Not Perfect, But Persevering Faith
Genesis 12:10-20
Message #2
Abraham is the Father of The Faith. Abraham takes up more room in the Hall of Fame of Faith than anyone else. But it is not because Abraham’s faith was perfect. It’s because Abraham’s faith was persevering. His faith never failed, though he stumbled and had moments of lack of faith. The faith of the Hero of Faith was not perfect. But it was persevering.
When we left Abraham last message, Abraham was moving full faith ahead, and everything was good. Right up until the first test of his faith. Right up until his first real trial in his faith journey. And Abraham is going to learn right up front (still in the first chapter of his life) that his faith was definitely not perfect faith. But it was becoming persevering faith.
It’s so perfect for us because we see the Father of the Faith, and we think, okay, if God can use him, there’s hope for us.
Our faith will always be tested. But our faith is not tested to reveal the depth of our faith to God. Our faith IS tested to reveal the depth of our faith to us. And the truth is, our trials are the only way we can know IF we have any true faith at all because anyone can say they have great faith when everything is going great.
When our faith is tested, we often find out that our faith is not perfect. But, if we will allow those tests to refine our faith and mature our faith, we will find one day that our faith is persevering.
James says this.
James 1:2–4 (NLT)
2 Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy.
3 For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow.
4 So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect (mature) and complete, needing nothing.
When your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. Let it. Don’t ask for it, but when it comes, let it.
And here’s what it says in 1 Peter.
1 Peter 1:6–7 says (NLT)
6 So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you have to endure many trials for a little while.
7 These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.
These trials will show that your faith is genuine. Show to you that your faith is genuine. Show to those watching you that your faith is genuine. When you see a hero of the faith in the world, it’s usually somebody who has followed God through difficulties. That’s usually how our faith shows best.
Abraham’s life is not about us having a perfect faith but about us developing a persevering faith. And here’s the deal. We develop a persevering faith by persevering. You can’t have persevering faith unless you have something to persevere through – those are trials.
Can we just pray right now that God would develop in us not a perfecting faith but a persevering faith – especially a faith that perseveres through trials?
When we left Abraham in the last message, he was worshiping his way through the land that God had promised him. He was pitching his tent as a sojourner who did not belong to this world. And he was building altars and worshiping God, first at Shechem in central Canaan, and there the Lord appeared to Abraham for the first time inside the Promised Land.
Back in Genesis 12, verse 7, we read,
Genesis 12:7 (NLT)
7 Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your descendants.” And Abram built an altar there and dedicated it to the Lord, who had appeared to him.
Abraham was like, “WHOOP! THERE IT IS!!!” Remember, Abraham didn’t know where he was going when he left UR. And so, this is the first time that God appears to him and says here it is. God says This is it. This is the land that I am giving to you. And so, Abraham built an altar and worshiped the Lord there.
Then, in verse 8, Abraham moved south to about ten miles from Jerusalem, and he set up camp between Bethel and AI. (We looked at that last week.) And he was still doing the “Whoop! There it is” dance because he was in the land that the Lord would give his descendants. And so, Abraham built another altar, and he worshiped the Lord there.
Abraham is walking on sunshine; everything is going really well.
Have you ever met someone (or been someone) who just got saved or just got delivered from some dark place? Or just heard from God that they are smack-dab in the place God has for them? They are all just building altars, dedicating their life to God, and constantly worshiping God. They are walking on sunshine with God, and everything is Praise the Lord, and Hallelujah!
That is an awesome time, and I remember that time in Pam and I’s life. It was truly great. God radically saved me from a very dark place.
The only thing was our faith was shallow. Our faith hadn’t matured. And our faith hadn’t matured because our faith hadn’t been tested by the trials of this life, and that is exactly where (the Father of the Faith) Abraham is in our text today. Abraham’s first real test started in verse 9.
Genesis 12:9 (NLT)
9 Then Abram continued traveling south by stages toward the Negev.
The Negev is a radical desert region that makes up the southern end of Israel today. And so, I wonder if Abraham was trying to find the southern end of the Promised Land. IF that was his goal, he certainly found it. But the Negev Desert is a radical and extreme place to set up camp for the large caravan of people that Abraham already had, and that is how the first test of Abraham’s faith begins.
So, in Genesis 12, verse 10 (switching to the ESV to make an important point).
