Take a moment to read the entire chapter of Genesis 12 before reading the devotional below.
How does God talk to you? Perhaps it’s hard to describe, and it’s a question I wish I could go back and ask of Abram. Often the Bible says, “God told him _________,” with no clear explanation as to how that actually came about (other than perhaps with Moses and the burning bush. We don’t know how Abram heard or understood God, we simply know that he obeyed. Perhaps that is the only detail God wants us to pick up from the interaction.
The second half of today’s chapter is complicated. As a woman, it’s hard to sit with some of the ways that women were objectified in these stories. Sarai is beautiful, and ultimately Abram’s actions as her husband were an attempt to protect her. He was right that the Egyptians would objectify her, and unfortunately his lie backfired. Where was the voice of God when he came up with that plan?
Here’s your freedom for today:
You don’t need to tweak God’s plans.
We’ll see a few examples of this in Abram’s life throughout this Genesis series, but he tends to get a plan from God and then meddle with it when it takes too long. I can sadly relate. God told him where to go, and he promised that land to Abram’s descendants. There is no verse that says, “God told Abram to go to Egypt during the famine.” Does that mean that Abram got worried and did what he thought he had to do? Did he have a conversation with God to ask how to handle the famine? Too often, we forget that God brings us to places where he wants to show us that he can accomplish supernatural things. Earthly circumstances are not a good gauge for the voice of God.