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The Scriptures are the Word of God. They are the direct result of the Holy Spirit's personal ministry of inspiration and revelation. He is the Spirit of Truth. The Scriptures clearly reflect that fact.

All Scriptures reveal the truth. The truth in all things. At all times. With all people. The Scriptures never deviate from the truth. They never modify it in any way whatsoever. "Thy Word is truth!" (John 17: 17).

Abraham is called: "The friend of God!" It would be hard to think of any higher honor than that. That God should describe any man as: "The friend of God!"

Paul describes Abraham in a very significant way, as the father of all who live by faith.

"Know ye therefore that they which are of the faith, the same are the children of Abraham" (Galatians 3: 7).

Yet. Abraham was a man. He was totally human. He can be described in exactly the same terms as Elijah. That he "was a man subject to like passions as we are!" (James 5: 17).

That is exactly the way the Scriptures reveal Abraham. We are shown the great triumphs of faith. But also his faltering steps. His failures. Along with the consequences of both.

He was not perfect. He never claimed to be perfect. He was no different to us. We can learn so much from him. From his victories, and from his failures.

The record of the victories and the defeats is there, to teach us, as well as to reveal to us the dangers. To both correct us, and to inspire and encourage us.

This is a most surprising development. Particularly to all of our human expectations; to the human understanding of how "things should be!" From the human perspective, it appears to be an illogical development. Unreasonable. Even, unfair!

How could this happen? Why did God let it happen? Especially to His faithful servant?

He had called Abram to the life of faith. He had assured His servant of His unfailing presence. Of the faithfulness of His Word. Of the reality of His blessing.

Abram had responded to the Lord in faith. He had honored Him in devoted obedience. He did everything that was required of him. He went all the way without faltering, up until this point.

The Lord had personally appeared to him. He had so graciously honored His servant's faithfulness. His obedience. The Lord had given to him the guarantee, "Unto thy seed will I give this land!"(Genesis 12: 7).

Abram had again believed God. In faith he worshipped. Willingly. Totally. Sacrificially. All that he was found joyful and sincere expression in deep thanksgiving and praise.

It was all so very positive. Excitingly, wonderfully positive.

Now for - what? The testing! The very severe testing of his faith! The inevitable testing of faith!

At this point Abram was faced with a vital spiritual principle. A principle which is firmly fixed, in fact, eternally fixed. Fixed in the pure purposes of God Himself.

The best example of this inevitable reality in life is to be found in the New Testament, in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Lord Jesus had been baptized by John the Baptist. At that moment, "The heavens were opened unto Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon Him. "And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased (Matthew 3 16. 17).

Following the very moment of His powerful anointing with the Holy Spirit! The moment of the glorious witness of The Father! Now, what?

“Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil"(Matthew 4 : 1).

This is spiritual reality! Spiritual reality as it actually is in the plan and purposes of God. This experience is certainly not unique. Nor is it limited to the Lord Jesus. Or Abram. It is common. Common to all who seek to live by faith in God and His Word.

The Old and New Testaments repeatedly reveal this principle in practice.

There are two issues which are involved here. First, the fact that we are inevitably involved in very real spiritual warfare. To respond to God in faith guarantees that fact. The conflict is real. Actual. The enemy will contest very new step of faith. Depend on it.

Then, that which is equally important, there is the refining of that faith. This is an integral part of God working in us. He knows that the fires of testing are absolutely essential, being vital to the process of the refining of our faith.

"That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ" (I Peter 1: 7).

Every step of faith will be tested! Must be tested! Every time of real blessing must be tested. It may well be that: the greater the blessing the greater the testing!

"Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you: But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings" (I Peter 4: 12, 13).

Abram was faced with this most unexpected development. He had been promised blessing. Yet, he was confronted with a famine!

He had his entire group to think about. He had to take into account the welfare of his family. As well as everyone and everything who had traveled with them.

He knew what famine meant. They would be faced with the serious shortage of food. Possibly the shortage of water.

Up until this point, in faith he had obeyed the Word of the Lord. The Lord had brought him safely to this point, and: into this extremely difficult situation. But: what now? What was he to do about this famine?

The inevitable questions would trouble him. The nagging doubts. The perplexing uncertainty.

Had it actually been God who really called him? Or had that been nothing more than a foolish figment of his own imagination?

Had God actually promised to bless him? Or was that no more than his own wishful thinking?

Had he foolishly placed his family in the most serious jeopardy? Should he have been content to stay back in Haran?

What could he do now? Where could he turn now? What did the future hold?

The whole situation appeared to be so ominous. So threatening.

