“Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe.”          Genesis 12:10 NIV

Abram was a man with flocks and herds, and when the rains failed these were severely threatened. He saw his immediate source of sustenance endangered, and it must have seemed increasingly impossible to remain where he was. As the scarcity of food grew, he felt driven to leave, even though God had called him to be there. There is not a word here 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 drove 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, and there is a famine in the land? 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 away, and at times, physically, if we can. If we simply cannot flee physically, we try to run away mentally. We escape the unpleasant reality by a flight into unreality. There is so much of this being done today. Some retreat into a mental Egypt where life seems much more pleasant than it is in reality.

PRAYER THOUGHT

Lord, help us not to flee in fear in those times of famine in our lives.

PRAYER FOR TODAY

Lord, help us not to flee in fear in those times of famine in our lives, but to seek You in prayer before we do anything that may harm our lives or that of others. AMEN

INTERNATIONAL BIBLE READING ASSOCIATION (IBRA)

Isaiah 6:1-13

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