Genesis 10 – 12
Reflections on Abram’s Lie to the Egyptians
Abram instructed Saraii to tell a lie because he was afraid for his life. He was willing to let Saraii be taken as a wife to Pharaoh to save his own neck. It is obvious that this was not God’s plan for Saraii, nor for Abram, because God afflicted Pharaoh and his household with serious diseases. Yet Abram comes away from the experience having gained many servants and livestock.
What could this story possibly mean for me? Go ahead and lie when it benefits you? Don’t worry about how action on your part affects others; if it is right for you it is right for all involved? Such attitudes are not consistent with Christ’s teaching to do unto others as you would have them do unto you. What then am I to take away from this story?
A take away that I can align to the entire God story is that God may bless less than righteous actions for a purpose invisible to man. He had a plan to make Abram a great nation. He didn’t need Abram’s deception to fulfill that plan but he worked with it to move in the direction he had determined to go. In fact, he likely had to do some damage control in the heart of Pharaoh to enable Abram to leave unscathed and with all he had acquired after the deception was discovered.
This is both encouraging and challenging. The encouragement comes in the knowledge that God is bigger than my failures or the failures of those I desire to see walking with God. He can move us in the way he desires us to go in spite of our poor choices. The challenge comes in the reminder that God is God. When he makes a promise, he will keep it. Abram did not need to protect his life through deception. God had promised Abram that he would become a great nation. Aside from the possibility that Saraii was pregnant at the time, this would have been impossible to achieve had the Eygptians taken Abram’s life. He was obviously not trusting God to keep his promise. What we do not see in this story is how it would have played out had Abram chosen trust. What looks like a satisfactory outcome could very well be second best to what God originally had in store for this chapter of Abram’s life. Who wants second best?
The conclusion then is that this story is meant to challenge trust, not a license to lie to protect one’s interests. Because we live in a sinful world we will have a myriad of opportunities to demonstrate trust. When we fail, God’s plan for our lives will not go up in smoke, but when we prevail we can expect God’s best for us in those circumstances.
Jeremiah 29:11 is our promise that God’s plans can weather the storms of our mistakes:
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
Proverbs 3:5 tells us what we can expect when we trust:
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight.
A straight path — the best road available to get to where I am going . . .
I choose trust.
