Gen 12-13, Abram and Sarai in Egypt

“When Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman (Sarai, his wife) was very beautiful. And when the princes of Pharaoh saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh. And the woman was taken into Pharaoh's house. And for her sake he dealt well with Abram; and he had sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male servants, female servants, female donkeys, and camels.” Genesis 12:14-16




I’m almost ashamed that I’ve allowed myself to get this old. And now I sometimes feel like I’m left unwillingly wallowing in the social side effects of being in my late 30’s.


For instance, most all of my friends can be split into one of two categories- Married or Divorced. Having never been either, I usually stay awkwardly silent about the whole issue of marriage. Also because I’ve been warned by every former girlfriend to, “Never give anyone any type of advice on relationships, ever.”


So that in mind, I’ve used this sermon by Mark Driscoll (posted below) to interpret the blessings and woe’s of Abram’s first recorded dealings with Sarai, his wife. And for all its immature humor Mark does bring a curious peek into what might have been the early personality of Abram.


An important point to mention is that Abram was by no means a saintly man. In fact I think Mark may refer to him as a “lug-nut” more than once. However, that does create a beautiful setting for us as God’s children to understand. Because God does not call extraordinary people into service, He calls ordinary people into an extraordinary service.


In another key point during the sermon, Mark talks about the gifts Abram received from an ungodly pharaoh as rewards during Abram’s sinful acts. Mark say’s, “It looks like Abram is totally profiting from ungodliness. The truth is that everything he obtains later becomes for him, a curse. The point is this, you can obtain wealth and fame and power but if you do so apart from the kindness of God; what you perceived to be a blessing will actually consume you in the end.”


That hits home with me. I’ve often been confused in life by the imbalance of wealth and fulfillment. For me, they’ve always seemed to conflict. I do know that the times in my life when I’ve been most wealthy are those same times when I’ve been most destructive.


And that’s not to say that wealth is by any means a destructive thing. But it is important to understand that even a seemingly godly blessing such as wealth can be obtained sinfully, thereby being granted by Satan for our harm (see Luke 4:5-7).


Any-who, read Gen 12-13, listen to the sermon below and write your own damn commentary. I’m headin’ over to the Christian Singles website.

Mark Driscoll, Genesis 12:10-13

oh, to save time skip the first 10 minutes of the sermon.

(he's just doing some church announcements)