So human! So very much like us! We who are so quick to complain: Why me? So quick to resort to self pity: it looks as though everything is going wrong! What has gone wrong? I believed God's Word. I did my best to act in faith on His promise!

In addition to that, there is the mockery of the world. Of those who are quick to ridicule: You call that faith? It looks like sheer foolishness to me!

Had God failed? Did this famine prove that God was unable to keep His promises? Did He leave His servant to depend on his own devices and resources, forcing him to trust his wits to find a way through?

The answer to all those questions is, No! A resounding: NO! Yet we today actually do have such great difficulty believing that.

This is not God's failure. It is the trial of Abram's faith. It was to prove to be a most severe test of his faith.

God never fails. We are the ones who fail, we fail the test of faith.

Sadly, there are so many have failed in the fires of trial. They had once responded to the Word of God in faith. They believed in the Lord Jesus. But, then: The unexpected and severe test of that faith. The sharp trial. That inevitable reality confronted them.

They were faced with personal perplexity. Stretched to the limit by problems. So anxious about the seemingly insurmountable difficulties. Faith faltered. Faith failed. They quit.

Faith inevitably fails when the focus of faith moves. When we transfer it. When we move it away from the Lord who is with us. Who speaks His Word to us. Even in the most severe times of testing He is there, seeking to continue to speak to us.

Our attention is concentrated on the problems. The difficulties. Faith falters. Fear so quickly takes over. Fear focuses on and magnifies the "impossible" difficulties which confront us.

"And there was famine in the land: and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there; for the famine was grievous in the land."

Abram's attention was completely focused on only one thing: the famine, which was so very grievous! He felt compelled to concentrate totally on that one circumstance, to the exclusion of everything else. No one else could get his attention. Not even: The Lord!

That is such a human response to that type of development. A serious "crisis" arises, which, we believe, demands our complete attention. It is "so urgent", we are convinced that we have no choice but to concentrate on that, and so we do, excluding the Lord from our consideration.

In fact, we find it easy to convince ourselves that that is "the responsible thing" to do. How irresponsible it would be to do anything else! But, is that really the case?

Abram's focus was the famine, that demanded his urgent attention. But that was not the responsible reaction to the situation! In fact, it was quite irresponsible! Inexcusably so.

His focus should have been : The Lord! The Lord is always the focus of faith. The Lord and His faithfulness, His sufficiency. His inexhaustible resources.

The Lord knew all about the famine. He was not caught unprepared. He is never caught unprepared. He always has His answer, and His answer is the only answer that works!

There is nothing more urgent than to keep the Lord in view. That is the only responsible reaction to any test or trial .

"Abram went down into Egypt!" Not because the Lord sent him there. Not because that was the will of God. He went down there because he felt he must do "something"!

This is not criticism merely for the sake of being critical. It is vital that we identify these realities. Particularly for the sake of our own walk of faith.

We make the same mistakes far too often, particularly when we have taken our eyes off the Lord. Our focus has become the test. The problem. The difficulties. We make our decision based on our fears. Not on the faith that focuses on the Lord.

The Lord wanted to prove Himself to Abram. He was not given that opportunity in this situation. His total resources were fully available to faith. But faith did not reach out to appropriate them.

That fact challenges us. We must humbly examine ourselves. Our lives. Our attitudes. Our responses.

"And it came to pass, when he was come near to enter into Egypt, that he said unto Sarai his wife, Behold, now, I know that thou art a fair woman to look upon:

Therefore it shall come to pass, when the Egyptians shall see thee, that they will say, This is his wife: and they will kill me, but they will save thee alive."

It was a total capitulation to craven fear. His mind was in turmoil. Negative thoughts were running rampant. The effect was all too obvious. His one compulsion was: self-preservation at whatever cost proved to be necessary.

He had removed his focus from the Lord. He had taken his life into his own hands. He was remorselessly driven by the apparent threat of adverse circumstances, resorting to his own defective and utterly inadequate wisdom in this extremely perplexing situation.

What had happened to faith? Once he had been so sure of the Lord's presence with him. He had been completely confident of hearing the clear Word of the Lord. Willing to trust. To obey. But no longer!

He does not trust the Lord. Not with the problem of the famine. Nor with the imagined danger from the Egyptians.

Faith has collapsed before fear. Commitment to the Lord is routed by the cowardly compromise that was motivated by fear.

He was following the philosophy that is so prevalent today. He saw the situation through the eyes of the world. He made his decisions based on the standards and practices of the world. He acted out the debased priorities and values of the world.

"Conformed to this world!" The world of self! Self-preservation. Self- seeking. Self-gratification. Self-justification.

We cannot point the finger of accusation at Abram, for it points straight back at us. We have all been guilty. Guilty more often than we dare to admit even to ourselves.