Genesis 12:10(a) (ESV)
10 Now there was a famine in the land . . .
Being from UR in Mesopotamia (The Bread Basket), Abraham may have never seen a famine, but he was in one now, and he had a bunch of people and flocks to feed and water, and a famine in this desert region makes that really difficult.
But Abraham is living a life of faith. He’s building altars and worshiping God everywhere he sets up camp.
EXCEPT HERE.
There is no mention of altars, or dedication, or worship here. There is no mention of Abraham calling out to God.
Abraham is saying, listen. We’ve got a famine going on, and I have got to do something about it!
You, Abraham? You have to do something about it?
Yeah, I do. I have to do something about it… and I have a plan.
(Abraham, are you sure you’re not missing something?)
Genesis 12:10(b) (ESV)
10 . . . So Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land.
What is missing in verse 10? Or should I say WHO is missing in verse 10? The NLT says the famine “forced” Abraham to go down to Egypt, but the word “forced” is added by the translators.
Abraham wasn’t “forced” to go down to Egypt? Abraham wasn’t forced to leave the land God had promised him and run to the world in order to take shelter from this trial.
In the Bible, Egypt is always a picture of the world (and after Exodus, it’s a picture of sin), and you always go down into Egypt. Spiritually “going down into Egypt” implies running to the world for help because the Nile River of the world of Egypt assured Abraham of all the necessities of life. All Abraham had to do was leave the place that God had called him to and promised to give him and go down into the world of Egypt, and all the necessities of life would be easily met there.
The question is: Are you better off in a famine being in the center of God’s will? Or, are you better off with all the necessities of life living outside of God’s will?
Listen, guys. The world is a snare. And we can live in the world as Christians with no faith at all. We just live in the world, like the world, and that’s it. And if our faith is genuine, then we’ll go to Heaven. But you kind of have to question your faith, depending on how deep in the world you’re living.
And here is the thing we’ve got to understand today. Abraham did not directly disobey God. Abraham just did what was natural. He was just figuring out what to do on his own.
Famines were common in the Negev region, and it was common for the people of the world there to flee to Egypt in times of famine, and so Abraham was just doing the natural, common-sense thing to do.
The only thing Abraham left out of the equation was God. There’s no mention of God in this move to Egypt. No altar, no dedicating, no worship. Abraham was just doing what was natural and logical. And that is the problem. Abraham didn’t deny God; he just forgot about him.
Don’t we do the same thing when we get in survival mode? I can handle this. I’ve got this. I’ve got a plan. I know what I have to do. And then we work and scheme, and we get our plan all going.
But, Proverbs 3, verses 5-6.
Proverbs 3:5–6 (NLT)
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding.
6 Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.
That is definitely not what Abraham was doing. He is the Father of the Faith, but here he is, completely depending on his own understanding. And once you start down that road, it is really easy to push ahead with your own plans, ideas, and schemes.
Genesis 12:11–13 (NLT)
11 As he was approaching the border of Egypt, Abram said to his wife, Sarai, “Look, you are a very beautiful woman.
12 When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife. Let’s kill him; then we can have her!’
13 So please tell them you are my sister. Then they will spare my life and treat me well because of their interest in you.”
Really, Abraham? That’s your great plan?
Sarah must’ve been really beautiful because, unfortunately, Genesis 20, verse 13 says Abraham hatched this scheme before they even left Haran. So, he’s reminding Sarah of his “no fail plan,” and maybe Abraham rationalized it because Sarah actually was Abraham’s half-sister (Genesis 20:2), and in most middle Eastern cultures, a man would have to ask Sarah’s “older brother” for the “right” to marry Sarah.
But that does not apply to the most powerful person in all the land, the Pharaoh of Egypt, and so things are about to go sideways badly, especially for Sarah.
And isn’t that so often the case? We come up with our own plans and our own schemes, and so often, someone close to us pays the price. Often, it’s the people around us that end up getting hurt.
This was definitely not an act of faith. There were zero signs of faith in this text. This is the Father of the Faith – being faithless.
And so, we read the following in Genesis 12, verses 14-15.
Genesis 12:14–15 (NLT)
14 And sure enough, when Abram arrived in Egypt, everyone noticed Sarai’s beauty.
15 When the palace officials saw her, they sang her praises to Pharaoh, their king, and Sarai was taken into his palace.
Whoa! Wait a minute, did the Pharoah of Egypt just take Abraham’s wife into his harem? Suddenly, Abraham’s self-concocted plan is not working out so well, especially not for his wife.
