When We Fall Short

Abraham, whose very name is synonymous with faith, had a lapse in faith. God had told him to leave his country and his relatives, so he headed toward the land of promise, the land of Canaan. Then a great famine swept the land.

The same God who brought him that far would have gotten him through somehow. Yet we don’t read of Abraham praying or calling on the Lord. Effectively he took matters into his own hands and went down to Egypt. And any step away from God is a step down.

Abraham stopped trusting God. To make matters worse, he asked his wife Sarah to participate in a lie by saying she was his sister. Pharaoh saw the beautiful Sarah and added her to his harem. But then a series of plagues started coming on his household. Pharaoh discovered that it was because Sarah was another man’s wife. He took her back to Abraham and basically said, “Why didn’t you tell me she was your wife? Take her and get out of here.”

It’s really a sad thing when an unbeliever corrects you. It’s even worse when they’re right. Abraham’s sin was exposed. (And by the way, sin always will be exposed.) The Bible says, “Your sin will find you out” (Numbers 32:23 NLT). It doesn’t matter how carefully you hide it. It will come out one day.

We all sin. We all fall short. We all mess up. Maybe like Abraham, you’ve told lies. You’ve told lies to cover up your lies. You don’t even know what is true anymore. You just know your life is a mess. There is no joy. There is no peace. God can fix it, but you have to admit it and reach out to Him. He will forgive you of your sin.