Genesis 12:1-13:4
After the flood, when idolatry began to spread over the earth, God called one man, Abram, to be a witness to Himself as the one true God. Abram lived in Shinar, but God called him to leave his country and all his people, to go to another land he had never seen before. There God said He would bless him and make him father of a great nation, and in him should all the families of the earth be blessed.
Abram obeyed God and left his country with his wife, Sarah; his nephew, Lot, went along with him, and they came into the land of Canaan. There Abram built an altar and worshipped God. Now the Canaanites dwelt in the land, and they were very wicked. Abram did not build a house there, but lived in a tent; he was a pilgrim and a stranger all his life.
But Abram’s faith was tried, for soon a famine came. Abram seemed to forget that God would feed and take care of him, for he went down into Egypt.
Now God had not told Abram to go down to Egypt, and after he had been there some time, He caused Abram to be very humbled and ashamed for what he had done. Abram left Egypt and returned to the very spot where he had first set up his tent and altar. Then he was happy in the Lord again.
Egypt, to us, is a picture of the world. As long as a Christian goes on with the Lord, He will keep him happy. But if he goes into the world, he will be miserable and unhappy, for God cannot bless him there. Not until he repents and returns to the Lord will he be happy again.
ML-07/31/1977