Understanding the Bible - Part 8

Even the Faithful Stumble
 
          After allowing himself to get waylaid in Haran, Abram resumes his journey to the Promised Land.  While he is a man of great faith, the delay in Haran revealed that he was not perfect, and we will learn of more imperfections in the passages to come.  Once you have read Genesis 12:9 through 13:18 you are ready to consider the three questions:
 
1.  What does it reveal about God?

• God has great power.  God sent plagues to the household of Pharoah to prevent Pharoah from carrying through with the carnal plans he had for Sarah.
• God does not forget his promises.  When Abram leaves Egypt and returns to Canaan, God repeats his promise to Abram to give him the land and make him the father of a great nation.

 
2.  What does it reveal about us?

• Even the most faithful among us can stumble.  When the famine came, rather than seek help from the God whom he had trusted to journey to that land, Abram instead left the land and traveled down into Egypt.  He compounded this error by conspiring with Sarah to deceive Pharoah.  One might even go as far to say that he was willing to compromise his wife’s virtue to save his own life.  All this drama could have been avoided if he would have called upon God for help to provide for him in the land were God had told him to dwell.  Too often we trust in our own devices rather than seeking God’s help and doing so can lead us into even more trouble.

 
3.  What does it reveal about God’s relationship with us?

• God protects us, even when we do not deserve it.  God could have left Abram to deal with the mess he had created by going to Egypt, but instead he intervened and brought the plagues that caused Pharoah to realize the truth about Abram and Sarah.

 
Key Passage
          “And the Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him: ‘Lift your eyes now and look from the place where you are – northward, southward, eastward, and westward; for all the land which you see I give to you and your descendants forever.  And I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth; so that if a man could number the dust of the earth, then your descendants also could be numbered.  Arise, walk in the land through its length and its width, for I give it to you.’” – Genesis 13:14-17
 
         In this passage God repeats his promise to Abram in greater detail.  He uses the imagery of the dust of earth to express the incredible scope of Abram’s progeny.  Abram had lived in two mighty civilizations – the Chaldean Empire where he grew up and the Egyptian Empire that he had just left.  Between the prolific number of descendants and the scope of territory for them to possess, God was making it clear to Abram that he would eclipse any human kingdom he had seen.
 
Other Notable Points

• The separation of Abram and Lot sets the stage for several dramatic events that will come.  It is no coincidence that God’s detailed promise of numerous descendants comes after Abram has parted ways with his designated heir.  God will provide Abram with a true heir.

 
Final Thoughts

• God’s plan continues to move forward.  Abram veered off course, but God brought him back to where he was supposed to be, both physically and spiritually.  We see a reaffirmation of the promised seed of Eve descending through the line of Abram.  However, the seed of the serpent is about to interject itself into the story once more.