Here God is saying, "Congratulations, Abraham, you've arrived! This is the land I'm going to give to your seed." But how does Abraham respond? He leaves!
"And there was a famine in the land: and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there; for the famine was grievous in the land" (v. 10).
Does it surprise you that God called Abraham to a land that was experiencing famine? Did God make a mistake? Was He trying to teach Abraham a lesson by letting him suffer hardship? No, no, no. God doesn't operate that way.
God clearly and plainly told Abraham, "I'm going to bless you." He didn't say, "I'm going to bless you unless there's a famine in the land." God had promised to bless Abraham - famine or no famine.
We Must Believe His Promises
But instead of trusting God to supernaturally meet his needs in the midst of famine, Abraham said to himself, "Hey, times are tough here. I'd better head for Egypt!"
At that point, Abraham allowed temporary circumstances to move him out of God's will for his life. Don't make the same mistake. Though it is possible to experience hard times because of disobedience and rebellion, you're not necessarily out of the will of God just because famine touches your life.
God can, and will, bless you right in the midst of a famine if you're following His direction for your life. Abraham failed to believe that. As a result, he created more trouble for himself. When he arrived in Egypt, he decided to tell Pharaoh that his wife, Sarah, was really his sister. He was afraid Pharaoh would see how beautiful she was and kill him in order to take her for himself.
Sure enough, Pharaoh took Sarah into his harem and only intervention by God Himself prevented her from becoming a permanent resident of the Egyptian palace.
Abraham learned the hard way that when you step out of the will of God, things tend to go from bad to worse. What did he do when he finally realized he had wandered off the path of God's will?
If You've Missed It, Get Back On The Right Path
Genesis 13:3 tells us: "And Abraham went on his journeys from the south even to Bethel unto the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Hai." That place between Bethel and Hai was the last place Abraham had been before he left for Egypt! It was the place where he left the path.
Follow Abraham's example. When you recognize that you've missed God, go back to the last place you knew you were in the will of God and let Him take it from there.
Excerpt permission granted by Mac Hammond Ministries
Mac Hammond is the senior pastor of Living Word, a large and growing church in Brooklyn Park (a suburb of Minneapolis), Minnesota. He is the host of the Winner’s Minute, which is seen locally in the Minneapolis area on KMSP Channel 9 at 6:44 a.m. and 11:11 a.m. He is also the host of the Winner's Way broadcast and author of several internationally distributed books. Mac is broadly acclaimed for his ability to apply the principles of the Bible to practical situations and the challenges of daily living.
