Genesis 12:¹⁰ Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to reside there as an alien, for the famine was severe in the land. ¹¹ When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “I know well that you are a woman beautiful in appearance; ¹² and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife’; then they will kill me, but they will let you live. ¹³ Say you are my sister, so that it may go well with me because of you, and that my life may be spared on your account.” ¹⁴ When Abram entered Egypt the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful. ¹⁵ When the officials of Pharaoh saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh. And the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house. ¹⁶ And for her sake he dealt well with Abram; and he had sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male and female slaves, female donkeys, and camels. 

On the one hand Abram was willing to leave his homeland and family to follow the promise of God to possess a land he’d never seen and, perhaps more importantly to Abram, to have an heir to carry his name. That’s an astounding act of faith for sure. However, this story reveals another side of Abram.

Instead of trusting God to protect him from the Egyptians, he conspires with his wife to lie to Pharaoh – deploying deception to secure his safety. That is not an act of faith at all. So we’re getting mixed messages about Abram early in his story. He’s very much a work in progress at the time of our passage. Abram would eventually be known as “Abraham” the founding patriarch of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Yet even one so revered had to grow in faith over time.

Just like you and me.

Lord there are times when we get discouraged. We want to do the right thing, yet can find ourselves choosing the wrong. So this morning we reflect on the places in our lives where we have wandered from you. Teach us to trust you and seek after you with all of our hearts. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.