FEAR OFTEN CAUSES SIN

 Text: Genesis 10:10-20

It is very clear from the passage that fear often leads to sin. Abraham panicked at the face of famine. He forgot that God specifically asked him to stay in the land of Canaan. Without praying or building an altar of enquiry, he got up and moved to Egypt.

Egypt symbolizes sin and a spiritually backslidden state. It was a land were all sorts of evil thrived. In his desire to flee in the face of difficulties, he didn't consider all these but was only focused on getting to the greener pasture. We can compare Abraham's attitude here with that of his son Isaac in Genesis 26. 

There was also a famine at that time. However, Isaac listened to God and stayed put. Verse 12 -14 of that chapter tells us that Isaac sojourned in that philistine land of Gerar (instead of going down to Egypt) and in that same period of famine, he sowed and reaped a hundred fold...then he began to prosper and continued to prosper until he became exceedingly prosperous, that the Philistines became jealous of him.

Abraham, though the father of faith showed that he too was made of flesh. He depended on his own wisdom guided by the physical senses and he made a big mess of his calling. The baggage, he came away with from that land, Hagar would later be a serious thorn in his flesh. For many years he lost touch with God.

LESSON: God is ever faithful. If we say we are his servants, we should never get up and go without due consultations with him. He is able to make rivers in the desert. He brings water out of the rock and makes a way where there is none.

Father, today we ask for grace to wait on you. Help us not to give in to fear and anxiety,  but to hold firmly to our faith in Jesus no matter the situation. Amen