Is Fear ever the Will of God for the Believer? Genesis 12
One of the great OT texts that has great implications for our faith is found all the way back in Genesis 12. A man named Abram, who at the time was an idol worshiper has the most amazing thing take place in His life. He has not earned anything from God by doing good works nor has he shown himself to be a God-seeker, but in spite of the lack of righteousness in his life, God initiates a relationship with Abram and reveals Himself to him.
It is a falsehood to believe that God only reveals Himself to the good, rich, and honorable people and not to those who are not even looking for Him. On Abram’s calendar was not a seek and find God plan, but praise God He seeks for His sheep and calls them to Himself.
Let’s read the story...
Genesis 12:1 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
Those 3 verses hold the greatest of promises as God calls a man who did not know Him, to know Him, and this man would become a great nation & have a great name all because of God’s great revelation of Himself and God’s work in Abram’s life. It is God who is the great Blesser.
In these verses we get a fresh look at the promise made back in Genesis 3:15, that one was coming to crush the great enemy of the human race. From Abram would come Jesus as He is the One in whom “all the families of the earth shall be blessed”.
Genesis 12:4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him,
The one who before this was not living in obedience and not living in pursuit of Yahweh, now becomes one who does exactly as the One who made the promise tells him. He was to go until God told him he was in the land, so we read in Genesis 12:7 Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. He had arrived and in the land of promise, Abram worships the One who revealed Himself to Him. What a scene of a transformed life that is growing and knowing God more!
The deepening of Abram’s understanding of God is seen in the next verse...Genesis 12:8 From there he moved to the hill country on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. And there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord.
Here we see the initiation of worship from Abraham to the Lord and his calling on God at Bethel. He builds an altar so he can likely sacrifice and worship the Lord. Abrams puts energy into his worship by building the altar and it also indicates this is a place he would stay and build his life on God.
All is good as his faith is deepening and he is pursuing the Lord, which reveals that he is longing for more of the Lord in his life – always a good reality in the life of a believer.
A Change of Circumstances Leads to Fear
One of the certain things that can set us back so often in our faith is a change of circumstances when more difficult days enter and our not being able to see how God will come through in trying times. Unfortunately, where just before we were content with God’s leadership and when we cannot now see a way out, we grab the reigns and want to once again take control of the direction of our lives. The issue is that we always make poor drivers of life when the steering wheel of our lives in our hands without any consideration of the Lord.
Wow, have we ever had a change of circumstances in our lives during 2020! Nothing is as we once knew it and it has had such a dramatic impact upon the uncertainty of life that has led to the rise of fear that has affected everything in our lives. Fear it seems is guiding just about everything and it is not to be this way!
This chapter also gives us a very early look at the danger when those who follow God allow fear to enter and to be guided by it. Notice what happens now...
Genesis 12:10 Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land.
New circumstances with Abram could have led to great moments of faith as they could have become more settled in the land where God promised them a great influence - now a famine enters the land and is the first obstacle in Abram's young faith. Abram should have considered things like this in the midst of the famine..How will God show Himself mighty in my life? What new Word will God tell us in regard to how we will make it through this famine in the land of Promis? How will my trust in the Lord deepen my faith even more? What depth of worship will I experience now of my great God and Savior?
The Entrance of Fear
Sadly, there is no narrative of what “might have been” for Abram allows FEAR to lead him to leave the Promised Land as he heads down to Egypt. There is no Word from the Lord for Him to take this step, it is one Abram makes all on his own. Though God is always with us, we can also step out on our own and open our lives up to more danger and potential trouble. This "sidebar" in his life is dramatic and a life time waster. Will he learn from as we do? Sure, but it is a step that should not have been taken.
Now he is in a place not under the leadership of God and fear leads him to moving to a place where he sees things wrongly and begins to step on the unsteady path of fear, so the Scripture reveals this...Genesis 12:11 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 say, ‘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.”
Notice that fear leads to godlessness, lying and manipulation – there is nothing in those 3 verses that reveal a confidant trust in God. There are no words of worship or altar building in Egypt. This is why fear must not be allowed to take root in our lives as Christ-followers, for we will journey on a path of opening our lives up to having to now live in that world of continuing fear.
Fear leads to our living in the most uncertain of circumstances.
Sure enough, just what he thought might happen can come to pass for we read these words we see his fears coming true...Genesis 12:14 When Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw that 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.
Notice what his fear led to...
