Spend time in prayer and silence with God asking him to meet you and speak to you.
Bible Reading
Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe. As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “I know what a beautiful woman you are, When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me but will let you live. Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared because of you.”
When Abram came to Egypt, the Egyptians saw that she was a very beautiful woman. And when Pharaoh’s officials saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh, and she was taken into his palace. He treated Abram well for her sake, and Abram acquired sheep and cattle, male and female donkeys, menservants and maidservants, and camels.
– Genesis 12:10-16
Devotion
God made a promise to Abram and God keeps his promises. If we would just remember that, we might avoid some bumps in our own faith walks. Abram’s story is in the Bible for our benefit. While we don’t know Abram’s thought process, we can clearly see that he went into self-protection mode. He knew his wife was beautiful. He was afraid that he might be killed so Pharaoh could take Sarai as his wife, so he justified lying and deceiving Pharaoh. Ironically, unlike Adam and Eve, this time in scripture it is the man initiating the sin and the woman quietly standing by watching. All human nature is innately sinful. Our free-will sometimes takes us down a road God never intended us to travel. We are all going to face situations where we are tempted to deceive or skirt the truth in a situation with someone, so let’s not allow fear or forgetfulness cause us to sin.
The Big Question
Do you see a pattern in your life where you shade the truth with certain people? Could fear be your reason for doing this? What promises of God can you claim to help you in this area?
Conclude in prayer and silence reflecting on what you’ve learned.