My reasoning ALWAYS gets in the way when it comes to trusting God. That’s not all reasoning does. It creates fear too. At least that’s what happened to Abraham. If you know anything about Abraham, you know that God called him to pick up and go to an unknown land.
I don’t know about you, but right way the word “unknown” jumps out at me. It’s uncomfortable. It gives me a feeling of helplessness. Why–Because I want to be “in the know.” If I know where I’m going, I won’t be so afraid. On the other hand, not knowing what the future holds scares the jeepers out of me! I imagine the unknown frightens you too. But just like Abraham, God is teaching you and me to walk by faith not be sight.
It took Abraham, who was called Abram, a while to learn this lesson. As for me, it seems to be taking a lifetime. Don’t get me wrong. It’s easy to trust God and be free from fear when life is running smoothly. It’s when something happens to disturb my smooth sailing that I have trouble with fear and trust. Abram was no different.
As Abram set out on his journey, he built an alter to the Lord and worshiped at every stop. But when Abram got to Negev, he saw there was a famine in the land. Instead of pitching his tent as usual and waiting on the Lord to provide, Abraham went down to Egypt. On the way, he concocted a plan of survival. Knowing that his wife, Sarai, was beautiful, he asked her to lie and say that she was his sister. Sarai agreed.
Instead of trusting God to provide, Abram took matters in his own hand. He began to reason.
According to Donna Gains, reasoning produces fear.
Fear produces scheming.
Scheming produces sin.
…and sin has consequences.
Sound familiar anyone? This is exactly the path Abram takes.
When they reached Egypt, Sarai’s beauty was not only noticed by the Egyptians but reported to the king and taken into Pharaoh’s house. Because of Sarai, Abram was treated well. He was given sheep, camels, oxen, and servants. (Abram schemes out of fear)
The Lord stuck Pharaoh and his house with all kinds of plagues because he was about to take Sarai as a wife. Pharaoh confronted Abram, and asked him to take Sarai and all that belonged to him and go. (Abram’s sin—his lie—got them kick out of town)
Boy, can I relate. Abram took matters into his own hand. Like us, Abram asked himself, “How can I get out of this?” Instead of asking, “What can I get out of this?”
Donna raises great question. I think the next time I began to reason out of fear, I’m going to pause and make a choice to trust God instead. The thing is if you and I are going to try to protect and provide for ourselves, then God can’t. I’m sure He can do a much better job. So why not let Him?
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