A certain white painted piece of wood was very important to me when I was a kid.  This was the doorpost for the door that stood between the kitchen and the back porch. 

       Every few months or so, my dad would stand me against that doorpost.  He would stick a book flat on top of my head and draw a line at the bottom of the book.  Then he would measure from the floor to the line and announce my height. 

       Of course I could already tell whether or not I had shot up by comparing the newest line to the older lines.  It was slow going at first.  It seemed forever before I grew taller than my Mom.  Eventually I went past my Dad. 

       Growth – and least growth up and down -- is something we all desire.  It’s also something we all need.  C.S. Lewis vividly writes “It may be a hard thing for an egg to become a bird; but it is a jolly sight harder for it to learn to fly while it is still an egg.  We are like eggs, today, and we either must be hatched, or go bad!”

       This morning we are looking at a key step in the hatching of Abraham.

       Last Sunday we looked at all the time and effort it took for God to get Abram into the land of Canaan -- the place God was calling him to be.  God told Abram to leave his family and go to the land God would show him.  Instead, Abram takes much of his family and gets stuck halfway along the road in Haran.  That first sermon was titled, “The man Who Obeyed – Sorta”.  I think you can see why.     

       Now, as Genesis 12:10 opens, Abram has finally arrived in the land.  Abram is in Canaan but he is not at home there.  He has not yet learned the conditions of life in the land.  Abram is like a new Christian who is now “in the spirit” but who is not yet being “led by the spirit.”  And, like so often happens at the early stage of the Christian life, Abram goes the wrong way.  

       In his defense, he was pushed.  The account begins in Chapter 12, verse 10: “Now there was a famine in the land.  So Abram went down to Egypt to stay there, for the famine was severe in the land.”

       The land of Canaan is much like parts of California. It is a wonderful place with a magnificent climate. But it depends on limited rainfall for water.  This last winter, I was made very aware of the high levels of rainfall by different men in the church.  I don’t know what it is about old guys loving both huge cars and rain gauges.  But there was a lot of rain.   I know.  I received constant updates. 

        I know that after this last winter it’s hard to remember years of limited rain.  But the years of little rain are the great majority.  There are times when there is no rain and the land becomes parched and dry.  I remember during the long drought of the late 1970’s how we had salt in our drinking water in our home in the Bay Area.  So little water was coming down the rivers that the water of the Bay was moving father and father up toward the Delta.

       At least we had Sparkletts.   But for people whose whole livelihood depends on pasturing flocks, a drought is a dangerous time.  Abram is a man with flocks and herds.  When the rains fail, the grass fails.  Abram sees his livelihood endangered. It seems impossible to remain where he is.  There is no state water project.  There are no reserves.  As the drought continues, he feels compelled to leave Canaan, even though God has called him to be there.

        But wait a minute.  Why is Abraham’s decision to finally obey God by moving to Canaan immediately met by an obstacle to that obedience?  Why was there a drought?  Why?  It is because the walk of obedience is not a stroll in the park.  Toughening is needed.

       A lump of coal and a valuable diamond are made out of the same exact stuff -- carbon.  One is hard and can cut through anything.  The other is only fit for burning.  The only difference between the two is that the diamond has been put under a lot of pressure for a lot of years.

        Abram faces the pressure of the drought.  And this time he collapses.

        Now there is not even one word in the Bible about Abram asking God’s permission to go to Egypt.  Abram takes counsel, not from the God who has led him, but from his own fears.  He “pushes the panic button,” and goes to Egypt.  It is fear that drives him.

       Now if the land of Canaan is a symbol for us of the life of fellowship with a living Christ, then a famine in the land is any circumstance that threatens our trust in Him.  It is any circumstance that makes faith difficult. 

       Have you ever experienced an emotional drought?  Have you been living in the full joy of fellowship with Christ when the strength of God is yours, and suddenly some circumstance beyond your control makes it hard to maintain that fellowship?

        It may be a new boss who turns out to be an ogre or an idiot.  It may be neighbors who throw their garbage over the back fence and tune their motorcycles at 3 in the morning.  It may be a tiger of a mother-in-law who comes to live with you.    It mat be a teacher of a coach who makes impossible demands on you.  It may be a friend who turns their back on you.

