Stephen preached from Gen 12:9-20 this morning, talking about putting your trust in God. Abram has received two amazing visits from God and been told that he and his offspring will be made into a great nation. But at this time in his life, there is famine in the land (Gen 12:10) and so he decides to go into Egypt. Things don’t always go well for us and difficult circumstances and trials often come into our lives, even when we have heard God’s voice. Even when we have received God’s amazing promises, things can look very different on the outside; they often look like life is falling apart…
Abram saw the famine and tried to sort things out himself by going to Egypt. He was trying to look after his family and his own needs. He tried to manipulate circumstances by lying about Sarai’s true identity. How easy it is for us to be led astray and to try to solve our problems ourselves, instead of trusting in God.
Even then, Abram apparently prospered, being given sheep, cattle, servants and so on. Material blessings can’t be seen as a measure of God’s blessing, however. Pharaoh was the one to realise something was wrong and the deception was revealed.
If we leave God’s promise and provision, we bring hardship to ourselves and to others around us. The grass may look greener on the other side of the field, but it’s not necessarily so. We need to learn that God is our Provider and Redeemer and trust in Him and in no other powers.
God has promised us great things. The timing may not be now, however, and we may have to wait longer than we want to! But God is with us and we need to trust in Him for His promises to be fulfilled in our lives.