Brokenness and Blessings: The Story of Abram and Sarai

Show Notes

Episode 430: 
In this episode, we explore Genesis chapter 12, focusing on the intriguing story of Abram's journey to Egypt during a severe famine. We analyze Abram's actions, his fear-driven decisions, and the consequences of his half-truths. Despite his shortcomings, we highlight the overarching theme of God's ability to use broken individuals for great purposes.

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You're listening to the Bible guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun, in practical ways. Welcome to the Bible, guys. We are very glad that you have decided to listen to Yes. Yes, it's the highlight of our morning that you or day evening yes, or deep in the night, which is hey. We've had people literally tell us absolutely that you decided to join us. They work out of the twenty four hour gym, right and this they're listening to mere o'clock in the morning. Yes, or us right now? That's right. Well, didn't know they're listening to you and none. None of my friends are in the gym in the morning. None of my friends. So today we are revisiting a very familiar sem It's the most important segment, quite honestly, in this show. It's the reason why people tune in. But I think that's it hoping. In fact, they just skipped from Friday to just They are just hoping that maybe today is the day that we get to find out what made Chris madd None of this is true, by the way, it is true, It is not true. It's the only reason I show up. No that's not true. I got out my thought, I'm going to the studio today. No, you're with me every workday. Oh well, so you already know things that make me mad. So let me go ahead and say this. Oftentimes when I get mad, I get mad on behalf of the public. Yes, it's incredibly noble. Yes, it is so noble. I don't get mad just for me, not for you, not for you. It's it's for us little people. You're like, you're like, not for you, not for you. Okay, So you love us, you love us, and you get irate I have for us. Yes, I have two examples of one topic that happened to me back to back just this week. And and here's the bottom line. If you're a restaurant owner and you in a restaurant, just do better on the menu options, do better. Just do better, because what ended up happening was, first of all, I went to a Mexican restaurant with my son, and I'm like, hey, can I do substitutions? I want to. I don't want to order all three of my tacos with this meat three chicken tacos or three beef tacos yea or l pastore or whatever it is, because they still have the meats in the back. So I'm like, can I just get one of each? And they're like, no substitutions, no substitutions. And then I tried different combos and I'm like, what about this is like no substitutions. And you know Mexican restaurant, it's all the same ingredients. So there's like a billion things on the menu. So they said no substitution in things, and it's it's various conversations of either flo flour or corn right tortillas and then combinations of beans, rice, approaching cheese, proteins. That's it. Yes, that's audio, yes and so and so basically, uh, but but no substitution, no substitutions, substitutions for you, yes, And I'm just I'm like, just do the math, Like if you own the store, do the math. That's it. Just just say, yeah, of course we can give you three tacos. Why because we have the proteins in the back. We could easily do that for you if we just did the math. If they said that's a three dollars up charge, would you have still ordered it? Of course? Of course yes. And so they missed an opportunity. Yes, they're leaving money at the table. Do you want to say the name of the joking, because that would be rude. It was granted as Teca. I like that place. Oh, I love that. I love it. It's our favorite mess REUSSI. But no, but no substitution, no substitutions. And then, uh, this happened to me literally just yesterday. I was with a buddy, uh in a sushi restaurant and uh, and this is just a side note. Uh, the server did not ask me if I want a dessert, which, you know, just as a side note. You know, I'm thinking, hey, if you own a restaurant, make sure you train your servers to try to upsell the person. But for some reason, I don't really get the desert. But I was in the mood and I said, can I see your dessert menu? And this is after she brought the ill, right, and I'm like, can I see the ressert menu? So she brings it. And here's here's my complaint. There was only two desserts offered, first of all, and that's that's a shame. But if they're too fantastic, dessert crime almost it's in my book. Two desserts is a crime all ready for this. They were both fried. They said, we offer you fried ice cream, We offer you fried like egg roll, something something something and I and I said, wait a minute, the only two desserts you offer are fried because there's a lot of people that don't need fried stuff, right, especially people who today's day and age, there's a lot people are going to shy away from that. And so I said, well, you have the ice cream in the back, because I know you do because you fry it. No substitution, no substitution for you. No, it must be fried. I'm like, I'm like, can you just just bring me out the ice cream? Wow? Here's what she said. She and by the way, to her credit, she was agreeing