Tag Archives: famine

Abrabam and the Consequences of Compromise

03 Tuesday Apr 2012

Posted by in Abraham: Life of Faith

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In a time of famine Abraham chose to go down to Egypt. He suggested his wife Sarah act like his sister so that he would not be harmed by Pharoah. Abraham’s vagabond days of being sustained by the mercies of God ended abruptly as he turned to Egypt as a source.  He had a full belly but a bankrupt heart!

Remember this was the same man who walked away from his home and family and vowed never to return.  This same man faced new enemies everyday in Canaan and never flinched or backed down.  In those days he walked in obedience to the known will of God. But now that Abraham had succumbed to fear and entered Egypt, he was out of God’s will.  He no longer walked in obedience and anointing.

When we walk away from the known will of God we forfeit God’s protective hedge of protection. Abraham walked out of Canaan, his fellowship with God, away from the tent and the altar.

The outcome of Abraham’s disobedience was that Sarah was put into a situation of real danger. The king claimed her for his harem, and the lie Abraham told opened that door. Abraham was trying to protect himself, but in protecting himself he exposed Sarah to indecency and danger.

Not only was Sarah endangered, but so was Lot. Abraham’s nephew went down to Egypt with him. Later on when the allurements and enticements of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah cast their spell over Lot, we are told that he saw Sodom as though it were the land of Egypt. (See Genesis 13:10) This lust for comfort and worldly glory was enhanced during this stay in Egypt. Abraham and Sarah quickly got over Egypt but Lot and his family never recovered from the worldly attachments they discovered in Egypt.

Egypt ultimately made Abraham very rich. You say, “What’s wrong with riches?  They are not bad, but a blessing?” Yes they can be a blessing unless they come prematurely from a wrong source before we are ready to handle them. Jesus taught us the difference between “owning things” and “things owning us”. (See Mark 4:19).  Jesus taught it was the “delighting in riches” that choked the Word in a person.

In Egypt Abraham was given sheep, oxen, menservants, maidservants, donkeys, and camels. This was the wealth of the oriental world. But when he came back into the Promised Land, the first thing we heard was the strife between Abraham’s herdsmen and Lot’s herdsmen over the riches they received in Egypt.  Abraham could deal with the riches, Lot could not. In addition, Abraham willing offered up the Promised Land to Lot. It was promised to him, not Lot. Wow!

Furthermore, we are told Abraham and Sarah were given maidservants, one of whom was named Hagar. Through Hagar Abraham later conceived Ishmael. Ishmael is recognized by Muslims as the ancestor of several prominent Arab tribes and being the forefather of Muhammad. The price of living in Egypt was extremely high and is still being paid today.

Abraham was called to be a blessing, but when he got into Egypt, he became a curse instead!

“The Lord afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife.”

A Christian out of fellowship with Christ is of no help to the lost people around him. Instead, he is actually a hindrance. His life of hypocrisy and weakness is a stumbling block and a plague upon the hearts of those who are watching him.

I end with this dramatic scene. Here was God’s man Abraham standing before a pagan king who had better morals than he. Listen as Abraham was publicly rebuked for his folly.

 

Then Pharaoh called Abram and said, “What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? 19 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.”  (Genesis 12:18-19)

 

There is nothing more degrading for a Christian than to neglect God’s warning and afterward get rebuked by the world. God would always rather correct His children in private first.  It is never God’s heart to make a public display of our disobedience.  He loves His children too much to desire this type of display.

 

Blessings,

Pastor

Is there a Famine in Your Future?

01 Sunday Apr 2012

Posted by in Abraham: Life of Faith

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The story of Abraham does not go far until Abraham’s faith is tested. This story encourages me because it seems I never go far with a “word” from God until I run into stiff resistance. We all can learn from Abraham’s failures, not just his successes.

We are not expected to do everything right!  We are expected to correct ourselves once we discover disobedience. Like Abraham, what Christian has not discovered what it is to lose his/her sense of joy and awareness of the presence of Christ?  This is the story about blowing it and then allowing God to fix it.

 

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. (Genesis 12:10 RSV)

 

The land of Canaan was and still is like parts of California — wonderful land with a magnificent climate, but dependent upon a limited amount of rainfall.  When it fails to rain consistently, the land experiences drought.  Abram was a man with flocks and herds, and when the rains failed, his livelihood was severely threatened. As the scarcity of food grew, he felt driven to leave, even though God had called him to be there.

Abram took counsel, not from God, but from his fears alone. To use a contemporary expression, he “pushed the panic button” or the “easy button” and down to Egypt he went. It was fear that drove him.  If we do not allow the Lord to speak, then we will be left to only one voice and on most occasions it will be our fears.

