escape to egypt
Genesis 12:10-16 10 Now there was a famine in the lend So Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there for the famine was severe in the land. 1 I When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to Sarai his wife. “I know that you are a woman beautiful in appearance, 12 and when the Egyptians see you, they will soy. ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me, but they will let you live. 13 Say you are my sister, that it may go well with me because of you, and that my life may be spared for your sake.” 14 When Abram entered Egypt. the Egyptians saw Mot the woman was very beautiful. 15 And when the princes of Pharaoh saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh. And the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house.
16 And for her sake he dealt well with Abram.
There is not a word here [in our Bible reading today in Genesis 12:10-16] about asking God’s permission to go down to Egypt. Abram took counsel, not from God. but from his fears alone. To use a contemporary expression. he “pushed the panic button,” and down to Egypt he went. It was fear that dove him.
If the land is a symbol for us of the life of fellowship with a living Christ. then a famine in the land is any circumstance that threatens our dependence upon Him. It is any circumstance that makes faith difficult to maintain. Have you ever experienced such a famine? Have you been living in the full joy of fellowship with Christ, and the strength of God is your portion, and suddenly some circumstance beyond your control makes it difficult to maintain that fellowship? It may be a new boss who turns out to he an ogre; or neighbors who throw their garbage over the back fence; or a tiger of a mother-in-law who come to live with you. It is always some difficult circumstance of life that makes it hard to maintain fellowship with Christ. Perhaps it’s demanding labor that leave you little time for cultivating the spirit. It may be a bitter disappointment that crushes you, and your heart aches so that you can hardly find strength for prayer and fellowship. It mas be depressing surroundings that are hard to rise above. It may be misunderstood motives—you meant to do good. and someone took it wrong, and you has been cut to the quick. In short, it’s any temptation that seems more than you can bear, which threatens to cut off your very strength, your fellowship with Christ.
When this occurs, the temptation is to flee rather than to stick it out. We do not enjoy trials like this, and we try to get assay—physically, if we can. We move to another neighborhood. change jobs, take a trip, or go home to mother. If we simple cannot flee physically, we try to run away mentally. We escape to the unpleasant reality by a flight into fantasy. There is so much of this being done today—some retreat into a mental Egypt when; life seems much more pleasant than it is in reality. Whenever We attempt to satisfy the spirit by the same resources that worldlings have at their command, we has gone down to Egypt. —Ray Stedman
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