        There is always some difficult circumstance of life that makes it hard to maintain fellowship with Christ.  Perhaps it is hard and demanding work that leaves you little time for cultivating the spirit.  It may be a bitter disappointment that crushes you, making your heart hurt and leaving you with little strength for prayer and fellowship.  It may be misunderstood motives.  You meant to do good but some one took it wrong.  In short, it is any situation that seems more than you can bear and which threatens to cut off you strength, your fellowship with Christ.

       When this occurs, we are tempted to flee rather than to stick it out.  We do not enjoy trials like this, and we try to get away, physically, if we can.  So we move to another neighborhood, change jobs, switch churches, take a trip, or go home to mother.  If we cannot flee physically, we try to run away mentally.  We escape the unpleasant reality by a flight into unreality.  There is so much of this today --  some retreat into a mental Egypt where life seems more pleasant.

       Or perhaps the retreat you choose is a constant round of social life or the overloaded weekend. Far too many Christians demonstrate that the spirit is willing, but the flesh is ready for the weekend!

       Now let us see what happens to Abram in Egypt. 

       First of all, and let’s be honest about this, the pressure is off!  Abram finds in Egypt the release he is seeking.  There is famine in Canaan; he feels its pressure.  But Egypt has the dependable Nile.  So Abram immediately finds the pressure relieved.  There is plenty to eat in Egypt.  And it is far more comfortable and relaxing to live in a house in Egypt than in a tent in Canaan. 

       But this is not the whole story.

       What else happens in Egypt? 

       When Abram loses his faith, he also loses his courage!  Even before he arrives in Egypt he grows afraid.  He said to his wife, Sarai, “Look, dear, I know these Egyptians.  I read about them in the library in Haran.  They are all players, and you are a real looker.  I know what will happen when we get down there.  They will want to take you away from me.  If they know you are my wife, they will kill me.  Let’s play it smart with a little strategy.  Tell them you are my sister.”

       This is not completely a lie.  Sarai was Abram’s half-sister.  Genesis 20:12 tells us that.  She was the daughter of a woman who married Abram’s father after Abram was born.  So this was a half-truth.  But a half-truth is also a half-lie, and a lie in any proportion is intended to deceive.  And the nearer it is to the truth, the more perfectly deceitful it is.  Abram’s intent is clearly to deceive.  He justifies it on the grounds that it is needed to protect his beautiful wife.

       Now perhaps this is the most startling thing about this story.  Sarai is sixty-five years old.  But her beauty is so remarkable that Abram is afraid he may lose her.  It’s not just his opinion.  When the Egyptians see her they immediately take tales of her beauty to Pharaoh.  They want to feature her in “Girls of the Nomads.”  Sarai has been working out, doing Pilates, botox and Jenny Craig all at the same time.  Abram feels afraid.  His answer is to lie.

       The result of this lie is that Sarai is put from a place of possible danger into a place of real danger.  The king claims her for his harem, and it was the lie Abram told that opens the door.  This is the folly of Egypt.  Our loved ones can suffer because we need to escape.  Abram is trying to protect himself, not Sarai.  But in protecting himself he exposes Sarai to shame and danger.

       This is the problem with Egypts.  It is true the pressure we feel can be relieved there.  But when we try to live on the resources of the world, we lose our own strength and endanger those who look to us for help. 

       Not only is Sarai endangered, but Abram’s nephew Lot is corrupted.  Lot went down to Egypt with Abram.  Later on, as the allurements and enticements of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah cast their spell over Lot, we are told that he saw the land as though it were the plain of Egypt.  The lust for comfort and worldly glory that was born during this stay in Egypt almost destroy him later in life.  Remember, that when you flee to Egypt, your loved ones are being hurt as well as you.

