Title: Failure of Faith (Genesis 12:10-20)
Content: Humans have trials. How you deal with that test is very important.
Abraham also entered the land of Canaan and met the first test. A severe famine strikes suddenly. Where does God's promise to bless you and make your name great, famine and famine come in the new year of abundance and abundance.
However, in Egypt, even in times of famine, I have always heard that the Nile River makes agriculture prosperous and the country prospers. He decided according to his wisdom to put aside God's promises and solve the immediate crisis first. He was a chieftain with dozens of family members, so he couldn't look at the land because of it.
We have something to understand here.
First, we must acknowledge that famines can exist in the Promised Land.
The belief that believes in Jesus will always lead to success and all things will always be blessed. The belief is not biblical. Sometimes God sends and permits famine and suffering in the lives of the saints for the sake of their refinement or to accomplish the greater will of God beyond our thoughts. We need to know that there are trials and trials on the path of obedience and loyalty.
Second, God doesn't only let me work when things are going well.
As soon as the famine came, Abraham misunderstood that God had left him and went down to Egypt. The God who had led him to Canaan became a helpless God who could not give him any measures in the face of this famine. So he deprived himself of the opportunity to experience the hand of God's power to live in times of famine and solve the problem in a human way. Even in the midst of the famine, he did not realize that God still loved him and guided him. Abraham, who had been walking with God, scouring the altar wherever he went, lost his faith in the face of famine and could not trust in God. Still, Abraham had to learn more and realize the truth that God continued to protect and guide him in the midst of danger and difficult trials.
work in Egypt.
Conversation with wife.--Cowardly husband. Abraham, who did not believe in God's power to protect him during famine in the land of Canaan, went further and did not even believe that God would protect him from the violence of the Egyptians, and he told a shallow lie. Ladies and gentlemen, small unbelief falls into greater unbelief. Once a person chooses the path of unbelief, he chooses the more and more sinful path, and his heart turns away from God and becomes hardened.
In return for this lie, he gave his wife as the concubine of the king of Egypt, and he became a celebrity in a great empire at once, and became rich by receiving many servants and livestock as gifts. At first glance, I thought that this is the hand of God who makes all things powerful and works for good to those who believe, and it is a blessing. However, outward blessings are never true blessings. Is this really a blessing or a good thing? The wealth and material things that he gained by betraying his trust in God and his love for his wife are not blessings from God.
Here we find his failure.1) Failure in marital relationship The closest relationship in this world is the relationship between husband and wife. Adam and Eve....
But when Abraham entered Egypt, he planned from the beginning that he would give Sarah as the disappearance of the Egyptians and protect his life. Their relationship of love and trust between them was shattered in an instant. How deeply hurt Sarah must be at this time, and how embarrassed Abraham must have been for his wife when he later came out of Egypt! How can a person who cannot keep the faithfulness of a married couple do the holy thing of praying for others as a man of God on this earth! Unbelief caused him to destroy the most beautiful relationships.
2) To dishonor the name of God to the Gentiles.
Abraham was known to the Egyptians as a liar and was despised as an unscrupulous man who sold his wife as a concubine. Pharaoh rebuked Abarham in verses 18 and 19, "Why have you treated me like this, and why did you say that she is a sister, and make me take her as a wife? As he talked about the incident, he pointed out that Abraham was the one who almost got him to take a wife, and Pharaoh immediately returned Sarah and expelled Abraham and his companions from Egypt along with their possessions. Abraham, who had gone down to Egypt to escape, had to come back to the land of Canaan after only being humiliated and humiliated in Egypt for a short time.
Even today, when we do not depend on God and choose the path of unbelief, when believers fail to behave like believers, people in the world say, "Why are church members like that?" ?쏷he church members add it.??This kind of ridicule and slander on the face of God happen.
Abraham acquired great wealth in material terms, but in terms of faith, it could never be a beautiful testimony because it was the result of compromise and unconscience.
Let us clearly understand the interpretation of Romans 8:28. ?쏛ll things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.??
3) Abraham failed in his relationship with God. God gave him the land of Canaan and led him to become the father of a great nation. However, he threw away Hanami's promise like a devoted partner. The life of faith that God had met and guided through the dedication, prayer, and evangelism of building the altar disappeared.
He should have comforted the Canaanites who had met the famine while fearing God during the famine, testifying to them that God lived and demonstrating the power of God. A person who should testify to the people of Hanani's righteousness and power even when he went to Egypt. How heartbreaking it is that he came out of Egypt after he was put to great shame for being consistent in unbelief! He had to repent and pray with the heart of starting a relationship with God again.
Saints! There are many times when we too follow in the footsteps of Abraham! Sometimes, as a man of faith, he dedicates his body and mind to the Lord reverently, faithfully, and sincerely. Then, when a person encounters a certain temptation, he or she will speak and act unscrupulously and unbelievably. The spiritual eyes darken, grieve the servants of God, and destroy relationships with God and trust with people. If there is any part of this morning where this kind of unbelief is found, repent thoroughly. Romans 14:23 "Everything that is not of faith is sin." By faith! with obedience! with love! As commanded! As you say! Let's believe in God's power and act under the guidance of the Lord!