One of the many things I love about God is how there are endless sides of Him. He is full of love, grace and mercy, He is the ultimate judge and executer of justice. And God runs on a timeline all His own; He sees things that we have no way of seeing and plans things according to His good will.

Last week I was reading the story of when Abram and Sarai moved to Egypt (Genesis 12:10-20). God had already promised Abram that he would be blessed with many descendants even though Abram and Sarai didn’t have any children. There was a famine in Canaan, the land that the Lord told Abram He would give to his descendants. Abram moved to Egypt, not out of doubting in God’s plan, but rather trusting that God would be faithful over the long haul.

Upon arriving in Egypt, Abram had the bright idea to tell the people there that Sarai was his sister (truthfully, she actually was his half-sister… and also his wife) – she was beautiful, and he was worried that they would kill him and take her. So the “sister story” was told and sure enough, the Pharoh took Sarai into his harem as his wife. Meanwhile, Pharoh seemed to like Sarai’s “brother” well enough and treated Abram well for her sake – he became very wealthy during this time.

This is where it gets both complicated and interesting… I mean, how can God give Abram and Sarai a baby when she is now in Pharoh’s harem? What is Abram to do? What is Sarai to do?

Turns out, they didn’t have to do anything. God inflicted “serious diseases on Pharoh and his household because of Abram’s wife Sarai.” When Pharoh figured out what was going on, he immediately dismissed Sarai and Abram – “Take her and go!”

I love a good “And God….” story; each of those stories remind me that God is always watching over us and that no matter how badly we mess up, we can’t mess it up too big for God to not work out His plan yet. God has a bigger plan at work for Sarai – she was going to be the mom of Issac – and not even a disastrous harem place was going to stand in the way of God’s ultimate promise and plan.

Does that mean that we mess up on purpose? No, absolutely not. But does that mean that God is working to bring beauty from our ashes and work through our poor choices, trusting that we learn a lesson along the way about obedience? Yes, absolutely.

Rest in God’s provision today, wherever you may be. God knows and God sees; He is not passive or disinterested. Do the next right thing in obedience and trust that God will lead and provide.