[AI translation] This passage I have just read convinces me again that the Bible is indeed a true book. There is no exaggeration, no embellishment, no whitewashing, but it is the truth. Real life, even if it is the life of Abraham, the father of believers. He does not even idealise the life of such a holy man, but presents it as it is: with all its faults, its shortcomings, its human frailties and its vices. It is clear from this that the holiness of man is not in himself, but in the Holy God who calls him! Abraham is holy not because he is an extraordinary, excellent individual - for history shows how vulgar a liar he is capable of being - but because he is holy because the Lord is holy, who chose him for Himself, who preserves him, who guides him through his fall, his erring, his stumbling, who prepares him, who matures him, who incorporates him into His plan of salvation and uses him up. And when the Word reveals to us the stumbling of a holy man, it is not to console us, saying, "Well, it happens that even Abraham goes astray from the path of faith, how much more so with me! See what perils are in the way of faith, do not go astray like Abraham!"But there was a famine in the land." (Genesis 12:10) This "but" gives a sense of Abraham's dismay. How: he left everything, followed God's leading, obeyed, and this is his reward? He was not prepared for this. He would not have expected this. He was prepared to be greeted with hostility and hostility by the natives, he was prepared for the difficulty of remaining faithful in a pagan environment, he was prepared for the many temptations that would come in this unprecedented country, but not for the hunger, and 'great hunger' at that. This unexpected trial, this difficulty, threw Abraham off his balance of faith. In the journey to which the Lord calls one, there may be a "hunger" or other need. What God promised to Abraham, the believer, "I will bless you", is not dependent on the weather: God can bless his own in a famine-stricken environment. Just as God did not deliver Daniel's three companions from the fiery furnace, but it was in the fiery furnace that they experienced his saving grace and saving power! God's guidance never guarantees a path and a future without trials, sacrifices and suffering. But it does guarantee that in all these difficulties and sufferings, He will never leave us alone, nor will He ever let us face a trial that is not more than His grace. It is just such a situation as that in which Abraham now found himself that faith should take seriously the saying, "No other temptation but human has fallen upon you: but faithful is God, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye may endure it; yea, with the temptation He will also grant you an escape, that ye may endure it." (1 Cor 10:13)
"There was a great famine in the land," we read in the report. Well, it is precisely in such a situation that we should believe in the privileged position, the special treatment, which the Word of God informs us: 'To those who love God, all things are given' (Rom 8,28). Most certainly! Well, Abraham did not stand the test: "...he went down to Egypt to sojourn there." It may have been a very natural and self-evident decision from a human point of view, but not from a faith point of view. Egypt was already the granary of the world, so Abraham was counting on finding enough food there for himself, his people and his animals. So the idea of seeking refuge from famine in Egypt was very logical - but it was not a faith-based one. He was acting according to the calculations of reason and not according to God's instructions. Whereas before we read seven times that he "built an altar to the Lord" and called on the name of the Lord, now before going to Egypt he did not do this, he did not ask the Lord what to do. In this step he had made himself independent of God's revelation.
And here is where the trouble begins, for everyone, for every believer. That is where we do something independently of God, without inquiring of His will. And you know that this is the source of all sin. This is where all sin begins, this is sin itself. That's what the Word of God says: "That which is not of faith is sin." (Romans 14:23) Whatever is not of faith - that is, not born of obedience to God, that which I do not do in obedience to God - is sin. Even if - perhaps - it looks as good as it looks, or even if it works as well as it does. But thank the Lord that He usually doesn't let us do well what we didn't start by faith, so at least He doesn't let us continue on the wrong path! It is a great opportunity, a privilege for a believer to be able to discuss everything with his Lord, to ask for advice. "I will no more call you servants; for a servant knows not what his lord doeth: but I have called you my friends; for whatsoever I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you." (Jn 15,15) And not only before the big decisions of his life - getting married or choosing a career - can he ask for advice, but also on the ordinary, small things. If he does not take advantage of this privilege, if he goes his own way, if he ruins his life, do not be surprised. "And when he was about to enter Egypt, he said to Sarai his wife, 'Behold, I know that thou art a beautiful woman. Therefore when the Egyptians see thee, they will say, 'This is his wife;' and they will kill me, and keep thee alive. Tell me therefore, I pray thee, that thou art my sister; that it may be well with me for thy sake, and that I may live for thee.' (Genesis 12:11-13)
Behold: the faith relationship with God is severed, and man is now adrift in the utmost uncertainty, and in utter helplessness becomes at once a toy in the hands of blindness, like a ball in the hands of a wayward child. Now one has to be clever, one has to position oneself, one has to calculate, one has to weigh up what is preferable, and in the end one becomes entangled in a pack of lies, life becomes so tangled around one that one can no longer escape from it in a graceful way. In general, man always miscalculates when he tries to be very clever without God, always misses the mark when he does not decide and walk by faith. Abraham realized this, and instead of doing what a believer should do in such a situation: instead of humbling himself before his Lord, confessing before him his abject cowardice, unbelief, disobedience, begging forgiveness and turning back - instead he sought to correct the first mistake by another mistake, and to overcome his difficulty from his former sin by another sin, seeking to escape from his trouble by lying. "Please tell me you are my sister," he said to his wife. This is not worthy of a man of God. For one whom God has redeemed from the power of the father of lies by the blood of Jesus, lying cannot be a tool, under any circumstances, ever! (cf. Jn 8,44) Behold, what a child of God can sink to when he does not act under his guidance, when he does not walk by faith!
