Little White Lies

Genesis 12:10-20

Genesis 12:10–20 ESV

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. When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to Sarai his wife, “I know that you are a woman beautiful in appearance, and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me, but they will let you live. Say you are my sister, that it may go well with me because of you, and that my life may be spared for your sake.” When Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful. And when the princes of Pharaoh saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh. And the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house. And for her sake he dealt well with Abram; and he had sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male servants, female servants, female donkeys, and camels. But the Lord afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. So 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.” And Pharaoh gave men orders concerning him, and they sent him away with his wife and all that he had.

As we learned last week God promised Abraham descendents, the promise of becoming a nation, and that his name would be great. We would think that would be enough to merit placing your trust in God, but Abram went off the rails down the road it seems.

Spiritual highs are often followed by tests of faith. Abram’s came in the form of a famine. The Promise Land relies on seasonal storms that produced the rainfall necessary to grow their crops. A famine occurs after a few years of these storms being blown too far north or south around the region. When the food storage's run out, you have to get out too or other starve. Egypt was not dependent on rainfall for their crops. The Nile flooded every year like clock work and always produced crops. Which made Egypt the prime destination to sojourn to when a famine occured in your homeland. This is where Abram was t be tested by God.

Sometimes a lie happens in the heat of the moment. We are caught off guard and pop off the first thing that comes to our minds. Other times lies are planned out which was such the case here with Abram. Abram knew that his wife was exceedingly beautiful. He thought that if the king knew it was Abrams wife, but he wanted her, he would simply have Abram killed and Sarah could now belong to the Pharaoh. Abram told Sarah that it would better off if she was presented as his sister. Better for him at least. He would escape death, but Sarah could highly possibly become someone else’s wife. Technically Sarah was Abram’s half sister. She was his fathers child, but not born of Abrams mother. So the sister part was not the lie, it was the marriage. God hates lying, and Jesus said that Satan is the father of lies.

God’s protection would have protected Abram and there was no need for the lie. Now if God promised you a descendent, a nation from your heritage, and a great name to be made out of you, how would He give that to you if you were dead? God had know intention of Abram dying, or even being harmed, in Egypt but Abram had a laps in his faith in God.

Abram Was Right

When Abram and Sarah arrived in Egypt, heads began to turn. Even heads of royalty. The prince’s took notice of her beauty and took the news of her arrival back to the Pharaoh. The Pharoah gets what the Pharoah wants, and what the Pharoah now wanted was Sarah. He could take her, but she had one person with her. Her brother…Abram. In the human mind, if Abram was the husband he might have been eliminated to free up Sarah, but being the brother he was treated well in maybe hopes to sway his mind on the generosity of the king. The problem was that she was married… to Abram.

Pharaoh’s house was plagued. God made a promise to Abram, which also involved Sarah. Abram was probably happy about what he had recieved from Pharoah, but God was not. We are not sure what the plagues were, but a smart man can deduce that the problems only showed up after Sarah arrived in the palace. Maybe the Lord revealed it to him. Regardless he wanted both of them out of his country. After questioning Abram he quickly ushered them out. Out of the entire country, and he had his men make sure they and all they had were evicted from the land.

Abram, Sarah, and all that they had obtain left Egypt.

Who knows what would have happened had Abram not of lied. God’s protection was on Abram. God Himself said “I will bless those who bless you, and hurt those who hurt you.” We know he would have been taken care of despite the lie, but now we will never know the grand design that God had planned to bless Abram in Egypt. Though he did leave blessed because God said He would bless Abram, Abram left Egypt in shame with his head hung low and Egyptian officials with weapons at his back rather than exiting Egypt years later with even more treasures and honor upon his name.

God has a plan, and He has a perfect process. We must put faith in that process and His plan. One way that we can stay on course is by not lying, and trusting in the Lord with the outcome. No matter what it may be. We may be tempted to lie, but when we lie it begins to weave a web that gets stickier as it goes. If we remain honest we allow God’s plan to work itself out the way that He intends. Stay honest; stay faithful.