But how was it all working out for Abraham? Well, what happens in the next verse might have seemed good, but it was not good.
Genesis 12:16 (NLT)
16 Then Pharaoh gave Abram many gifts because of her—sheep, goats, cattle, male and female donkeys, male and female servants, and camels.
The Pharaoh is making Abraham rich in return for taking Sarah. This is a list of what the “rich and famous” possessed in those days. The female donkeys were the ride of the rich because they were easier to ride and harder to get. And camels were not owned by ordinary families, and only the most wealthy had them.
So, Abraham faithlessly enters Egypt – he lies. Gets his wife taken into the harem of Pharaoh, and he ends up rich! That doesn’t seem right, does it? NO… and it isn’t. And this is actually the biggest consequence of Abraham’s lack of faith here. Everything that Pharaoh gave Abraham ultimately causes Abraham serious trouble.
Because of all of this wealth, Abraham and Lot had a conflict and separated, ending with Lot in Sodom and Gomorrah, and one of the female servants was a girl named Hagar, who would cause immeasurable trouble for Abraham, for Israel, and for us – to this day! Because through Hagar will come Ishmael and, ultimately, Mohammed and the Islamic religion.
There is nothing good coming from this “lapse of faith.” But God is in control. This is the thing about Abraham, about all the lives of all the Heroes of the Faith, God is sovereignly in control of their lives, and he is of your life also.
God was overruling and protecting.
Genesis 12:17 (NLT)
17 But the Lord sent terrible plagues upon Pharaoh and his household because of Sarai, Abram’s wife.
Somehow the Pharaoh connected the plagues to Sarah and Abraham, possibly because Sarah was not afflicted. And it seems Sarah was questioned about it, and she was able to speak the truth before things got out of hand.
Genesis 12:18–19 (NLT)
18 So Pharaoh summoned Abram and accused him sharply. “What have you done to me?” he demanded. “Why didn’t you tell me she was your wife?
19 Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ and allow me to take her as my wife? Now then, here is your wife. Take her and get out of here!”
The Hebrew here is very angry, staccato speech. This is no conversation. The Pharaoh is lighting Abraham up and kicking him out of Egypt. That is not a very good “first witness” for the Father of the Faith.
Genesis 12:20 (NLT)
20 Pharaoh ordered some of his men to escort them, and he sent Abram out of the country, along with his wife and all his possessions.
Now, at first glance, it seems like everyone got out of this unharmed and rich. But this “taking matters into his own hands” will continue to bring trouble and more trouble to both Abraham and Sarah. It’s amazing that we will continue to point back to this and say, “this problem started there.” It doesn’t mean that God is not using Abraham. It doesn’t mean that God’s plan is askew. It doesn’t mean that Abraham is not the Father of the Faith or the Hero of the Faith. It means that Abraham’s faith was not perfect, but it was persevering. And God was at work in the imperfection of Abraham’s faith.
So, for the first “test” of Abraham’s faith, he got a big fat F minus. And I think his wife Sarah would give him a lower score than that.
Abraham’s lack of trust in God reduced him to his own resources and fending for himself – Abraham made a total mess of this portion of his life. Abraham failed this first test. Because when the trial came, Abraham forgot God. Abraham forgot how great God is. He resorted to his own devices, and his world fell apart.
But God was at work in it all because God had bigger plans for Abraham and Sarah. Is God at work in our faithlessness? Yes. By faith, you have to say, “Yes, he’s at work in my faithlessness.” God has bigger plans for each of us, much bigger than us just running our own lives and doing what we think is best for us. We are his children. We’re the sheep of his pasture. He has an inheritance reserved in Heaven for us. His hand is upon us for good, and he’s at work even in our mistakes – maybe especially in our mistakes – for our ultimate good and for his glory.
God wants to help us grow when our faith is not perfect. God wants to refine and mature our faith through our failures in the trials. When we are faithless, God wants to use that to grow our faith. He wants to meet us there and refine us (and sometimes chastise us – which is good, not bad). God is at work in the failures and in the successes of our faith tests. He is at work not only in the successes but also in the failures. That makes him an awesome God, and it gives us great hope.
So, expect the trials to come to test, refine, and mature our faith
If you’re in that place and you’re walking on sunshine, know that you are not going to “live your best life now.” Your best life is in Heaven. While you’re on this earth, Jesus says you will have tribulation. You will because he uses it to create in you a testimony, a witness, a faithful standard to raise up.
