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Abram & Sarai were nomads, always traveling, looking for food and pasture for their animals. When drought came, they moved to Egypt. So this story begins with a famine. Water is a necessity for both mankind and animals. Egypt had the Nile River.
Abram told Sarai to lie to Pharaoh about who she was so it would go well with him. Pharaoh saw that she was beautiful and had her brought to the palace, but the Lord plagued Pharaoh, and Pharaoh told them to leave the country.
We are in a drought today. We need the water only Jesus can give. Where do we go when we have famine in our lives? Many times, we tend to go to the world and its pleasures.
Abram went to Egypt. He started with a plan, told a lie, and was motivated by fear. Decades later, he made the same mistake with Abimelech. Abimelech called him out on his sin. It was wrong for Abram to lie, and it was wrong for Sarai to submit; she should have refused to lie. Abram was not acting like a loving, responsible husband.
1- We need to be careful where we go when we feel dry. What do we do when we feel stagnant – do not go to Egypt!
2- Avoid situations where we will have trouble maintaining our Christian testimony.
3- Pay attention to our tendency to rationalize what we are doing.
Three ways we rationalize sin: 1) We focus on the letter of the law. 2) We try to explain away what God has asked us to do. 3) We emphasize the good things we do.
We are never going to be perfect in this life, but we need to be honest when we fall down, identify our sinful behaviors, confess them to the people we sinned against, and repent of them.
Our goal is holiness. We need people to call us out on our sins. This requires courage on the part of the one calling us to account and humility on the part of the one who has sinned.