It is an abject surrender. The surrender of faith to fear. It is so common.

It happens for various reasons. Some think the trials are too demanding. The fires of testing are too hot. The threats appear to be so real. So severe. The cost of going on seems to be too great.

Then there is the ridicule. The opposition. The misunderstanding. The misrepresentation.

Others have let us down. We have lost confidence in leaders. 0n and on it goes. The reasons. The excuses. They are all excuses. Not one of them is the real reason for our problem.

There is only one actual reason. This was the case with Abram. It is equally the case with us today.

One reason! We have transferred our focus from the Lord to someone or to something else. While we are quietly content to keep our focus on the Lord faith stands strong. Victorious. Unmoved. Unmovable.

Abram transferred his focus. What a high price he paid. What a high price we pay for that same failure.

First, their lie was believed. The Egyptians accepted Sarai as the sister of Abram. Not for one moment did they imagine that she was his wife. He had achieved that aim successfully.

This meant that there was no threat against him personally. His safety was secure.

0r, was he really secure? Had he really succeeded? Either way, what an extremely high price he had to pay for the luxury of being able to “feel secure.”

Sarai, his wife had been taken away from him! Taken into Pharaoh's house. The intention was to include her in Pharaoh's harem!

Success? Never! It was nothing but the most abysmal failure! That Abram's wife should be taken to be a wife of this pagan king!

This was not in God's plan. Not God's will. Either for Abram or Sarai. What of God's promise concerning the seed of Abram?

Everything was thrown into total confusion. Into very real jeopardy. All for the sake of a temporary respite from "danger"!

Success? How do people really measure it? Very often in a totally selfish way! So rarely taking into account vital eternal values.

They yield to fear, thus renouncing the life of faith. They respond to situations according to the mind of the world. Panic builds. The passion for self-preservation takes over.

And for a while, they may be able convince themselves that they have succeeded in achieving their goal!

But at what a terrible cost! To themselves! To the life of faith! To others!

Yes, at what a terrible cost to others. Loved ones. Family. Friends. All as a direct result of such inexcusable failure! Those who we claim to love could well be lost: Eternally!

At what a cost! To the plan and purpose of God! He grieves over our self_will. He weeps over our self-justification. He sees so very clearly the ultimate reality.

"And he (Pharaoh) entreated Abram well for her sake: and he had sheep, and oxen, and he asses, and menservants, and maidservants, and she asses, and camels!"

But wait. Abram was made prosperous by Pharaoh. Not by God. That is not genuine success. Rather it was getting much deeper into a most treacherous situation! Becoming more entangled in a very dangerous predicament!

There are those who have foolishly sacrificed faith to self. It appears to them that they have really profited in many ways by doing so. Profited personally. They may even claim, This works for me! But, does it really work?

"For what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" (Matthew 16: 26).

The devil is so cunning and clever. Dangerously clever. Insidiously cunning. He finds it so easy to convince people that they are right. Right to give up the life of faith because they appear to have so much to gain. Then, after the fact, that they have really profited from that decision. Or, have they?

Nor should we ignore the key words. "He entreated Abram well FOR HER SAKE!" It was all because Abram had sacrificed Sarai. This was a sacrifice which he had no right to make. And even far less right to profit from it.

The attitude of Pharaoh would be quite different if he knew the truth. The gifts would not have been so freely provided. That would not matter: to faith!

Faith and truth would have assured Abram that he had the best provision: The Lord's provision. For all his need!

Apparent success? Notice the reference to, "Maidservants!" Did that include Sarai's maidservant? The Egyptian: Hagar?

For many years following this event the maidservant, Hagar, continued to travel with them. She shared their camp as a maidservant to Sarai. Yet the time would come when both Abram and Sarai would so deeply regret her presence.

How many heart-aches may have been avoided? How many problems would not have arisen? If only they had acted in faith!

But - Hagar was there. A constant reminder of the fact that, in fear, Abram went into Egypt. In fear he had acted so foolishly. In fear. Not in faith.

The fruits of our fear cling so tenaciously to us. They haunt us! Mock us. Often causing great heart_ache. Deep hurt. Constant turmoil.

“Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap!

For he that soweth to his flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting" (Galatians 6: 7, 8).

It is not surprising to discover that God, in grace, intervened. He would not let this situation continue unchallenged. He had called Abram to the life of faith. That call was part of His eternal plan.

It was to be expected that God would intervene. What is surprising is the way God chose to intervene!

"And the LORD plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai Abram's wife."