I am asked the question all the time, “Do I have to ask God’s permission for every little thing I do?  I mean, come on now, I thought I was free?  Can’t I decide a few things in my life?”   The answer is yes you can.  In fact, you can make all the choices in your life if you wish.  But if you want to discover the absolute best and avoid the pits like Egypt, then you will want to consult God as much as possible.

Abraham’s life is an example of what it means to “side step” seeking the will of God. By faith Abraham walked right into Canaan.  By fear of famine Abraham walk right out of God’s promises into Egypt.

If Canaan is a symbol for us of what it means to experience fellowship with the Lord, and Egypt symbolic for the world … then a famine is any circumstance that threatens our dependence upon God. It is any circumstance that makes faith difficult to maintain. In short, famines are any threats, real or imagined, against the known will of God in our lives.

Have you ever experienced a famine?  Have you ever been living in the full joy of fellowship with Christ and suddenly some circumstance beyond your control blew into your life?   Because of the presence of that circumstance (famine) it became difficult to maintain fellowship and hold on to God’s promises.

Understand this right now:  Famines come to everyone. With Christ or without Christ everyone has famines.  “It rains on the just and unjust.”

When famine strikes the temptation will always be to flee rather than to fight and stick it out.  No one enjoys trials.  Our internal flight mode kicks in.  We move to another neighborhood, change jobs, take a trip, or go home to mother. If we simply cannot flee, we try to run away mentally. We escape the unpleasant reality by a flight into unreality. It is easy to escape mentally to Egypt and float down the river of (De Nile) where life seems much more pleasant than it is in reality.

A few years ago people would lapse into daydreaming. (There used to be songs about daydreaming.)  Now we mentally vegetate electronically via the television, computer, or video.   Many live in the realm of fantasy all day long.

Whenever we attempt to satisfy the Spirit using the same resources of the world, we have gone down to Egypt. Compromise will never complete or satisfy the word God has for you. After God told Abraham to go into Canaan and possess the land as an inheritance, Egypt could offer nothing better.  Compromise is a poor substitute to the promises of God.

Abraham’s flight into Egypt is not a warning that we should have nothing to do with worldly people. We are expected to live our lives in the midst of the world and its ways. This story is about staying with God’s resources instead of leaning once again on Egypt.  Once you choose Egypt you will eventually adopt the attitudes, the expectations, and resources of the world. The point is to never forsake God and His resources in the first place.

The world is not the believer’s problem.  The world will always be the world.  Our problem is failure to trust the Lord amidst hard times.

Blessings,

Pastor

 

The Altar of Worship

28 Wednesday Mar 2012

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Then he proceeded from there to the mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to the LORD and called upon the name of the LORD. Genesis 12:8

 

This altar was built between Bethel (’House of God’) and Ai (’Ruins’). The point being…. Worshipping God and calling on His name in His House will keep our lives from ruin. Do you see the need?  We need to worship together with our own families and with the family of God (The Church).

If we don’t have an altar of personal worship we will not be able to join in worship as a congregation. Some people do not attend anointed worship at Church because they have never learned to worship alone with God.

You hear of people blaming the worship leadership, the instruments, song selection, acoustics, or the order of worship. But in reality they really need to blame themselves for never having built their own altar of personal worship.

This is why I believe that each person who publicly participates in worship needs to be a personal worshiper.  Too many times we see people get up in worship and seek to lead others in worship when we know they are not personal worshipers. This means they worship out of public service when no one else is looking.

I truly believe when we continue to worship at Bethel (the House of God), it will keep us from focusing upon Ai (I) our own problems.

Eventually, famine comes to everyone at some point in time.  If we spiritualize the word “famine” it can mean the absence of something essential. There will be times when we think, “I’m lost or I’m losing everything and God is quiet.”  It is at these points in life when we either turn to God and worship or turn inward to try and meet our own needs.

When famine came to Abraham, he initially lost faith in God and forsook Bethel (House of God).  He took a long look at Ai (I).  Abraham then went to Egypt (The World) and almost came to ruin (see Genesis 12:10-20) Only when he returned to the altar at Bethel did he get back on track. (Genesis 13:1-4).

There is only one source in life, the Lord God.  Like many of us, Abraham collapsed under the pressure of the famine. Instead of remaining at the altar and trusting in God he fled to Egypt. We will talk about Abraham’s lying problem later but I want to emphasize the IMPORTANCE of remaining at God’s altar. The beautiful thing is that God did not cast him off but graciously received him again as he humbled himself before the original altar he built at Bethel.

Remember Abraham didn’t have to go back and give his life to God again at the altar of Moreh in Shechem.  He just had to get right with God and start worshiping.  Getting right with God doesn’t mean starting over from the beginning. God calls us to go back to the place where we made the wrong turn and begin again.

 

Blessings,

Pastor