with me. She goes, I know, I keep on telling them, you know, I can't believe everybody's disappointed that there's only two fried options. I said, we'll just bring me the ice cream because because that I love ice cream. And she said, we don't have a way to ring that up. And here's what I said, Well, then I'll order the fried ice cream minus the fry, right, and just charge me for it. And she says, no, I don't think we can do that? Why? Right? Exactly? So this is this is what made Chris Matt well, you need to call the manager over at that point. This is what I want to do. I want to pay you for all of it, but I want some of it. It's not that hard for all of it. I probably want some of it. So you benefit in this equation, right, just give me the ice cream, dispatch the ice cream and so this no substitution's rule is you are irate about it on our behalf? Yes, just do better on your menu. You know why, because your menu should reflect flexibility based on the ingredients that you already have. Oh, yes, you already have it in the back. Yes you're not. I'm not asking for somebody. So did you buy a dessert? No you didn't. No money again, left money on the table. Right, So I thank you, Chris on behalf of all of our listeners. I want to thank you, yes for bearing that burden for us. Yes, well, I'm angry for all the customers. Thank you that want what they want. We can't. This is America. We can't thank you enough. Yes, you're welcome, thank you, thank you. We feel loved. It's like every Friday, you know why, we love the segment Every Friday feels like you hug us. You just collectively hug about a thousand people and say I love you people, and I've got you back. I'm protecting you. Every time I complain from a hug, that's the first in my life, it's because it's not for you. That's right, You're not complaining for you. I'm complaining on behalf of the world. I just care about the person that comes in after me that wants just ice cream because you don't care for yourself. No, no, I do care for me, but I get angry for the world. Yes, thank you, thank you, Yes, okay, welcome. Those really are my favorite segments. I love I love just busting your jo. It's really funny, really funny. It is a big hug. It is. That's a big, big collective hug for all of our listeners. He really loves you, guys. If you're sitting there wondering, Chris, does he loves you? I do, Jesus, so do I. Okay, So Genesis chapter twelve, we're gonna get into kind of a weird story. So God, It's yeah, it's a little unusual, sort of like a uh, it's a fallibility. It's it shows Abram's humanity. Well, it's only the second story about Abram. First story is wow, this guy must be super special, right, God chose him right, and says, I'm gonna make a great nation from you, and I'm gonna bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you, and You're gonna be a blessing to the whole world. And you go, wow, this guy must be like Saint Abram. Right, And the very next story goes like this in Genesis chapter twelve, verse ten. At that time, a severe famine struck the land of Canaan, forcing Abram to go down to Egypt, where he lived as a foreigner. As he was approaching the border of Egypt, Abram said to his wife Sarah, Look, you're a very beautiful woman. When the Egyptians see you, they'll say this is his wife. Let's kill him and then we can have her. So please tell them that you're my sister. Then they'll spare my life and treat me well because of their interest in you. Sure enough, when Abram arrived in Egypt, everyone noticed Sarah's beauty. Sarah is beauty. When the palace officials saw her, They sang her praises to Pharaoh the king, and Sarah was taken into his palace. Then Pharaoh gave Abram many gifts because of her sheep, goats, cattle, male and female donkeys, male and female servants, and camels. But the lord sent terrible plagues upon Pharaoh in his household because Sarah Abram's wife. So Pharaoh summoned to Abraham and accused him. Sharply, what have you done to me? He demanded, Why didn't you tell me she was your wife? Why did you say she's my sister and allow me to take her as my wife? Now, then here is your wife, Take her and get out of here. And Pharaoh ordered some of his men to escort them, and he sent Abram out of the country along with his wife and all his possessions. That's a weird story. Yeah, Pharaoh ordered some of his men to escort them, and he sent Abram out of the country along with his wife and all his possessions. He allowed him to keep his possessions, keep all the stuff he took. Yeah, it seems to indicate that, doesn't y Yeah, yeah, so does give me the possessions that he walked in with so if you remember, he left er and Haran with all of his wealth. That says that, and with all the people. So he was already a wealthy male, okay, and then Pharaoh made him wealthier with more sheep, goats, cattle, male and female donkeys, male and female servants, and camels. So Pharaoh just enriched him even more. And then when he sends himway, sends him away with all of it. Yeah, and uh, and what's so interesting is that, uh, it says, it says immediately, uh, it never says anything about a wife until the end. It says, when the palace officials saw her, they singer praises Pharaoh. Then Pharaoh gave Abraham many gifts because of her. Didn't say to have her as his wife, but apparently that's what he