The Lord's intervention focused on Pharaoh. Why him? Why not Abram? Abram was the one who had failed the Lord. Abram was the one who had put his wife in that untenable position. Abram had deceived Pharaoh.

There was a time when the Lord could speak to Abram. Personally. Directly. And Abram would respond. Immediately. In faith.

But: not now! Abram was not listening to God. He was not looking to the Lord. He was not following in faith. What a tragic reality that is!

He had once enjoyed the blessing of the presence of the Lord in his life on a daily basis. But no longer. The awareness of real peace was destroyed. Abram was a moral and spiritual wreck!

He had placed his wife in an extremely bad situation. She was in very real moral and spiritual danger!

Why had he acted in this way? To make things "easier" for himself. It was all so foolish. Endangering that most vital relationship. Placing their marriage, and their promise of a son, at such terrible risk!

That is the personal reality. To Abram. To Sarai. All the while the threat of greater tragedy ominously overshadowed the entire situation.

There is nothing to gain, even as there is everything to lose, when we allow the focus of our faith to move from the Lord to anything, or anyone, else. The inevitable end today is still the same.

We will always and inevitably pay a very high price. We suffer. Our loved ones suffer. All that we have and are is threatened with disastrous damage!

What of the impact on those who do not know the Lord? What an awesome challenge there is to us here!

The presence of God's man of faith should have the most positive effect. The situation should always be such that God can work effectively in blessing. Thus, to bring more people to Himself.

But - not in Abram's case! Not when he went into Egypt. God's desire to bless was so seriously limited. His plan and purpose was severely restricted.

It was said of the Lord Jesus: "And He did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief" (Matthew 13: 58).

Instead of blessing, Abram was the cause of judgment. "The LORD plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues."

Judgment on the Egyptians! All, as the result of Abram's fear. Of his desperate act of self-preservation. He had acted so foolishly. He left God with no alternative, instead of grace: Judgment! Instead of blessing: plagues! How the Egyptians had every reason to resent and regret the present of this "man of faith"

Pharaoh was fully justified in sending them away. "Now therefore behold thy wife, take her, and go thy way" . . . "And they sent him away, and his wife, and all that he had."

That tragic reality is being constantly repeated. Marked by the presence of people who profess to know the Lord. Who claim to serve Him in faith. But there is no blessing from God. Rather nothing but problems. Resentment. Rejection!

Faith has withered. In its place is debasing worldliness. A wretched self-serving attitude. Their presence contributes nothing positive. God cannot use them. His desire to save and to bless is effectively thwarted.

Many precious souls will be lost eternally. People who could have been reached for the Lord. People who are so fully justified in condemning faithless "believers"!

Did Abram give any thought to the possible long term consequences? Particularly in his relationship to the Lord?

Unbelief inevitably grieves the Lord! Abram's unbelief had grieved the Lord! Did that fact really get through to him?

To lie and deceive grieves the Lord. To jeopardize His plan grieves the Lord. To hurt others as Abram hurt Pharaoh and his people. That also grieves the Lord.

It is said of the Lord Jesus, "And when He had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts" (Mark 3: 5).

The cause of all this was unbelief. Lack of true faith. That lead to hardness of heart. Or, blindness of heart! The Lord Jesus was grieved by it. So deeply grieved that it made Him angry!

God had clearly revealed His will, which was to bless all people through Abram. But instead, an entire nation is subjected to plagues, as the direct result of Abram's lack of faith!

It would be foolish blindness to imagine that the Lord was not grieved, that His anger was not stirred.

The situation is no different today. Unbelief denies God His desire to bless others through His people. It inevitably results in others suffering. The Lord is grieved by this fact. Grieved, and angered by the blindness of unbelief. By the hardness of heart that always results.

But for grace, it would have been totally destroyed. God in grace persisted with His stumbling, bumbling servant. Persisted through grace applying correction and reproof. Through conviction and chastisement.

In grace the Lord persevered. To restore His servant to the life of faith.

How deeply thankful we must be for that reality. In grace - God does not give up on us either. He would be fully justified if He left us to our foolishness. But He perseveres with us in His amazing grace.

He always wants to restore the fellowship of faith. The true life of faith. To bring us back into the close walk of faith with Himself.

Faith will be tested. Count on it: Our faith will be severely tested. It is the will of our Lord that we go through the fires of trial. In grace and love He seeks to refine us. To conform us to the image and likeness of His Son.

We will be in the fires! There: let us always discipline ourselves to keep our focus right. Our eyes on The Lord

If faith falters - when faith falters - immediately look back to the Lord!

When we become aware that we have grieved Him? Confess the failure. Get back into the fellowship of faith immediately.

Always remember: The Lord is totally committed to bring us through! He never fails!