When The Fear Of Man Causes Your Compromise

Abram’s lie to Pharaoh reveals what happens when protecting yourself becomes more important than obeying God.

GENESIS 12:12-20
Therefore it shall come to pass, when the Egyptians shall see thee, that they shall say, This is his wife: and they will kill me, but they will save thee alive.
Say, I pray thee, thou art my sister: that it may be well with me for thy sake; and my soul shall live because of thee.
And it came to pass, that, when Abram was come into Egypt, the Egyptians beheld the woman that she was very fair.
The princes also of Pharaoh saw her, and commended her before Pharaoh: and the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house.
And he entreated Abram well for her sake: and he had sheep, and oxen, and he asses, and menservants, and maidservants, and she asses, and camels.
And the LORD plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai Abram’s wife.
And Pharaoh called Abram, and said, What is this that thou hast done unto me? why didst thou not tell me that she was thy wife?
Why saidst thou, She is my sister? so I might have taken her to me to wife: now therefore behold thy wife, take her, and go thy way.
And Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him: and they sent him away, and his wife, and all that he had.

Abram’s Problem

Abram feared that telling the truth would cost him something – in this case, his life. So, he decided to compromise the truth to protect himself while still trying to continue toward the calling God had given him.

God told Abram to leave his home and to trust him to show him a the land he wanted Abram and his family to possess. This command came with great promises of blessings not only for Abram but for all his decedent generations.

But along the way, fear entered the picture. Instead of trusting God, Abram turned to his own logic and strategy for self-preservation and this lack of commitment to obey and trust in God is a lesson every Christian should heed.

As they traveled there was an encounter with the Egyptian Pharoah and Abram was afraid that Pharoah would kill Abram and take his beautiful wife and so he chose to like about his relationship with Saria and tell Pharoa that she was merely his sister to preserve his life.

Not only did this preserve his life, but the Bible tells us that Pharoah gave Abram sheep, oxen, servants and all other sorts of gifts and blessing for Sarai’s sake.

But then, God sent a plague on Pharoah and his household who quickly perceived he had been lied to and then kicked Abram and Sarai and their entire household out.

I am inclined to believe that it is unlikely Pharoah would have killed Abram just to take Sarai in the first place. Not only because he let them live after all the disease and drama, but also because God had a destination in mind for Abram and he still had further to journey before he got there.

Abram’s mistake was this: Abram’s fear of losing his life directed his mistake of presuming an outcome rather than trusting that God was sufficient to preserve His own plan and purpose.

There are many lessons here:

1. There are many Christians today who play politics with the truth. They do this because they are afraid of what other people might do or say. Fear of man is one of the easiest traps to fall into, and it causes people to do and say – or refuse to do and say – things they later regret.
   
   It happens in the pews. A person leaves church bold in conviction but suddenly becomes quiet about faith at work for fear of what other people might think of them. People want to be accepted by their friends so they trade things for social comfort.
   
   It happens in the pulpits. Preachers and teachers adjust the transparency of their convictions because they rationalize that it’s just as important to be invited to that conference speak. Again, the Lord might be dealing with them on an issue that might be at odds with the prevailing thought amonsgt their crowd so it gets suppressed so as not to rock the boat with their group.
   
   In both cases above, these people don’t have the courage to be alone - you could say they are in fear for their life in a proverbial sense.
   
   In both of these instances, people also come to conclusions of what they will loose unless they trade something for it. Abram traded the truth and his wife for his life. The question we need to ask ourselves is this: Are we willing to make trades to keep our “life?” What we willing to loose our closest friends, our social media following, or our prminance if it means standing by something God is speaking to us about?
   
   The other question is to ask what might God keep from us if we decide our click or social comfort is more important than his calling?

   The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe. Proverbs 29:25

   You must have the courage to stand alone. The truth is not a platform of convenience that’s for you to bend and shift for postion so you can keep standing comfortably on your own two legs.
   
   God gave you a calling, and whether you arrive or not is entirely up to God – not you. Stop thinking that whether you “arrive” is ultimately in your hands. The only thing that is up to you is whether you will be obedient in all things, even when the truth might cost you your life, or when you perceive that the truth might cost you the entire mission.
   
   For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ. Galatians 1:10
   

2. You cannot leave the truth behind and still arrive in the center of God’s will for your life. It’s impossible.
   
   Was Pharaoh wrong to simply take a man’s wife, whether he believed she was another man’s wife or merely his sister? Absolutely he was. Did he deserve what God did to him? Absolutely.
   
   Might things have turned out differently if Abram had trusted God instead? I have no doubt whatsoever. It could very well have been the case that Pharaoh let them go, or that God would have used Pharaoh’s aggression against him and for the greater glory of God.
   
   So here’s the lesson in this final point: never think that you alone will bear the consequences of your sin. It is entirely possible for someone to cut short another person’s life against the will of God by breaking His commandment against murder.
   
   Therefore, we can easily deduce that our actions can have wide-ranging consequences on other people.

3. Our trade-off is often a solution in search of a problem. Abram had a solution for a problem that didn’t even exist yet. How often do we do the same thing - imagining what could go wrong and before theirs ever a hint at any conflict, we’ve already decided to forfiet the truth rationalizing that it is necessary for the “more importnat” ideals of peace or unity. Just trust God, be a vessel for Truth, and let work out the battle - He can do it better than you can anyway.

   
   “We suffer more often in imagination than in reality.” Marcus Aurelius

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. John 14:6

Bonus lesson:

If you are married, God fully intends for your spouse to be with you when he calls you somewhere. He wants her there because he wants you there and you need to trust God for both your sakes. To many men might be believing that their calling is exclusively there’s and so they never factor their family into their calling adn purpose, whatever it is – maybe even thinking God only wants them to travel the road before them. The same goes for your children.