{"id":15603,"date":"2021-05-07T22:00:01","date_gmt":"2021-05-08T05:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/genesis_12_1-9-copy\/"},"modified":"2021-05-02T21:30:27","modified_gmt":"2021-05-03T04:30:27","slug":"genesis_12_10-20","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/genesis_12_10-20\/","title":{"rendered":"Don\u2019t Give Into Fear"},"content":{"rendered":"

Genesis 12:10-20\u00a0\u00a0Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Genesis 12:10-20.\u00a0\u00a0Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Genesis 12:10-20 (NIV)<\/em><\/strong>
\n10\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe.<\/em>
\n11\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “I know what a beautiful woman you are.
\n12\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me but will let you live.
\n13\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared because of you.”
\n14\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When Abram came to Egypt, the Egyptians saw that she was a very beautiful woman.
\n15\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0And when Pharaoh’s officials saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh, and she was taken into his palace.
\n16\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0He treated Abram well for her sake, and Abram acquired sheep and cattle, male and female donkeys, menservants and maidservants, and camels.
\n17\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But the\u00a0LORD\u00a0inflicted serious diseases on Pharaoh and his household because of Abram’s wife Sarai.
\n18\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0So Pharaoh summoned Abram. “What have you done to me?” he said. “Why didn’t you tell me she was your wife?
\n19\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Why 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!”
\n20\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then Pharaoh gave orders about Abram to his men, and they sent him on his way, with his wife and everything he had.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 10-20:\u00a0\u00a0One of the things I appreciate about Genesis is its honesty; that is, when it comes to characters like Abram or Noah, the Bible tells it like it is.\u00a0\u00a0Rather than pretending that these great figures in the Bible did not have their share of flaws and weaknesses, Genesis openly talks about their flaws and weaknesses, not to smear their name but to show that all of us are sinners who need a Saviour.\u00a0\u00a0Here, Abram, whose faith is in many ways an example for us, does something here that no man of faith would be proud of:\u00a0\u00a0fearing what the Egyptians might do to him if they found out he was married to the beautiful Sarai, Abram lies to everyone he meets in Egypt about his marriage to Sarai, saying that they are siblings rather than husband and wife.\u00a0\u00a0He also tells Sarai to do the same.\u00a0\u00a0As a result, Pharaoh king of Egypt takes Sarai into his palace, presumably to be his concubine.\u00a0\u00a0While Abram seems to profit initially from his lie (v16), eventually God sends diseases on Pharaoh and his household, evidently to protect His plans for Abram and Sarai.\u00a0\u00a0Angry at how Abram lied to him, Pharaoh returns Sarai to Abram and sends them away from Egypt.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0Here are a few lessons I learn from this passage:<\/p>\n

1. Abram went through a season of lapsed faith.\u00a0\u00a0Abram was afraid that the Egyptians would kill him.\u00a0\u00a0In his fear Abram had forgotten that God had already promised to make Abram a great nation and to give Abram offspring.\u00a0\u00a0Abram became more focused on saving his own skin than preserving God\u2019s plan for his life.\u00a0\u00a0It goes to show that\u00a0when we give into fear and forget God\u2019s promises, we often end up doing things that are wrong and regrettable<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0Lying may provide a short term gain, but in the end it produces long term pain, not just for ourselves but for others too.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

3. To protect his own skin, Abram sacrificed and dishonoured his wife.\u00a0\u00a0He risked Sarai\u2019s life to save his own.\u00a0\u00a0Thankfully, many centuries later, Jesus would do the opposite: Jesus would sacrifice his life to save his bride.\u00a0\u00a0Husbands, be more like Jesus and not like Abram: protect and cherish your wife.<\/strong><\/p>\n

4. Here we see\u00a0the protecting heart of God<\/strong>\u00a0as God sends diseases on Pharaoh and his household so as to protect God\u2019s plans for Abram and Sarai and the people God intended to bring forth through Abram and Sarai.\u00a0\u00a0God had tremendous mercy on Abram, protecting Abram even though Abram was in the wrong.<\/p>\n

5. Here Abram goes down to Egypt to escape a time of famine.\u00a0\u00a0Rather than being a blessing as God had promised in Genesis 12:2, Abram will end unwittingly bringing a curse on the people of Egypt.\u00a0\u00a0As Abram is leaving Egypt with his tail between his legs, Abram must have thought, \u201cWhat have I done?\u00a0\u00a0I haven\u2019t brought a blessing to Egypt but a curse.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0However, unbeknownst to Abram, four generations later, Abram\u2019s grandson Joseph would go to Egypt and be a great blessing there, saving the people of Egypt during a time of famine.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s amazing that\u00a0God is able to fulfill His promises and write a greater story even through our biggest mistakes<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Heavenly Father, thank You for Your merciful and protecting heart, how You have mercy on us when we sin against You.\u00a0\u00a0I pray that I would not give into fear but trust in Your promises whenever I am afraid.\u00a0\u00a0In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Genesis 12:10-20.\u00a0\u00a0Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Genesis 12:10-20 (NIV)
\n10\u00a0\u00a0Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe.
\n11\u00a0\u00a0As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “I know what a beautiful woman you are.
\n12\u00a0\u00a0When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me but will let you live.
\n13\u00a0\u00a0Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared because of you.”
\n14\u00a0\u00a0When Abram came to Egypt, the Egyptians saw that she was a very beautiful woman……<\/p>\n

On verses 10-20:\u00a0\u00a0One of the things I appreciate about Genesis is its honesty; that is, when it comes to characters like Abram or Noah, the Bible tells it like it is.\u00a0\u00a0Rather than pretending that these great figures in the Bible did not have their share of flaws and weaknesses, Genesis openly talks about their flaws and weaknesses, not to smear their name but to show that all of us are sinners who need a Saviour.\u00a0\u00a0Here, Abram, whose faith is in many ways an example for us, does something here that no man of faith would be proud of:\u00a0\u00a0fearing what the Egyptians might do to him if they found out he was married to the beautiful Sarai, Abram lies to everyone he meets in Egypt about his marriage to Sarai, saying that they are siblings rather than husband and wife.\u00a0\u00a0He also tells Sarai to do the same.\u00a0\u00a0As a result, Pharaoh king of Egypt takes Sarai into his palace, presumably to be his concubine.\u00a0\u00a0While Abram seems to profit initially from his lie (v16), eventually God sends diseases on Pharaoh and his household, evidently to protect His plans for Abram and Sarai.\u00a0\u00a0Angry at how Abram lied to him, Pharaoh returns Sarai to Abram and sends them away from Egypt.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15605,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15603","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15603","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15603"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15603\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15604,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15603\/revisions\/15604"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}