BEING KEPT BY GOD - But God would not let Abraham go. God came in, not to deal with Abraham but to deal with Pharaoh. Verse 17 says, “And the Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife.” The Bible says that great plagues came upon Pharaoh and his house. Although it is not confirmed by the word in the Bible, I believe that from the time Pharaoh took Sarah he became seriously ill, becoming sick to such an extent that he was about to die. We are told that great plagues were upon him and his house. What were these plagues? Did a fire burn the palace? I do not believe that. After much consideration, I strongly believe that the plagues were certain diseases that came over Pharaoh and over everyone in the house with the exception of Sarah. The whole palace might have talked about what was happening, wondering why everyone had become sick, why Pharaoh was dying, and why only Sarah had been spared. Perhaps they said, “Who is that woman? Why is she not sick?” They might have asked Sarah the reason. Sarah, seeing the whole situation, began to understand. Then she told Pharaoh that she was Abraham’s wife. I believe that this is the way it might have happened. God’s hand was on Pharaoh for Sarah. He came in to preserve Abraham and his wife.

When we, the believers, have faith in God, all of the surrounding people receive the benefits, but when we fail to have faith in God, we may bring harm to the people in our surroundings. God was sovereign and Pharaoh suffered. Although I do not say that God took things out of Pharaoh’s hand and passed them on to Abraham, the real situation was somewhat like that. Eventually, Abraham did not lose his wife but instead gained great riches.

While he was in Egypt, Abraham experienced God’s keeping grace. Without the keeping grace, none of us can remain on the high point of our experience. We all need the keeping grace. Do not trust in your experience-trust in His keeping grace. As far as God’s keeping grace was concerned, Abraham was still on the high point even when he was selling his wife in Egypt. Whether he was on the top or on the bottom, he was always in God’s keeping grace. In a very good sense Abraham never touched Egypt, for the keeping grace was under him all the time. Although he went down to Egypt, he was still in the keeping grace. Even if you have fallen, you are still in the keeping grace, and the keeping grace will bring you back to the high point. The keeping grace could say to Abraham, “Abraham, don’t be naughty anymore. You gave me an opportunity to show you my sovereignty, but it is better for you to trust in me.”

HAVING LEARNED THE LESSON THAT GOD TAKES CARE OF HIM IN EVERYTHING AND THAT EVERYTHING IS IN GOD’S HAND - By this one experience in Egypt Abraham learned that the God who called him also took care of him and that everything was in His hand. As we shall see, the next chapter proves that Abraham had learned this lesson. Through this experience Abraham was disciplined not only to trust in God but to know that God is real and faithful.

As long as you are one of God’s called ones, He will take care of you whether or not you believe in Him or trust in Him. If you stay on the high point, He feeds you. If you fall to the bottom, He feeds you the more. Whether we stay on the high point or fall to the bottom is up to us. It does not make any difference to Him, for whether we are on the top or on the bottom, He takes care of us. This is our story as well as the story of Abraham. I can testify to you from my experience that God is real and faithful. Our Father is real and faithful. The One who has called us is real and faithful. Regardless of whether the economy of the world is good or bad, God takes care of us.

We, the called ones, can enjoy God. While we may be selling our wives, our God is taking care of us. While we may be planning to sell our wives to save our lives, God is planning how to preserve our wives, to gain many things for us, and to send us back to His place with all of the riches that we have acquired. When I read this story at first, I did not agree with it. Eventually, I was laughing because our calling God is so good. When Abraham was planning to sell his wife, God was preparing to bless him, preserve his life, and give him many riches. If I had been Abraham at that time, I would have said, “God, what can I say? I have no face to say anything to You.” If I had been Abraham and had looked at my wife, cattle, and servants, I would not even have had the face to say, “Father, thank You.” I would have said to Sarah, “Dear, let us go back. It doesn’t matter whether the servants want to come with us or not. I don’t deserve any of these riches that God has given us and I feel ashamed to enjoy them. I am not worthy, but God gives so freely. Sarah, while I was selling you, God gave all of these things to us. You may say that it is good, but I feel ashamed. Sarah, you pray and thank God for me. I just don’t have the face to pray for myself.” I do believe that this happened to Abraham.

In 13:1 we see that Abraham “went up out of Egypt.” He went back to the very place where the high point was, “unto the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai; unto the place of the altar, which he had made there at the first: and there Abram called on the name of the Lord” (13:3-4). Abraham returned to the place where he had built an altar and pitched his tent. When Abraham was planning to sell his wife in Egypt, there was no altar, tent, or calling on the name of the Lord. There was no declaration of his anti-testimony to Babel. When he was in Egypt, he lost all of this. But Abraham came back to the beginning, to the place of the altar, and there he recovered his calling on the name of the Lord.
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