When those trials come, remember:
Proverbs 3:5–6 (NLT)
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding.
6 Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.
When we left Abraham last message, Abraham was moving full faith ahead, and everything was good. Right up until the first test of his faith. Right up until his first real trial in his faith journey. And Abraham is going to learn right up front (still in the first chapter of his life) that his faith was definitely not perfect faith. But it was becoming persevering faith.
It’s so perfect for us because we see the Father of the Faith, and we think, okay, if God can use him, there’s hope for us.
Our faith will always be tested. But our faith is not tested to reveal the depth of our faith to God. Our faith IS tested to reveal the depth of our faith to us. And the truth is, our trials are the only way we can know IF we have any true faith at all because anyone can say they have great faith when everything is going great.
When our faith is tested, we often find out that our faith is not perfect. But, if we will allow those tests to refine our faith and mature our faith, we will find one day that our faith is persevering.
James says this.
James 1:2–4 (NLT)
2 Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy.
3 For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow.
4 So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect (mature) and complete, needing nothing.
When your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. Let it. Don’t ask for it, but when it comes, let it.
And here’s what it says in 1 Peter.
1 Peter 1:6–7 says (NLT)
6 So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you have to endure many trials for a little while.
7 These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.
These trials will show that your faith is genuine. Show to you that your faith is genuine. Show to those watching you that your faith is genuine. When you see a hero of the faith in the world, it’s usually somebody who has followed God through difficulties. That’s usually how our faith shows best.
Abraham’s life is not about us having a perfect faith but about us developing a persevering faith. And here’s the deal. We develop a persevering faith by persevering. You can’t have persevering faith unless you have something to persevere through – those are trials.
Can we just pray right now that God would develop in us not a perfecting faith but a persevering faith – especially a faith that perseveres through trials?
When we left Abraham in the last message, he was worshiping his way through the land that God had promised him. He was pitching his tent as a sojourner who did not belong to this world. And he was building altars and worshiping God, first at Shechem in central Canaan, and there the Lord appeared to Abraham for the first time inside the Promised Land.
Back in Genesis 12, verse 7, we read,
Genesis 12:7 (NLT)
7 Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your descendants.” And Abram built an altar there and dedicated it to the Lord, who had appeared to him.
Abraham was like, “WHOOP! THERE IT IS!!!” Remember, Abraham didn’t know where he was going when he left UR. And so, this is the first time that God appears to him and says here it is. God says This is it. This is the land that I am giving to you. And so, Abraham built an altar and worshiped the Lord there.
Then, in verse 8, Abraham moved south to about ten miles from Jerusalem, and he set up camp between Bethel and AI. (We looked at that last week.) And he was still doing the “Whoop! There it is” dance because he was in the land that the Lord would give his descendants. And so, Abraham built another altar, and he worshiped the Lord there.
Abraham is walking on sunshine; everything is going really well.
Have you ever met someone (or been someone) who just got saved or just got delivered from some dark place? Or just heard from God that they are smack-dab in the place God has for them? They are all just building altars, dedicating their life to God, and constantly worshiping God. They are walking on sunshine with God, and everything is Praise the Lord, and Hallelujah!
That is an awesome time, and I remember that time in Pam and I’s life. It was truly great. God radically saved me from a very dark place.
The only thing was our faith was shallow. Our faith hadn’t matured. And our faith hadn’t matured because our faith hadn’t been tested by the trials of this life, and that is exactly where (the Father of the Faith) Abraham is in our text today. Abraham’s first real test started in verse 9.
Genesis 12:9 (NLT)
9 Then Abram continued traveling south by stages toward the Negev.
The Negev is a radical desert region that makes up the southern end of Israel today. And so, I wonder if Abraham was trying to find the southern end of the Promised Land. IF that was his goal, he certainly found it. But the Negev Desert is a radical and extreme place to set up camp for the large caravan of people that Abraham already had, and that is how the first test of Abraham’s faith begins.
So, in Genesis 12, verse 10 (switching to the ESV to make an important point).
Genesis 12:10(a) (ESV)
10 Now there was a famine in the land . . .
Being from UR in Mesopotamia (The Bread Basket), Abraham may have never seen a famine, but he was in one now, and he had a bunch of people and flocks to feed and water, and a famine in this desert region makes that really difficult.
