Genesis 12, 13 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.
When there was a famine in the land, Abram took Sarai to Egypt to sojourn there. He was afraid of the Egyptians: he feared that if they thought she was his wife they would kill Abram to take the beautiful (at the age of 70!) Sarai. So he told Sarai to lie and say she was his sister. ”Do this: lie to save my life.”
Abraham believed the Lord’s promise, provision, protection and blessing; he trusted God to provide during the famine. But he still had a lapse of faith. He was not able to believe that the Lord would keep His promise. His fear of God was replaced by a fear of man. He resorted to sin; he resorted to trusting in himself and his own worldly ways. He feared for himself, not for his wife, showing how self-centeredness leads to sin and to lies.
We ”believers” act the same way. We believe in God alright, but unbelief remains. So we take matters into our own hands, and sometimes that results in sin. It’s not easy or simple, or even natural, to ”fear, love, and trust in God above things.” Even the greatest heroes of faith can’t keep the First Commandment.
We recognize the problem, so we say like the man said to Jesus, ”Lord, I believe; help my unbelief.” It’s OK to admit you have doubts, if you turn to the Lord for help instead of to yourself. As the story turns out, God’s grace took over; He was faithful to His promise. He sent plagues upon Pharaoh’s house for taking Abram’s wife, and He blessed Abram with protection and provision.
Can we trust the Lord to protect and provide for us according to His promise, and according to our prayers: ”Give us this day…” and ”Deliver us from evil.”?