did. He married her. Pharaoh married her because he says he gave he gave Pharaoh Abram many gifts because of her sheep, goats, donkeys, And then at the end he says, why did you say to her she's my sister, and allow me to take her as my wife. So Pharaoh married Abram's wife there for a minute. Yeah, and then and then when he found out, he was like dude, what is your problem? Yeah? Right, because Abram was going as a foreigner into a foreign land. He's going down in Egypt. He was scared for himself, and what a weird line of thinking. But it turns out that Pharaoh would have thought the opposite. Pharaoh's explaining here that had you just told me you were her wife or husband, then I wouldn't have done any of these things. Right, So he really just believed he did fear, which is what we do sometimes, right, We make bad choices because we start to rehearse things that haven't happened yet, we start to guess how it's gonna turn out. We wind up making bad choices on that, right, Yeah, and that's what that's what happens here. So he's acting out of fear, and he asks her to tell it half truth because she was his stepsister, right, So Sarah, Sarah is Abram's stepsister and wife and his wife. So he marries his stepsister, and so he's like, hey, don't say because they might kill me. They'll kill me. They're gonna take you anyways, so let's not do that. And instead he winds up enriching Abram and take Sarah and then they wind up having a terrible plague. They said, the Lord sent terrible plagues, so it's plural plagueold, look at us breezing over that. Ye. So this is like God's power unleashed on Pharaoh. And somehow this was a conversation that you have to sort of read between the lines. So it says God sends plagues. Well, how did Pharaoh know that the plagues were from God? About Abram? Right, So there must have been some sort of like, hey, since you came into town, there's plagues, can you tell us about this? And Abram then probably had this time of confession because now Pharaoh knows the truth. He had to know the truth somehow, right, and he only knew the truth through them, right. This is such a weird thing. It seems at the honest face, it seems a little out of his character because he's very smart and he uses intelligence, so he trusts God. He's a wealthy man. He trusts God. He packs up and leaves home and goes where he doesn't even know where he's heading yet. He goes to Canaan, and when he arrives there, not long after he sets up. He sets up an altar worships God. And then a famine comes and for a lot of people, they'd start questioning, well, maybe I didn't hear from God. Let's just go home, let's quit. And he doesn't. And instead he sits there and he thinks a minute, and he goes, okay, you know, he uses his intelligence and he goes, there's food in Egypt. We'll just let's shoot down there real quick. We'll get some food. We'll be okay. Right, So he didn't give up on his mission. He went further from home because he wasn't going to leave God's plan. So he has this faith God's going to provide. He has intelligence to be able to work out a problem and solve it. And you know, from that area, from that area down to what would be like say modern day Cairo, although this probably wasn't Kiro's probably Thebes or somewhere, but it is only like three hundred miles three hundred something miles by by you know the way that a bird would fly. Now they have to kind of zigzag in order to get where they're going. But still, I mean, it's just he he didn't have to go very far. It's a few days journey in a couple of weeks, he gets down there and then he gets scared. It doesn't make sense that this doesn't make sense. It didn't scare you to leave home. For us, it doesn't make sense. It doesn't scare you to leave the source of your wealth. That doesn't make sense to me, right. It doesn't scare you to just go for months and months and months on a journey that you don't even know where to Canaan, with people that are hostile towards towards outsiders. It doesn't scare you to follow God there the famine comes. The Bible doesn't say that he's afraid of the famine, right, right, But he's just well, he just he solves the problem pretty easily, right, But he could have been we would that's us filling in the gaps there. So instead he just faces this problem as another issue and he goes on and he solves it. But then it does say he was afraid of Pharaoh, which is weird. How you can sometimes have circumstances come up. You're not afraid of circumstances, but how some people are very intimidated by other people. And that's what we have is he's afraid of Pharaoh. Yeah, so, so I have a different view of this entirely. I I uh so, well, then it's probably wrong, Chris. Whereas like and I know that it's it's I know that the Chosen is wonderful thing that I've been watching, and I know the Chosen is not based on Gospel. It's it's almost it's what is it called they take, They take liberty, poetic license. You know, this could or could not have happened. So there's a lot of cool things that happens that you know, you're just like, oh, that's cool. Could have been that way, and you understand that, you know, there's a lot of that is not based on they just sort of supposed a lot of things anyway. But the point is this one thing that the Chosen did for me is that it it inserted context and emotion to such