediate results. My husband was one of those young zealous christians. I know Abraham wasn’t a young Christian but I wonder if he expected immediate results or if he thought his promise would come from Hagar. Who knows?
Are you going to take a visit to Disneyland? Have you checked out the ocean shores yet. It’s beautiful. suprisingly this is actually cold weather for us.
I would if Nancy and the kids had been able come with me, but I’m just here three days for a conference and then back home.
Of the two, I’d really like to see the ocean and spend a bit of time along the shore. Without transportation though, the closest I’ll get to that is seeing it from the air.
Oh well, surely there will be another opportunity at some point in the future.
The ocean would probably be a great place to go to to concentrate on a sermon. Probably not during Summer, though, because there are too many people. That would be so cool if you could come back with your family. There’s lots of fun stuff to see in that area. There’s Disneyland, (of course) Great America, Magic Mountain, Marine World, Hollywood, Universal Studios, the ocean, and a Navy/Marine base. Your kids would probably love to visit sometime.
Oh, and if you see any movie stars be sure to throw some eggs at them because of all the garbage they promote. Just kidding, we’ll pray for Hollywood to get blown up or something. No, really I keep them in my prayers. It’s just that it makes me really sad that they have such a huge influence on culture.
I’ve always found it helpful in connecting with God to find a place of solitude outdoors. When I volunteered with Baseball Chapel (the only times I’ve actually had to prepare sermons, given that I’m not a pastor), I did that a time or two and found it helpful… not to mention that it’s simply relaxing and refreshing. I can only imagine how nice it would be to sit along the ocean shore and do the same.
Hopefully we’ll have a chance to get back to this area as a family someday. It looks like there are a lot of fun things to do here, negative influences of Hollywood aside.
I’m sorry that wasn’t very nice about Hollywood. But, did you know that Bill Maher and Hollywood director Larry Charles are making a new anti-Christian film called Religulous. It’s going to be released internationally first and then into the United States according to C.R.I.
I hadn’t heard of that particular film, but it doesn’t surprise me that they’d produce something demeaning to Christians. I’m not sure there’e much more they could do that would surprise me anymore.