GENESIS: When God Says Move, Move, but Only When He Says To; "Now the Lord had said to Abram: 'Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you.'"

And Terah took his son Abram and his grandson Lot, the son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram’s wife, and they went out with them from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan; and they came to Haran and dwelt there. So the days of Terah were two hundred and five years, and Terah died in Haran. (Genesis 11:31-32) 

God's plan was to establish Abram and his descendants in the land of Canaan. Abram's father decided to stay in Haran, but God wanted to give Abram the land of Canaan.  So what did Abram do? Now the Lord had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. (Genesis 12:1-4) 

When God tells us to do something, we are to do it, even if we don't understand why, because what he has for us is always better than what we can imagine. For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. (Jeremiah 29:11) Abram believed God, and so he obeyed. Then Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people whom they had acquired in Haran, and they departed to go to the land of Canaan. So they came to the land of Canaan. Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, as far as the terebinth tree of Moreh. And the Canaanites were then in the land. (Genesis 12:5-6) 

Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” And there he built an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. And he moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel [future Bethlehem], and he pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; there he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord. So Abram journeyed, going on still toward the South. (Genesis 12:7-9) 

Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to dwell there, for the famine was severe in the land. And it came to pass, when he was close to entering Egypt, that he said to Sarai his wife, “Indeed I know that you are a woman of beautiful countenance. Therefore it will happen, when the Egyptians see you, that they will say, ‘This is his wife’; and they will kill me, but they will let you live. Please say you are my sister, that it may be well with me for your sake, and that I may live because of you.” (Genesis 12:10-13) 

This is Abram's first mistake.  God told him to go to Canaan.  God did not tell him to go to Egypt. O Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself;It is not in man who walks to direct his own steps. (Jeremiah 10:23) If we are going to do what God tells us to do, we have to obey Him every step of the way, not just when things look good, but also when it look like there's a famine in the land.  If we decide to try and take over and do things our way, based on what we see instead of what God says, we more than likely will end up making compromises and decisions that are against God's Word.  This is exactly what happened with Abram, an Sarai went along with it.

So it was, when Abram came into Egypt, that the Egyptians saw the woman, that she was very beautiful. The princes of Pharaoh also saw her and commended her to Pharaoh. And the woman was taken to Pharaoh’s house. He treated Abram well for her sake. He had sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male and female servants, female donkeys, and camels. (Genesis 12:14-16) Lying and disobeying God got him possessions and he and Sarai a nice place to stay, but was it worth it.  Even if it doesn't appear our sin is affecting us, it will cause a problem to someone. Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge. (Hebrews 13:4) 

Pharaoh was going to have to deal with the consequences of his actions, even though he didn't know he was doing wrong, because of what Abram and Sarai did. But 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 you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? Why did you say, ‘She is my sister’? I might have taken her as my wife. Now therefore, here is your wife; take her and go your way.” So Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him; and they sent him away, with his wife and all that he had. (Genesis 12:17-20)

Yes, Abram and Sarai left Egypt with more than they had when they went, because we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:28) God is a promise keeper, not a promise breaker. He established His covenant with Abram, and even though Abram was disobedient and sinned against God, God didn't annul His covenant. My covenant I will not break, nor alter the word that has gone out of My lips. (Psalm 89:34) God still used Abram's disobedience to bless him in the end.

The moral is not to do whatever we want because we believe God's going to bless us anyway.  The moral is to obey God, so that we don't cause any unnecessary harm or stress to ourselves or others. God brought them to Canaan during a famine, and God would have provided for them in the famine; and He will do the same for us, if we just keep our whole hope, trust and faith in Him and His Word, and not what we see. The Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in drought, and strengthen your bones; you shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail. (Isaiah 58:11) AMEN!