Scheming or Trusting?
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Genesis 12:1 "Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee:"
A simple test to tell if you are walking by faith is if you are living without scheming. Scheming is trying to accomplish things or trying to get things through your own manipulations and devices. Scheming is the opposite of trusting. We see in Abraham a man of great faith-most of the time. But there are times when even Abraham resorted to scheming instead of trusting.
In the first part of Genesis 12, Abraham receives his first test of faith. The Lord told him to leave his homeland and go to a land of His (God's) choosing. God didn't spell out the details to Abraham; instead, He simply says, "I will shew thee." Abraham passed this test with flying colors-he chose to walk by faith. Hebrews 11:8 says, "By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went." I am sure he felt a fear of the unknown, but he chose to trust God and obey. We know from Scripture that God took care of Abraham and greatly blessed him for his obedience.
In the very same chapter, though, we see another instance in which Abraham's faith was tested. This time, instead of trusting God in the face of fear, he chose to resort to scheming. His fear was real-Sarai, his wife, must have been very beautiful, because Abraham feared that Pharoah would take her for himself. Pharaoh might even have him killed in order to steal away Sarai.
Abraham's scheme was to have Sarai tell a "half-truth": that she was only Abram's sister-not his wife. Did his scheme work? Well, he wasn't killed. Pharoah took Sarai and gave Abraham all kinds of livestock and servants in exchange. In a small sense, I suppose we could say that it "worked" for Abraham. But in the much greater picture, Abraham would have been much better off to have trusted God, letting Him take care of his needs. When Abraham schemed, he settled for less than the best. Pharoah was taking care of him, instead of God-and Pharoah had his wife! In the end, the Lord graciously rescued Abraham from the mess he had gotten himself into.
Yes, its true that you can sometimes get what you think you need by scheming instead of trusting. But when you scheme, you give up God's best! The troubles and fears that we face in life can either bring out great faith or great failure. Does great faith come by mustering up as much faith as we can? No! Great faith has nothing to do with how much faith we have; great faith has everything to do with Who our faith is in.
If our faith is in ourselves, we will settle for a life of scheming and frustration. If we place our faith in God, we can see Him work in ways we would have never thought possible. This does not mean that you sit back and do nothing, but it does mean that you work, depending upon God to do what you cannot. Today you have a choice: when your faith is tested, will you scheme or will you trust?
A simple test to tell if you are walking by faith is if you are living without scheming. Scheming is trying to accomplish things or trying to get things through your own manipulations and devices. Scheming is the opposite of trusting. We see in Abraham a man of great faith-most of the time. But there are times when even Abraham resorted to scheming instead of trusting.
In the first part of Genesis 12, Abraham receives his first test of faith. The Lord told him to leave his homeland and go to a land of His (God's) choosing. God didn't spell out the details to Abraham; instead, He simply says, "I will shew thee." Abraham passed this test with flying colors-he chose to walk by faith. Hebrews 11:8 says, "By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went." I am sure he felt a fear of the unknown, but he chose to trust God and obey. We know from Scripture that God took care of Abraham and greatly blessed him for his obedience. In the very same chapter, though, we see another instance in which Abraham's faith was tested. This time, instead of trusting God in the face of fear, he chose to resort to scheming. His fear was real-Sarai, his wife, must have been very beautiful, because Abraham feared that Pharoah would take her for himself. Pharaoh might even have him killed in order to steal away Sarai.
Abraham's scheme was to have Sarai tell a "half-truth": that she was only Abram's sister-not his wife. Did his scheme work? Well, he wasn't killed. Pharoah took Sarai and gave Abraham all kinds of livestock and servants in exchange. In a small sense, I suppose we could say that it "worked" for Abraham. But in the much greater picture, Abraham would have been much better off to have trusted God, letting Him take care of his needs. When Abraham schemed, he settled for less than the best. Pharoah was taking care of him, instead of God-and Pharoah had his wife! In the end, the Lord graciously rescued Abraham from the mess he had gotten himself into.
Yes, its true that you can sometimes get what you think you need by scheming instead of trusting. But when you scheme, you give up God's best! The troubles and fears that we face in life can either bring out great faith or great failure. Does great faith come by mustering up as much faith as we can? No! Great faith has nothing to do with how much faith we have; great faith has everything to do with Who our faith is in.
If our faith is in ourselves, we will settle for a life of scheming and frustration. If we place our faith in God, we can see Him work in ways we would have never thought possible. This does not mean that you sit back and do nothing, but it does mean that you work, depending upon God to do what you cannot. Today you have a choice: when your faith is tested, will you scheme or will you trust?
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