In 12:9—13:18 we see Abraham's trial. The word trial is not a pleasant word. No one likes to experience trials. Do you like to have trials in your life? Although no one likes trials, they are good experiences. Not too long after Abraham was called and began to live by faith, a trial came to him. Do not pray, "Lord, You are so good to me. Don't let any trials come to me." This kind of prayer will only hasten the coming of the trials. The Lord will answer your prayer in just the opposite way. If you say, "Lord, don't send any trials," the Lord will say, "I will send a trial very quickly." I am assured that no one can say that since he was called by the Lord he has always enjoyed good times. No one can say that.
Our God is not only the God of love but also the God of sovereignty. Our God is sovereign. Our God is not only the God of love, the God of light, and the God of life, but also the God of sovereignty. Everything is under His dispensation. He manages the whole world just for us. We must all believe that God manages the entire universe for every one of us. You may say, "How small I am! How could the sovereign God manage the universe just for me?" But He does manage it just for you. You must believe this. You are not so small that God does not sovereignly arrange your environment for you. You are big enough to have God's sovereign arrangement. I have learned this from my own experience. Fifty years ago I did not like this story of Abraham going down to Egypt. I simply could not be happy with that experience. When, at that time, I read some messages on Abraham's downward experience, I did not understand it and did not feel good about it. I even questioned God. But now, after many years of experience, I am very happy. How we need to hear this message on Abraham's trial!
It is easy to reach the high point in our experience with God, but it is not easy to remain there. Look at the environment that surrounds you on every side. It was sovereignly arranged before you were born. God is sovereign. Although you may consider yourself a small creature, as far as God is concerned, you are a very important person. Before the foundation of the world, God arranged everything for you. He even arranged that you would be reading this message right now. We are under God's arrangement. Do not try to escape. If you escape to a certain place, you will find that place to be the exact place that God arranged for you. When you reach old age, you will bow down and say, "Lord, I am fully convinced that You arranged everything for me before the foundation of the world."
Abraham's trial was for him to learn a lesson. We all need to learn some lessons. We cannot learn these lessons from our parents or from the experienced brothers and sisters. We all must learn some lessons of God's sovereignty.
As we have seen, the second aspect of Abraham's experience was living by faith. He had to live by trusting in God for his daily needs. In 12:10 we read that there was a grievous famine in the land. This famine was a test to see whether or not Abraham would trust in God in the matter of making a living, in the matter of his daily living.
If you examine 12:10-20, you will see that in this situation Abraham was weak and low. He failed to keep the God-appointed position and went down to Egypt. Behind Canaan was Babel, beside Canaan was Egypt, and close to Canaan was Sodom. Abraham moved gradually southward until he went down to Egypt. As we shall see, in Egypt he sinned by lying. Probably none of us would believe that Abraham could be so weak and low. God had appeared to him at Ur, at Haran, and at Shechem. At Shechem, God said to Abraham, "Unto thy seed will I give this land" (12:7). God told Abraham definitely that He was going to give that place to his descendants. Who was the God that spoke to Abraham? He was the Creator, the Possessor of heaven and earth. This was the very God that appeared to Abraham. When the famine came, Abraham should not have had any doubts but should have said, "I don't care about the famine because I have the living God. I am not concerned about the lack of food because the One who called me, brought me here, and reappeared as a confirmation to my journey is the Almighty God. I have put my trust in Him and now I am living by trusting in Him for my daily need. I don't care whether there is food or not." Abraham should have prayed in this way.
However, what did Abraham do when the famine came? Did he pray? Did he say to his wife, "Dear, let us pray"? No, it seemed that Abraham forgot to pray. When such a period of testing came to him, he did not pray. Do not laugh at Abraham. When everything is going well, you find it easy to pray. But when the famine comes, you forget that you are a Christian and only remember that you are a human being. You forget the living God who appeared to you, only remembering that you have a stomach. Abraham was concerned about his stomach. He looked at the situation: in the land there was famine, and in Egypt there was plenty of food. Abraham and his wife did not talk very much. Immediately they both agreed to go to Egypt. I believe that even before they made this decision, they were already going downward. Both the husband and the wife forgot God. They did not consider where God wanted them to go. It was as if they had no God.