Learning to Consult and Trust God – Genesis Chapter 12
by Sabrina Dawkins
God told Abram to leave his country, his kindred, and his father’s house to travel to a land he would show him. God did not speak to Lot, Abram’s kindred, but Lot left with Abram. And Abram was 75 years old when he left Haran. Notice that along with his wife and nephew, Lot, Abram took the souls they’d gained in Haran. The soul is separate from the body; and after the body dies, the soul lives on for as long as God allows it to (Matthew 10:28). The soul is not the same as the heart and mind; it opens the door for a spiritual relationship with God (Matthew 22:37). Furthermore, the soul is necessary so that the heart and mind can be trained to even want a relationship with a spirit (John 4:24). Men can suffer the same fate as beasts if they choose not to have a relationship with the spirit God (Ecclesiastes 3:19). So in taking the souls he had gotten in Haran, hopefully this was an opportunity opened for them to establish a closer relationship with God (1 Corinthians 15:45).
Now, God showed Abram the land that he would give his seed, but Abram did not settle there; he continued on. The Canaanites were living there at the time. As Abram traveled further south, there was a famine, so he went into Egypt.
Sarai was beautiful, so Abram thought the Egyptians would kill him in order to have her. Therefore, he told Sarai to say that she was his sister. Here, Abram’s faith was lacking because he did not consult God concerning how he should proceed, and he should have depended on God to protect him from the Egyptians. He even thought that if Sarai said she was his sister, his soul would continue to live because of her (Genesis 12:13). But we are not supposed to fear those who can kill our bodies, because they cannot kill our souls (Matthew 10:28). God ultimately decides whether a soul lives or dies (Psalm 22:29).
Sarai was beautiful to the Egyptians and to the princes, and she was taken to live in Pharaoh’s house. And Pharaoh treated Abram well because of her and gave him animals and servants. But God plagued the house of Pharaoh because Sarai was taken there. So Pharaoh had his men send Abram and his wife away because Abram had not told him that Sarai was his wife and his house suffered great plagues.