        The third factor about Egypt is that Abram becomes very rich.  You say, “What’s wrong with that?  This is not an evil but a blessing.”  Perhaps.  But it is Jesus himself who used the phrase,  “The deceitfulness of riches,” referring to one of the things which could choke the word of God out of a person’s life (Mark 4:19).  In Egypt, Abram is given sheep, oxen, he-asses, men-servants, maidservants, she-asses, and camels.  This is the wealth of the Oriental world.  So when Abram comes back into Canaan, the first thing we hear about is trouble between Abram’s  herdsmen and Lot’s herdsmen over the riches they got in Egypt.  We are also told he was given maidservants.  One of them was named Hagar, with whom Abram later conceived the child, Ishmael.  This becomes an endless source of problems in the years ahead.  The price of running away to Egypt can be very, very high.

       But even this is not all.  Abram also becomes a curse to the people with whom he lived.  “The Lord afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife.”  Back in Chapter 12 verse 2, Abram was called to be a blessing.  But when he got into Egypt, he became a curse to that nation instead!

       And finally, Egypt is a place of rebuke and humiliation.  What a scene this is!  Here is Abram, the man of God, standing before this pagan king who has better morals than he has, being publicly rebuked for his lies. 

       So Abram comes out of Egypt, tarred and feathered and riding on a rail, back into the land of Canaan.  We read, “Pharaoh gave orders concerning him, and they set him on the way, with his wife and all that he had.  Good riddance,” Abram, “we’re through with you!”  “So Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the Negev.  Now Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold.  And he journeyed on from the Negev as far as Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai, to the place where he had made an altar at the first; and there Abram called on the name of the Lord.”

       Abram is driven out of Egypt.  He is not yet ready to leave by his own choice.  This indicates the famine was still raging in Canaan.  The quarrel, which develops with Lot’s herdsmen over the pastureland, also suggests there is still a severe shortage of grazing. 

        Abraham leaves Egypt before he is ready.  But at least he seems to have learned something.  Though the famine still continues, Abram is no longer troubled about it.  Why not?  Because when he reached the land, the first thing he does is to call on the name of the Lord!  This is what he should have done and could have done when the famine first struck.

        Abram did pretty well there at the end.  But right up until the last part, this is a pretty good story of failure. 

        Why is it here?  Why does God’s word paint people as they really are – with all their warts and wrinkles?  It is because Abraham is our model in faith.  And we need to see that faith can survive failure and grow from it.  Many of you have already learned that and are able to share it with others who need hope.

       There is an important message in mistakes.  You’ve failed many times, although you may not remember.  You fell down the first time you tried to walk.  You almost drowned the first time you tried to walk.  You almost drowned the first time you tried to swim.  Did you hit the ball the first time you swung a bat?  Heavy hitters, the ones who hit the most home runs, also strike out a lot.  R.H. Macy failed seven times before his store in New York caught on.  Don’t worry about a failure.  Worry about the chances you miss when you don’t even try! 

       The church is not an Abercrombie and Fitch version of picture-perfect people, without flaws or blemishes, where nothing but clothes is missing and everything is perfectly in place and not a wrinkle to be seen.

       No, the church is made up of us messy, imperfect mortals who, at our best, are incomplete Christians.  We all have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory, says the Apostle Paul, who included himself and also spoke from his personal encounters with believers in Antioch, Lystra, Salamis, Philippi, Corinth, Ephesus and Rome.  Not without reason did he remind the Christians at Philippi, “I am far from perfect,” and to his friends at Corinth he spoke of how they were earthen vessels.

       The Bible is filled with examples of other people who were colorful and unconventional but who effected God’s purpose: Abraham and Sarai who had their moments of compromise and deceit; Jacob, who betrayed and cheated to get his way; Moses, a fugitive from justice, who answered God’s call; David, who at various times was a bandit, a guerilla fighter, a conspirator and an adulterer; Bathsheba who plotted to get her son crowned as king; Elijah who at times was a sniveling coward; king after king of the Jews who made current dictators like North Korea’s Kim Jong Il look like Boy Scouts.

       This is a challenging thought for people who think they have to be perfect before they count, or who seek the perfect wife or husband, who wants to raise perfect children, and who want to join the perfect church made up of perfect Christians.  It is encouraging to realize that God calls and uses imperfect people.

       God does not wait until we are perfect before He calls us.  We do not have to get all of our problems solved and our acts cleaned up before God can use us.  No God calls out in Christ, “There is power enough in my grace to redeem and employ even the most unlikely people to be my men and women and carriers of the good news.”