July 10, 2026:

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe.” (Genesis 12.10)

TODAY’S REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

We never know how or when God may speak to us. We can be assured that He will not remain silent forever. Many times, when we least expect it, God has something to say to us. I have been asked, “How do I know God has a purpose for my life?” The best and only answer that is needed is John 3.16 and the evidence of the Cross and Resurrection. If God did not have a purpose for our lives, He would not have created Adam and Eve and set in motion the process by which all human life comes into being. However, the evidence of His commitment to us and a purposeful life is His desire to save us from eternal death and dying. The first step in that was evidenced by His sacrifice of the lamb in the Garden whose skin (or perhaps two lambs and thus two skins) were used to cover what bore witness to their shame of disobeying God. Not only did God set in motion what brings us to life (creation and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, He also set in motion how to save us from the debt of sin we would owe by our lack of trusting in God alone. So, the easy answer of “Does God have a purpose for my life?” is “Yes, because God does not do random or accidental. He put His mark on you for life with His Spirit and with His blood. If God didn’t have a plan and a purpose in mind for you, then He wouldn’t have created you at all and you would not exist today in any way, shape or form.”

Now I say this because in today’s reflection on Abram, we see he did not settle in the Negev. Because of the famine that struck across the Middle East, Abram went on to Egypt. I have to wonder if God led Abram to Egypt for provision or if Abram left on his own volition. I consider this because of how Abram acted when he got to Egypt. He was not his faithful and confident self moving through the land on a journey with God. What was he thinking when he became afraid of Pharaoh and traded the truth for a lie? If he believed that God was sovereign and showing him all the land that would be the inheritance of his offspring, then I would believe he would have acted differently. Did Abram ask himself, others or God “Do you have a purpose for me here in the Negev in the midst of a great famine?” If he did, we do not hear it. What we hear and see is that he went with all he possessed into Egypt. Perhaps he was hoping to save what was his and his affluence would garner him some favor. Perhaps the reputation of Pharaoh caused him to believe that God was insufficient to meet the need. For all his fear, Abram convinced Sarai to exchange the truth for a lie. Once again, man failed woman and ultimately failed God. That Sarai would go along with it and become a sacrificial lamb herself for Abram and all that he possessed boggles my mind. Or was it that she perceived herself as just a part of Abram’s possessions and was at his beck and call. I would not call that love!

So, what we hear in this short story is that God’s love wins out. God loved Sarai (as He knew her meaning and purpose of bearing Isaac who would pass on the legacy of promise in the land God would show them as well as the fulfillment of the prophecy given to Eve.) It makes me wonder why the sublimation of women seemed to dominate so many cultures including Judaism and in part Christianity, too. God’s promise seems to be preserved through women and their act of obedience to God and to men who act in obedience to God, too. This is why the Apostle Paul taught about submission of husbands to Christ and wives to their husbands as to Christ. Without one, the other is impossible to conceive- literally and figuratively. The conclusion of the story is that God delivered Sarai from Pharaoh with a plague of diseases. Pharaoh chastised Abram for lying to him and compromising himself and all of Egypt. God’s word of promise is confirmed once again, and it should be loud and clearly speaking to us today.

TODAY’S PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING:

Father, in these days we are finding the need to believe even more than ever before. We all have known trouble, some in greater ways than others, but You are offering us the assurance that we will not be consumed by it forever. Regardless of the “time” we are in and the “time” we have been given, we ask for Your Holy Spirit which Jesus asked You to share with us, to lead and guide and direct us in the paths we should go. Teach us what we still need to learn. Empower us to put that learning into action. Bless our actions not as a works righteousness but as righteous works of faith, hope and love in Jesus’ name. AMEN.