Day 19

“When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife’. Then they will kill me but will let you live. Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared because of you. When Abram came to Egypt, the Egyptians saw that she was a very beautiful woman. And when Pharaoh’s officials saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh, and she was taken into his palace. He treated Abram well for her sake…” — GENESIS 12:12-16

Staying in the will of God is not always easy. Sometimes it takes sheer, cold-blooded discipline because everything around us screams to move out and divert. We can be sure that when we are led by God, the devil will be lurking around, waiting to offer an attractive alternative.

Abraham stepped out of the will of God by settling in Haran, where he had accumulated wealth and possessions. Years later, he left Haran and travelled to Canaan, the land God wanted to give him. But his roots were planted more so in the land than they were in God. Hit by a severe famine, Abraham left Canaan for Egypt. The second time Abraham moves out of the will of God, he gains even more wealth in Egypt. The devil is totally capable of sweetening the pot, and usually by unsavoury means. 

There is a myth that God has pledged to give us an unbroken run of prosperity, but if that were true, we would gain a lot of counterfeit Christians, because there’s plenty of reason to become a Christian if we are going to prosper, none of them having to do with God. If God is our focal point, the devil is our antithesis. The closer we get to God, the harder he’ll tug to pull us away. We have to be on our guard, because once we move out of the will of God, we are on our own. The devil won’t protect us. We have to do that ourselves, and in doing so, will often resort to scheming and manipulating circumstances in our favour. When that happens, we can be sure that we are subconsciously aware that God isn’t in this. We know we have played by our own rules, and the consequences can be devastating. 

God didn’t dissolve His covenant with Abraham because of disobedience. He rescued Him, and the first thing Abraham did when he re-entered Canaan was go to the altar he had built between Bethel and Ai to worship God. There is a beautiful relevancy to Abraham pitching his tent, and where he pitched his tent, he built an altar; the tent depicting the material, temporal world he was part of, and the altar, the spiritual, eternal world he was also part of. Perhaps that’s what we all need to do; erect an altar of praise and worship to God within our hearts, and make that the first place we go when temptation strikes or crisis hits.

PRAYER: Dear Heavenly Father, May I always focus on You, especially in times of temptation and crisis. Thank You for your forgiveness when difficult circumstances have caused me to rely more on my own resources than yours. I need that altar of praise and worship within me, Lord, and I’ll make it the first place I go.

TO REFLECT UPON: Am I alert to the many schemes and temptations the devil uses to pull me away from God? How do I react when confronted with something I know is not in the will of God, however appealing it may be?