But Abraham is living a life of faith. He’s building altars and worshiping God everywhere he sets up camp.
EXCEPT HERE.
There is no mention of altars, or dedication, or worship here. There is no mention of Abraham calling out to God.
Abraham is saying, listen. We’ve got a famine going on, and I have got to do something about it!
You, Abraham? You have to do something about it?
Yeah, I do. I have to do something about it… and I have a plan.
(Abraham, are you sure you’re not missing something?)
Genesis 12:10(b) (ESV)
10 . . . So Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land.
What is missing in verse 10? Or should I say WHO is missing in verse 10? The NLT says the famine “forced” Abraham to go down to Egypt, but the word “forced” is added by the translators.
Abraham wasn’t “forced” to go down to Egypt? Abraham wasn’t forced to leave the land God had promised him and run to the world in order to take shelter from this trial.
In the Bible, Egypt is always a picture of the world (and after Exodus, it’s a picture of sin), and you always go down into Egypt. Spiritually “going down into Egypt” implies running to the world for help because the Nile River of the world of Egypt assured Abraham of all the necessities of life. All Abraham had to do was leave the place that God had called him to and promised to give him and go down into the world of Egypt, and all the necessities of life would be easily met there.
The question is: Are you better off in a famine being in the center of God’s will? Or, are you better off with all the necessities of life living outside of God’s will?
Listen, guys. The world is a snare. And we can live in the world as Christians with no faith at all. We just live in the world, like the world, and that’s it. And if our faith is genuine, then we’ll go to Heaven. But you kind of have to question your faith, depending on how deep in the world you’re living.
And here is the thing we’ve got to understand today. Abraham did not directly disobey God. Abraham just did what was natural. He was just figuring out what to do on his own.
Famines were common in the Negev region, and it was common for the people of the world there to flee to Egypt in times of famine, and so Abraham was just doing the natural, common-sense thing to do.
The only thing Abraham left out of the equation was God. There’s no mention of God in this move to Egypt. No altar, no dedicating, no worship. Abraham was just doing what was natural and logical. And that is the problem. Abraham didn’t deny God; he just forgot about him.
Don’t we do the same thing when we get in survival mode? I can handle this. I’ve got this. I’ve got a plan. I know what I have to do. And then we work and scheme, and we get our plan all going.
But, Proverbs 3, verses 5-6.
Proverbs 3:5–6 (NLT)
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding.
6 Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.
That is definitely not what Abraham was doing. He is the Father of the Faith, but here he is, completely depending on his own understanding. And once you start down that road, it is really easy to push ahead with your own plans, ideas, and schemes.
Genesis 12:11–13 (NLT)
11 As he was approaching the border of Egypt, Abram said to his wife, Sarai, “Look, you are a very beautiful woman.
12 When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife. Let’s kill him; then we can have her!’
13 So please tell them you are my sister. Then they will spare my life and treat me well because of their interest in you.”
Really, Abraham? That’s your great plan?
Sarah must’ve been really beautiful because, unfortunately, Genesis 20, verse 13 says Abraham hatched this scheme before they even left Haran. So, he’s reminding Sarah of his “no fail plan,” and maybe Abraham rationalized it because Sarah actually was Abraham’s half-sister (Genesis 20:2), and in most middle Eastern cultures, a man would have to ask Sarah’s “older brother” for the “right” to marry Sarah.
But that does not apply to the most powerful person in all the land, the Pharaoh of Egypt, and so things are about to go sideways badly, especially for Sarah.
And isn’t that so often the case? We come up with our own plans and our own schemes, and so often, someone close to us pays the price. Often, it’s the people around us that end up getting hurt.
This was definitely not an act of faith. There were zero signs of faith in this text. This is the Father of the Faith – being faithless.
And so, we read the following in Genesis 12, verses 14-15.
Genesis 12:14–15 (NLT)
14 And sure enough, when Abram arrived in Egypt, everyone noticed Sarai’s beauty.
15 When the palace officials saw her, they sang her praises to Pharaoh, their king, and Sarai was taken into his palace.
Whoa! Wait a minute, did the Pharoah of Egypt just take Abraham’s wife into his harem? Suddenly, Abraham’s self-concocted plan is not working out so well, especially not for his wife.
But how was it all working out for Abraham? Well, what happens in the next verse might have seemed good, but it was not good.
