Genesis 12

Abram had amazing faith, to just follow You like that.  I wonder what the story behind that was, how Abram developed his relationship with You, how You first revealed Yourself to him.  I guess they were a nomadic people, so they were always moving, but they were also moving away from the places they knew, so they wouldn’t know where to take their flocks to feed them and would have to rely on God.  Abram’s automatic response, whever anything happens between him and God is to build an altar--to worship.  Please help me to have the same response, Lord.  What does the famine have to do with going to Egypt?  How did Abram, a nomadic visitor, get introduced to the pharaoh, anyway?  Abram lied, didn’t trust God to protect him and Sarai.  But this was before God had revealed His true nature--not much later, Abram thinks it’s perfectly normal to sacrifice his son to You.  So pharaoh took Sarai as is wife???  Oops.  It’s so interesting, though, how You punished pharaoh for his accidental sin--after all, how was he to know Sarai was already married?--and rewarded Abram for his intentional deception and sin--it sounds like pharaoh gave Abram all sorts of gifts because of Sarai.  I guess it could be another clever form of punishment to the pharaoh.  How did Sarai feel about all this?  It sounds like Abram basically let the pharaoh take Sarai as his wife, without protesting.  That must have been terrifying!  Or maybe the women were used to being treated like possessions.  I don’t know.  Still, though... Or maybe God rewarded Abram because of his earlier promise, that he would curse anyone who cursed Abram.  You keep Your promises--but You also let us take the consequences of our own sin.  At least now You do.  But things were different in the Old Testament--You were different.  Or maybe just everyone’s perception of You was different--You are unchanging, after all.  But how You act really does seem to change between the Old Testament and the New Testament.  Then again, does changing how You act necessarily change who You are, why You act the way You do?  I don’t know.  Overall, Abram has really good moments and moments when I really don’t like him--so he’s like all of us, I guess.