a degree to whereas like, for instance, you remember how like when Peter threw the net over the side and then you know, so what they did is they created this this scenario where he had to have fish or else he was gonna you know, you know, be in trouble. And so then then when he pulled it in net in it meant more and all of a sudden, there's emotion attached to it. There, you know, the woman at the well when he when he met her, they had given him a little bit of background. They took liberty to create this. Mary healed with the seven demons. They explored her. They took liberty to explore this, so that when she was healed, it was so much more emotional than when you read on the text, And so it's just unbelievable. Well then also along with that they created like joy and fear and frustration and crying and things like this. And so it's easy for us to judge or look on paper and say, see, he wasn't he wasn't fearful here? Why was he fearful there? But you don't know what it's like when when you walk into Egypt. You don't know what he experienced. So I could just almost imagine, So this is me, you know, inserting my different perspective. I could almost imagine it like a movie shocker, And I could just I could see something him walking into a foreign land and seeing detestable practices or seeing you know, he wasn't maybe he wasn't treated well, or maybe they were looking at him. Maybe maybe he was walking through the city and he felt them judging him, or maybe there was something happening with the wives there where he just thought immediately, oh, no, like because of my wife's beauty, I know exactly what's going to happen, right, based on the rumors, based on there's so much there that we don't know that. You know, if we believe in the character of Abram, and we believe that he's a good man, then then we have to give him even more credit to say there must have been a reason why he went down this path, and maybe if you and I were there, we would have done the same thing. Yeah, that's sort of what I That's where my brain goes, Sure, well, absolutely, it's you know, not unreasonable for us to say, hey, we likely would have been as intimidated as him. It's just surprising sometimes when you see a person who has a long pattern of doing the right thing and trusting God suddenly being overwhelmed by fear. All the other ones they were circumstances, but this one was a person, and he was easily intimidated by this person, right, And that's the thing that surprises me is, you know, it seems like famine is a worse thing than coming up against a person or leaving home where you built all your wealth. Seems to be a bigger issue than a person, right. But for him, man, that's just how intimidated he was by the power of Egypt at that time. And I know what you're saying, because what you're saying has a lot of merit in it. Because if God promised him that he's going to be the father of many nations, yes, that means he's going to not be killed by Pharaoh, right, He's going to survive it, that's right, right, So why not believe in the promise that God gave yes, all the promises led him all the way there, yes, and then now he's doubting the promise. So there is definitely that side to it. That's the weird part to me. Yeah, but the people can be scary and when you get sucked into you know, I was in what would be Thebes or you know, I've been in Cairo. I've been in those places. Some of the ruins are magnifics. This would have been about two thousand BC, right, And so at that time it's hard to name a capital like we would call a capital today. But what is modern day Cairo that would have been a kind of a center. Then Thebes and Memphis would have both been centers for government. So it just depends on what the weather was like and where they were ruling out of at the time. But all of those places were magnificent. The scale of them. The construction there exceeded anything that was being built anywhere else in the world at the time, other than maybe of the Caldi's right there, Babylon area. But it was just magnificent. And so yeah, then you could kind of get sucked into the pomp and circumstance. We know how the Egyptians had all this formality and the gold and the two thousand years that this was a really really significant administrative center of the world at the time. So I understand that part of it. But yeah, you're right, he went there with the promise that God is going to make a great nation from him. Dude, you can't be killed. You're literally bulletproof. Do you have any kids yet? No, guess what, you're a bulletproof. But listen, there's another sermon in here though, because because then it comes down to maybe he thought to himself, maybe this is maybe my cunning intelligence of saying that she's my sister. Maybe that maybe that's the way that God's going to preserve Sure, sure, because God always bless half truth, right right, right, But that's what he did. And I think, you know, sometimes we can be too slick for our own good, right, as opposed to just keep doing what you're supposed to do. So it was incredibly intelligent, in my opinion, to go, hey, there's a famine here, there's plenty of food in Egypt. Let's just shoot down there a little while. And he went further from home, which sent the message to God, I'm not going home. He didn't go back the way he came, He went