When people get apprehensive, they are most likely going to panic. When panic sets in, irrational and compromising steps follow. Several people fell into this mode. This is captured by our text. Abram was apprehensive about his survival as he approached Egypt with his wife. His fear got the better of him, and he taught his wife to lie. It did not end well. When Pharaoh found out the truth, he sent him and Sarah packing. Sarah on her part also became apprehensive of probably going childless. She plotted and asked her husband to take her maid as a mistress. Her hope was to raise a child by her. That also did not end well. Hagar indeed gave birth to a son, but Sarah only got ridicule for her reward. This is not to mention the endless rivalry that broke out between the lineage of Isaac and that of Ishmael.

When people get apprehensive, they are most likely going to panic. When panic sets in, irrational and compromising steps follow…Panic is a war strategy by the adversary…panic is a sign that we don’t trust God enough.

One more example will be in order. After the overthrow of Sodom and the demise of Lot’s wife, the daughters of Lot assumed that there was no man alive by whom they could raise children. They got their father drunk and had incestuous relationship with him. The product of that was the birth of Moab and Amon, two nations that constituted a thorn in the flesh for Israel. In all of these instances, the outcome of panic was severe. There are two things to bear in mind on this. Panic is a war strategy by the adversary. Ahithophel counselled Absalom, “I will come upon him while he is weary and weak, and make him afraid. And all the people who are with him will flee, and I will strike only the king.” II Samuel‬ 17‬:2‬ NKJV‬‬. Again, panic is a sign that we don’t trust God enough. Those who in earnest commit all things to God have no occasion to panic.