FEAR

“’Why did you say, “She is my sister,” so that I took her to be my own wife? Now therefore, here is your wife! Take her, and go away.’”
Genesis 12:19

Fear will make us do many things, wouldn’t you agree? Growing up fear would make me lie, make me run away, and make me hide. When I was caught doing wrong and afraid of punishment I would deny my actions and bluntly lie. Then I would find myself in even more trouble because I lied in addition to doing something wrong. I find myself correcting my children of this now too. I tell them that more punishment comes when you lie, so just tell the truth. But it is that fear that causes us to deny the truth. It is this fear that makes us run away and hide also, wanting to get out of harm’s way and do anything we can to find that safety. For Avram, fear made him do something bazaar as well, as he told a half truth concerning his wife, Sarai.
As Avram and his clan were coming into Egypt, forced there because of the famine spreading through the region, Avram faced fear. In his fear of believing the Egyptians would kill him over his wife, Avram, the man of faith, told his wife to agree in the telling of a half truth. While Sarai was in fact his wife, she was also his sister. By agreeing to this idea, Sarai was married by the Pharaoh only to be found out as Avram’s wife and released by the Pharaoh in fear of what Adonai would do. The decision, however, was a result of fear.
Would Adonai still have blessed and protected Avram if the truth had been told from the beginning? I am pretty sure He would have, especially since Adonai had already given him a promise in Genesis 12:2 about making him a great nation. In fear, however, Avram met panic. We are no different, though. Fear will cause us to do some crazy things, but fear is of the enemy. Why do we listen to fear instead of listening to the voice of Adonai? Isn’t it time we stop listening to the voice that only brings distance and pain, and put our faith in the words of our Father?

Genesis 12:14 – 13:4