And in this lie, with which Abraham sought to help his plight, there is another characteristic thing. One might say, that Abraham, the father of believers, if he was in Egypt, through no fault of his own, if he was in a situation where his wife's honour was in peril, why did he not do as a believer should do in such a situation, why did he not ask God to protect his wife from all harm? For God had the power to do so! Well, it is just so typical that Abraham did not. He dared not believe in God's saving grace because he was in disobedience. Because when one is in a situation against God's will, he cannot ask God to help him out of it. Abraham did not go to Egypt according to God's guidance, but according to his own mind, so he took his fate into his own hands. In this state of disobedience, therefore, he had not the courage to do as a believer would, and say to Sarah, "Behold, we are in such and such a difficulty, let us kneel down and seek our Lord's protection. After what has happened, he has no "nerve" to ask the Lord for help. If he had a prayer now, it could only be one: a heartfelt confession and apology! Nor could the prodigal son, when he was starving at the pig trough, ask his father to send him money and clothes because he was in trouble. In order to ask for bread, he had to go home with a great, deep, broken hearted repentance. In order to ask my Father for help with my troubles, I had to be "at home"! Abraham was not "at home" and therefore dared not count on the Lord's helping grace. Isn't your prayer so deaf because you are not "at home"?! Shouldn't we also first: go home?
It's terrible what a child of God can do when he has lost contact with the Lord. Abraham says: "Tell me therefore, I pray thee, that thou art my sister, that it may be well with me for thy sake, and that I may live for thy sake." (verse 13) What a terrible price she is willing to pay to make things good for herself! Who would have believed that a believer could sacrifice his wife to make himself well off! How the other one does, is of no concern to him! What does he care if the other one suffers, if the other one's honour is trampled in the mud, just so that he may have it good! It is terrible to hear this from the lips of an Abraham: "that I may prosper for thy sake, and live for thy sake!" (Genesis 12:13)
It is this spirit, this ambition that has brought the world to ruin, this thinking that God has judged. It is this mentality that has caused so much suffering, pain and destruction, which mankind has become so tired and weary of. Nothing could be more contrary to the thought and attitude of Jesus Christ than this very mentality. Jesus said it the other way round: 'I suffer and die so that you may do well for me and live for me'. And He did indeed undertake all humiliation, shame, torment, death, damnation, so that you and I might be well and live for His sake! He who for His sake and for His own sake survives, and that is to say, in eternal life, is working with all His might to make it good for others and to keep others alive. He does everything for the happiness of others, for their peaceful and tranquil life. The least we can do is to feel from the depths of our hearts the solidarity of human destiny with the suffering and miserable people of every part of the world. That is why all people of faith may, in good conscience, seize the opportunity to bear witness to their fraternal helpfulness now that the National Peace Council is calling on us to help the unfortunate sufferers of the Korean War. Let our participation in this, my Brothers and Sisters, be a living testimony of our Christian sacrifice.
Let me draw your attention to one more point. It is the pagan Pharaoh who brings the believer Abraham to account and sends him back to Canaan. Why did you not tell me that this is your wife? Why didst thou say, She is my sister; therefore will I take her to wife? Now behold, here is thy wife; take her, and go thy way. And Pharaoh commanded certain men concerning her, and they sent him away, and his wife, and all that he had." (Genesis 12:18-20)
Behold, the man of God's calling was to be the conscience of the world by the light of the divine revelation given to him. It is very shocking and shameful to the people of God when, through the natural sense of right of the world, the Lord is forced to tell them what they have not understood from revelation. Because Abraham's ears were not sensitive enough to hear the word of divine revelation, God was forced to shake up and bring His child back to the way of faith through the word of the world. How mighty and how gracious is God: to use the servants of the world to bring out of Egypt the Abraham who, as a stranger, was not fit to go into Egypt. All this painful, humiliating lesson could have been spared the man of God if he had not lost touch with his Lord, if he had listened to Him, if he had obeyed Him, if he had kept on the path of faith.
He should ask very, very earnestly of every man of faith, again and again and again:
Lead me in thy way: be thyself the way,
By which my soul from death to life shall pass.
Jesus, gentle and meek, See me:
My faithful Saviour, let not my hand go!
(Canto 469, verses 4-5)
Amen
Date: 29 June 1952.
Lesson
1Móz 12,10-20