Genesis 12:16 (NLT)
16 Then Pharaoh gave Abram many gifts because of her—sheep, goats, cattle, male and female donkeys, male and female servants, and camels.
The Pharaoh is making Abraham rich in return for taking Sarah. This is a list of what the “rich and famous” possessed in those days. The female donkeys were the ride of the rich because they were easier to ride and harder to get. And camels were not owned by ordinary families, and only the most wealthy had them.
So, Abraham faithlessly enters Egypt – he lies. Gets his wife taken into the harem of Pharaoh, and he ends up rich! That doesn’t seem right, does it? NO… and it isn’t. And this is actually the biggest consequence of Abraham’s lack of faith here. Everything that Pharaoh gave Abraham ultimately causes Abraham serious trouble.
Because of all of this wealth, Abraham and Lot had a conflict and separated, ending with Lot in Sodom and Gomorrah, and one of the female servants was a girl named Hagar, who would cause immeasurable trouble for Abraham, for Israel, and for us – to this day! Because through Hagar will come Ishmael and, ultimately, Mohammed and the Islamic religion.
There is nothing good coming from this “lapse of faith.” But God is in control. This is the thing about Abraham, about all the lives of all the Heroes of the Faith, God is sovereignly in control of their lives, and he is of your life also.
God was overruling and protecting.
Genesis 12:17 (NLT)
17 But the Lord sent terrible plagues upon Pharaoh and his household because of Sarai, Abram’s wife.
Somehow the Pharaoh connected the plagues to Sarah and Abraham, possibly because Sarah was not afflicted. And it seems Sarah was questioned about it, and she was able to speak the truth before things got out of hand.
Genesis 12:18–19 (NLT)
18 So Pharaoh summoned Abram and accused him sharply. “What have you done to me?” he demanded. “Why didn’t you tell me she was your wife?
19 Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ and allow me to take her as my wife? Now then, here is your wife. Take her and get out of here!”
The Hebrew here is very angry, staccato speech. This is no conversation. The Pharaoh is lighting Abraham up and kicking him out of Egypt. That is not a very good “first witness” for the Father of the Faith.
Genesis 12:20 (NLT)
20 Pharaoh ordered some of his men to escort them, and he sent Abram out of the country, along with his wife and all his possessions.
Now, at first glance, it seems like everyone got out of this unharmed and rich. But this “taking matters into his own hands” will continue to bring trouble and more trouble to both Abraham and Sarah. It’s amazing that we will continue to point back to this and say, “this problem started there.” It doesn’t mean that God is not using Abraham. It doesn’t mean that God’s plan is askew. It doesn’t mean that Abraham is not the Father of the Faith or the Hero of the Faith. It means that Abraham’s faith was not perfect, but it was persevering. And God was at work in the imperfection of Abraham’s faith.
So, for the first “test” of Abraham’s faith, he got a big fat F minus. And I think his wife Sarah would give him a lower score than that.
Abraham’s lack of trust in God reduced him to his own resources and fending for himself – Abraham made a total mess of this portion of his life. Abraham failed this first test. Because when the trial came, Abraham forgot God. Abraham forgot how great God is. He resorted to his own devices, and his world fell apart.
But God was at work in it all because God had bigger plans for Abraham and Sarah. Is God at work in our faithlessness? Yes. By faith, you have to say, “Yes, he’s at work in my faithlessness.” God has bigger plans for each of us, much bigger than us just running our own lives and doing what we think is best for us. We are his children. We’re the sheep of his pasture. He has an inheritance reserved in Heaven for us. His hand is upon us for good, and he’s at work even in our mistakes – maybe especially in our mistakes – for our ultimate good and for his glory.
God wants to help us grow when our faith is not perfect. God wants to refine and mature our faith through our failures in the trials. When we are faithless, God wants to use that to grow our faith. He wants to meet us there and refine us (and sometimes chastise us – which is good, not bad). God is at work in the failures and in the successes of our faith tests. He is at work not only in the successes but also in the failures. That makes him an awesome God, and it gives us great hope.
So, expect the trials to come to test, refine, and mature our faith
If you’re in that place and you’re walking on sunshine, know that you are not going to “live your best life now.” Your best life is in Heaven. While you’re on this earth, Jesus says you will have tribulation. You will because he uses it to create in you a testimony, a witness, a faithful standard to raise up.
When those trials come, remember:
Proverbs 3:5–6 (NLT)
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding.
6 Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.