In Order. Saying Goodbye To Zombies And Worst Cases
January 16, 2017. Genesis 12-15.
In chapter 12 of Genesis Abram is beginning his journey to a new land in obedience of God’s calling. A famine in the land forces Abram to move into Egypt. The Egyptians don’t have the greatest reputation of being overly mannerly. Do you ever find yourself thinking of the worst case scenarios? Like those people who see the zombie apocalypse as an inherent danger and go their whole lives planning their survival; building bunkers and creating a storehouse of food and weapons. Abram had that problem. He knew his wife was very attractive and feared the Egyptians would not be able to resist her beauty. He created this elaborate story in his mind:
Genesis 12:11-12
As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “I know what a beautiful woman you are. When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me but will let you live."
He devises a plan to combat this fabricated threat; a bunker of protection if you will.
Genesis 12:13
Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared because of you.
Abram’s plan went about as well as you would expect. His life was spared and he gained favor with the Pharaoh who showered him with gifts. Now that all sounds pretty good, until you realize he claimed Sarai was just his sister and Pharaoh had taken her to be his wife. That’s like being stored up in your bunker with everything you could possibly need, but knowing the world around you has gone up in flames.
Notice anything missing up until this point? Abram never stopped to remember why he was where he was in the first place. God had called him on this journey and yet Abram wasn’t trusting Him to protect him along the way.
God corrects the situation and Abram and Sarai leave Egypt together, but imagine the heartache and suffering that could have been prevented had Abram trusted God. He got so caught up in his own worst case scenarios and lost sight of the reality of a mighty God.
What is your zombie apocalypse: your “the Egyptians want to kill me and steal my wife” scenario that you spend your time warding against.
Are there areas in your life where you know you are compromising? Situations you aren’t trusting God to handle? Abram was entering a new stage of life, he was out of his comfort zone and tried to control scenarios he had made up in his mind, instead of trusting God. Give God the chance to fight for you and protect you in a way only He can. And all of those worst case scenarios you keep imagining - start imagining what they would look like if you handed them over to an all powerful, ever loving God in them. Not so scary now, huh?