further south, right, And so he's sending a message, I'm still trusting God, I'm going to go back to the Promised Land when after we eat. I think he was very very strategic there, and then in this one he gets slick. There's difference. Sometimes we can be so clever we outplay our and that's what happens here. So there's a really great note Genesis chapter twelve, in the Life Applications stead of Bible, it says Abram, acting out of fear, asked Sarah to tell a half truth by saying she was his sister. She was his half sister, we know that from Genesis chapter twenty, but she was also his wife. Abram's intent was to deceive the Egyptians. He feared that if they knew the truth, they would kill him to get Sarah. She would have been a desirable addition to Pharaoh's harem because of her wealth, beauty, and her potential for political alliance. As Sarah's brother, Abram would have been given a place of honor, but as her husband, his life would be in danger because Sarah could not enter Pharaoh's harem unless Abram was dead. So Abram lost faith in God's protection, even after all God had promised him and told a half truth. When he lied, Abram's problems multiplied. Lying usually compounds the effects of sin. Yeah, there's a great sermon there, too, great. And it's almost amazing that Pharaoh allowed him to live and to leave. Yeah, right, because the plugs were so bad. He's like, hey, this guy's got some bad juju on him. I'm not touching it, right, or Russian power for ju Yeah, Yeah, all I did was take his wife and innocently right, and in their world, Hey, it's just a woman. Right, all I did was take his wife accidentally, and all these plays come out. Come on me, what's gonna happen if I actually killed this man? All the plagues will just never end, right, right? That I think that was it is because the Pharaohs thought they were gods, so did the people. And here's God squaring off with Pharaoh, just afflicting him with plagues, and he's learned the lesson, going, I'm not gonna mess with Abram, right, So there is there is that, but hey, and also, hey, let's give it up to Abram. Right, Sarah is pretty right, that's right that Pharaoh went, wow, right, I gotta have her. Yeah, And and and neighborham knew it right because going into town, he's like, yeah, I'm dating, I'm married to a supermodel, and he's gonna steal her from me. So there's this this issue that whole idea we're making jokes about the fact that men are trading in women, that that's a horrible thing, right, that there is this this this property kind of mentality. From this point on, for the most part, you see Abraham and Sarah or Abraham and Sarah their partners. Right, even even in doing the wrong thing this time, they do it again another time later where they where their partners in this uh in in doing the wrong thing. But you don't find Sarah in Abraham like Abraham lording over Sarah, although she did call him with respect, but you see them working together. But in this one, it was almost like he shifted to the mindset of the Egyptian world, which is she's property, right, right, So don't get me killed. You're not worth dying for. That's literally the message this man sent to his wife is you're not worth dying for. And so I'm gonna go ahead and risk it. You're gonna go in Pharaoh's harem. And uh. That's that's a pretty horrible, horrible moment in his life. Yeah, and so Abraham again, it's it's one of those things where even though it's so bad, it reminds us that God always has and always will continue to use broken people for great things. That's the whole reason why this story is in here. I think, right, yeah, yeah, God's going to use you. And so if you think you're a person, you're like, oh, but Chris, you don't know my thoughts. You don't know what I've done or my tendencies and I've always failed and I promise God and I mess up and all these different things that are so discouraging about you know, who you are versus who you wish you could be. For God, just know this, that God that never winks at our sin, He never you know, you know, just you know, It's not like sin doesn't have a consequences, severe consequences. Abraham almost does die here because of this, and yeah, God doesn't just blow off our sins. However, God will continue to use a repentant heart from a broken person to do great things. And so Abraham goes on this journey with God. And even in the midst of this, you know, obviously his brokenness and his humanity right here, God just still continues the bust. So you find multiple times where Abram does sacrifices where he's constantly making sure that God understands that he's repentant of his sin. It comes up again multiple times after this where his relationship with God was important. This was a bad moment in his life, but it doesn't define his life, and God only has sinners to work with, and so what he's looking for is teachable, humble, repentant sinners, not people who go on and continue to indulge in these sins. People who repent of their sins, turned to God, and then he continues to use them. So God puts the story right at the very beginning of the story of Abram, so that we can understand he doesn't have any perfect people to work with, and he can work with us too. That's great. Yeah, well, that is a great place to end. And so hopefully we will see you on Monday on the Bible. Guys,