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HOW TO FACE THE TRIALS OF LIFE
Gen. 12:10-
INTRODUCTION:
1.
One of the wonderful things about Scripture is that it doesn’t sugar coat its heroes.
All the men and women that God used in Scripture possessed character flaws.
Jacob was a liar and a swindler.
Solomon was polygamous like his father, David.
The disciples constantly failed Christ, even denying him before his resurrection.
Peter, specifically, had anger and pride issues.
2. This is also true with Abraham, who is called the father of those who believe ().
Even though Abraham is given as a model in the Old and New Testament of a man of faith, we see that men of faith fail.
The reality is - we all fail…we all have character issues.
Paul, possibly the greatest Christian that ever lived, said this in ...
3.
One of the great catalysts of sin in the life of believers and nonbelievers alike are trials.
Trials, like fire, demonstrate the weaknesses in our character.
4. With Abraham, one of the weaknesses of his character was lying.
5.
With Abraham, one of the weaknesses of his character was lying.
And in this text, he lies about his wife to protect himself and almost loses her.
Maybe he learned to lie as a young boy & what we see in this passage…is that this pattern of lying is still in his life even after God has called him.
So, God allows a trial to come & expose and deal with this character flaw.
This pattern was still in the life of Abraham after his call, and God brings a trial to expose and deal with this character flaw.
This trial did not eradicate his lying, but it brought it to the surface so God could begin to work on it in Abraham’s life.
We see this character flaw again in , when Abraham lies to Abimelech to protect himself.
This trial didn’t eradicate his lying, but it brought it to the surface so God could begin to work on it in Abraham’s life.
We see this character flaw again in , when Abraham lies to Abimelech to protect himself.
What character flaws show up in your life while in a trial?
Is it anger, impatience, anxiety, or even lying, as it was with Abraham?
5.
As we look at this text, we learn principles about how to respond to trials in order to help us be more faithful in them.
6. Abraham doesn’t handle this trial correctly, and therefore, he is a model to us by his failure.
But Scripture teaches that even the failures of God’s people are meant to be examples to us.
1) Believers Must Expect Trials (v 10)
1.
When Abraham gets to the land, there is a famine.
We aren’t told the cause of the famine.
“The cause could have been drought, diseased crops, a plague of locusts, or simply a failed harvest.”
2. Abraham was probably shocked.
He had left his family, home, and country to obey God’s command, and his obedience led him right into a trial.
His hometown, Ur, was near the Euphrates River, it was a very fruitful and rich area.
It was quite possible that Abraham had never experienced a famine before.
However, now, he and his family were in trouble.
NOTE: This is a common experience for those who follow God.
Often, we may feel that because we are following God we shouldn’t experience problems...But, that’s not true.
In fact, many times our problems increase because of following God.
Sometimes our problems are natural - We live in a fallen world, in which sin has affected everything.
There are droughts, tsunamis, sickness, and death - We are still affected by these things, even though we are following God.
But there is also spiritual warfare and sometimes persecution.
Satan doesn’t want us following God so he works very hard to discourage us and make us turn away from God.
That was his plan with Job.
He brought sickness, bankruptcy, and death, all for the purpose of making Job curse God...And ultimately, all trials are used by God to help believers grow.
They create perseverance, character, and hope in God.
).
NOTE: We should expect trials & problems.
Because of this reality, we should expect them.
We can discern this not only from Abraham’s narrative but throughout Scripture.
Joseph had a vision of his parents and brothers bowing down to him, and soon after, he was sold into slavery.
Moses killed a man expecting to be Israel’s deliverer, and right after, he spends forty years in the wilderness.
Elijah prophetically spoke against Ahab and Israel, and he was, immediately, sent to the Brook Kerith to be alone.
Then, after some time, the brook dried up.
Trials commonly come to those following God.
We can discern this not only from Abraham’s story but throughout Scripture.
Joseph had a vision of his parents and brothers bowing down to him, and soon after, he was sold into slavery.
Moses killed a man expecting to be Israel’s deliverer, and right after, he spends forty years in the wilderness.
Elijah prophetically spoke against Ahab and Israel, and he was, immediately, sent to the Brook Cherith to be alone...Then, after some time, the brook dried up.
Trials commonly come to those who follow God.
Notice that James says “when” not “if.”
He essentially says, we should expect trials.
NOTE: Trials are a part of life…and they are a part of following God.
We should expect them.
And tonight, you’re either going through a trial…coming out of a trial…or about to go into a trial.
2) Believers Must Recognize that with Each Trial Comes a Temptation (v 11-13)
1.
The next thing we can discern about trials from Abraham’s example is that every trial comes with a temptation.
2. In this text, I think we see two possible failures from Abraham.
When the famine comes, Abraham immediately leaves the promised land and goes to Egypt.
Also, we see that he sets a plan to lie about his wife by saying that she is his sister to protect himself.
Ultimately, through both decisions, Abraham decides to rely on himself and his wisdom instead of God’s.
3. Now before I go on and talk about with the trial comes temptation…I want to briefly mention that trials are also a time of testing.
NOTE: God uses trials as a time of testing& purifying of His people.
He says, “every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will produce more fruit.”
Pruning is a cutting away of all the dead or damaged branches…and it implies pain.
Every branch that is fruitful, he cuts at it so that it can bear more fruit.
I believe this is what happened with Abraham.
He had been faithful, and now God prunes him so he can be more faithful and more fruitful.
God didn’t waste any time in preparing Abraham for the great call on his life.
He immediately sends him into the famine so he can start pruning him.
God wanted to cut away old habits, sinful attitudes, self-reliance, and the fear of man.
All these old attitudes were unfit for Abraham’s calling, and this is true for us as well.
NOTE: God will always send us into trials so that he can train us to become godly.
James 1:2-
These trials were meant to change them into the very image of Christ.
God uses trials & times of testing to change our lives.
God wants to use trials for our good.
He wants to make us stronger…He wants to make us better.
So, God uses trials to grow us & change us.
4.
However, Satan wants to use trials as a means of temptation.
So, the question we need to answer concerning our passage is this - Why was it a sin for Abraham to leave the promised land?
(F.
B. Meyer said, “In the figurative language of Scripture, Egypt stands for alliance with the world, and dependence on an arm of flesh.”)
Is.
5. Now, it must be noted that throughout Israel’s history, God at times called his people to go to Egypt for safety.
We see this with Jacob and his family.
During a famine, Joseph was second in command in Egypt.
God spoke to Jacob & commanded him to go down to Egypt and informed him that one day he would bring his family back to the promised land.
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