Having finished our journey through Job in Blogging Through The Bible in 2020, we now return to the book of Genesis. Today’s text introduces us to Abram, who later will be known as Abraham. Genesis 12:12 says, “Therefore it will happen when the Egyptians see you, that they will say, ‘This is his wife’, and they will kill me, but they will let you live.”
God has called Abram to leave his father’s house and country, and follow God’s leading by faith to a land that God will show Abram. Abram has left Ur of Chaldees, and God is walking him through the Promised Land, that one day Abram’s descendants will inherit. During this time, a drought hit causing great famine. During this time, Abram heads south to Egypt. Before getting into Egypt, Abram has a conversation with his wife, Sarai. The conversation goes essentially like this, “darling, you are beautiful, anyone can see it, and when the Egyptians see you, they are going to fall in love with you. And since I am your husband, they are going to kill me so that they can have you for themselves. So, I want you to tell them that you are my sister, so that they won’t kill me.” Anyone who says that the Bible is boring to read, clearly hasn’t read the Bible, because there are many stories that are this bizarre and some even more bizarre than this.
Clearly, Abram has demonstrated some faith in God, because when God told him to leave Ur, Abram left. However, we can clearly see that Abram’s faith still has a ways to go. Be encouraged by this however, because Abram’s immature faith would grow and become more mature. Therefore, if you are struggling to grow in your faith, just know that God is more committed to you growing in your faith, than you are committed to growing in your faith. Romans 8:29 is where the apostle Paul says that God has “predestined to conform you to the image of His Son.” It’s not a question of, will God change you? If you are saved, God has promised that He is going to change you. And you can be encouraged that it is not an instantaneous thing. While many changes do come quickly, the majority of the spiritual transformation we go through come over time as our faith is tested through various trials and sufferings. It is a process that God is committed to completing, but that won’t be complete in your life for quite some time. Philippians 1:6 shows us this when Paul writes,” Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you, will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.” While salvation is instantaneous, the process of transformation is lifelong. The key is to continue to surrender yourself to the will of God, and be intentional in pursuing Him and His kingdom. Let us be faithful to God, and leave the results up to Him!
By His grace and for His glory,
Pastor Justin