Genesis 12:8-20

⁸ From there he traveled to the hill country east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. And there he built an altar to the LORD and called upon the name of the LORD.

⁹ And Abram journeyed on, setting out toward the Negev.

¹⁰ But there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to stay there, because the famine in the land was brutal.

¹¹ When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “I know that you are a woman who looks beautiful,

¹² so when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me, but they will let you live.

¹³ Say you are my sister, that things may go well with me because of you, and that my soul may be kept alive for your sake.”

¹⁴ When Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful.

¹⁵ And when the princes of Pharaoh saw her, they bragged about her to Pharaoh. So the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house.

¹⁶ And for her sake he dealt well with Abram; and he was given sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male servants, female servants, female donkeys, and camels.

¹⁷ But the LORD cursed Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of the presence of Sarai, Abram’s wife.

¹⁸ So Pharaoh called Abram and said, “What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife?

¹⁹ Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her for my wife? Now then, here is your wife; take her, and go.”

²⁰ And Pharaoh gave men orders concerning him, and they sent him away with his wife and all that he had.

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déjà vu

Abram went with all his possessions. God had promised to bless him, and bless those who blessed him – and curse those who cursed him. They didn’t stay in the promised land long, before famine forced them to seek refuge in Egypt where Pharaoh sent them on an exodus to Canaan after experiencing great plagues because he had taken Sarai. This whole story was déjà vu for the Israelites. The history of their ancestor told them that they were in the right place.

LORD, show us our place in your plan. Make us aware of the significance of the things that happen to us.