(1) His fear of the famine led him to not stay in the Land of Promise
(2) His fear of the famine led him to not seek God as to what to do in the midst of the famine
(3) His fear of the famine led him to embark in his own driver’s seat
(4) His fear in Egypt led him to lie and manipulate matters once there
(5) His fear in Egypt led him to place his wife in a dangerous place in Pharaoh’s house. No longer was he her protector and warrior, but lost his ‘manhood’ in that moment and wimped out by refusing to protect her
(6) His fear brought the wrath of God upon Pharaoh and his house because of Abram’s disobedience. Look at this verse now...
Genesis 12:17 But the Lord afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram's wife. 18 So Pharaoh called Abram and said, “What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? 19 Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her for my wife? Now then, here is your wife; take her, and go.”
It was only God’s intervention that set Abram back on the right road & out of Egypt. For all of us, we must never enter Egypt and if we ever step into its lands, we must leave Egypt behind and crush it. Even though he should have never met Pharoah, Abram still could have allowed his love of God to be an influence upon Pharoah’s house. All his fear brought in Egypt upon everyone was more trouble.
Living in fear never places ourselves or those we love
or those around us in a place of safety or security.
Fear breeds more fear and the more fear that dominates our lives,
the more we fail to see life in a godly way.
The lesson from Abraham in this chapter is an important one, as in the current days we are living as fear seems to have gripped the entire world, including our American culture. It is at this point where we must ask a very important question that has some ‘ouch’ with it...
Q: Is it ever God’s will for Christ-followers to live in fear?
We know the answer to the question, but let’s say it out loud and clear – NO! We are never to live in fear, but in great trust in our God who reigns over everything. It is a sin to live in fear of the things in this world.
If we are not careful we will let fear ruin so much of our lives and it will definitely affect the lives of those around us - marriage, kids, faith, trust, hope, relationships, etc. We are simply not meant to live in fear of the things of this earth.
So, what is the issue in our lives right now? Well, it is the same as we see in Genesis 12, fear leads us to step away from God and lose our trust in His gracious powerful leadership in our lives.
Fear leads us to never see a situation properly as we begin to make assumptions and withdraw. Fear places ourselves and those we love in troubling places.
All around us we see how fear is wreaking havoc with Christians & the secular world and the troubling places are seen in these realities...
· Far too many Christians are no longer coming to church to worship and study
· Suicide has dramatically increased
· Social isolation has greatly increased depression
· Alcoholism has grown
· People are finding ways to stay distant from others
· We cover the unique faces God made and gave us, therefore we never see a smile in public anywhere we go
· Divorce and the breakup of key relationships has increased during 2020
· Christians have stopped living in the joy of the Lord
· The media tells us over and over we should avoid people
· Government leaders with the stroke of a pen tell families they cannot meet and eat and be thankful and we just oblige like sheep
· Anger has increased in our days toward those we used to be in community with
· In churches, people have found themselves at odds with those they love as fear has increased difficulty in our relationships depending upon how one views the virus
· Fear of the virus has led to people we love to lose their job or business
The bullet points could only be added to – all of those and more are the fruit of a world living in fear. While I understand a world with no hope of heaven living in fear, after all of these months it is hard to understand why those who know Jesus and have the assurance of heavenly salvation have forgotten we are to live with great confidence even in a pandemic.
Tragically so many Christ-followers are content to just let it all continue. We are in desperate need to WAKE O SLEEPER from the life that has arisen in 2020 to the life Jesus actually promised.
If fear has currently gripped you and you have stopped living the life God intends, all things can always be restored as with the case in Jesus Christ. It does not mean we live recklessly in the midst of a Pandemic, but it does mean we start to live again and refuse to let all kinds of fear to guide our lives.
Let me remind us all, living in fear is the most uncertain foundations for life and it is never God’s will for it to reign in our life for that place belongs to ONE Who Reigns.
Come back to living "fearful follower" and remember the joy of your salvation, the life that is eternally secure in Christ.
As I finish, can you imagine what things might look like if we who know Christ began to live again in simple trust in Him...
· Mental Health would be stable
· Spiritual life would be re-established
· We would have time for others again
· We would see faces of people
· We would feel the warmth of authentic connection
· Pursuit of Christ would be once again natural
· Community would be sought again and we would place ourselves in it
· Returning to church would be a priority
· Normalcy would return
I’m ready for that, how about you?
2 Timothy 1:7 for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.
