The situations that prompt this reaction are different for each person. What would be terrifying to one person, such as jumping out of an airplane with a parachute, would be exhilarating for someone else. I am terrified of drowning, and as such I will not swim in the deep ocean. A Navy SEAL, however, is actually put through the experience of drowning in order to conquer the fear of it. No thanks.
Genesis 12:6-20
"Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. 7 The LORD appeared to Abram and said, "To your offspring I will give this land." So he built an altar there to the LORD, who had appeared to him. 8 From there he went on toward the hills east of Bethel and 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. 9 Then Abram set out and continued toward the Negev. 10 Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe. 11 As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, "I know what a beautiful woman you are. 12 When the Egyptians see you, they will say, 'This is his wife.' Then they will kill me but will let you live. 13 Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared because of you." 14 When Abram came to Egypt, the Egyptians saw that she was a very beautiful woman. 15 And when Pharaoh's officials saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh, and she was taken into his palace. 16 He treated Abram well for her sake, and Abram acquired sheep and cattle, male and female donkeys, menservants and maidservants, and camels. 17 But the LORD inflicted serious diseases on Pharaoh and his household because of Abram's wife Sarai. 18 So Pharaoh summoned Abram. "What have you done to me?" he said. "Why didn't you tell me she was your wife? 19 Why did you say, 'She is my sister,' so that I took her to be my wife? Now then, here is your wife. Take her and go!" 20 Then Pharaoh gave orders about Abram to his men, and they sent him on his way, with his wife and everything he had."
Abram responded out of fear. He assumed that because of Sarai’s beauty, he would be murdered in order for Pharoah to take her into his harem. Sarai must have been amazingly beautiful, because the same thing happens again when she is about 90 years old. Of course, it is also possible that the charm she inhabited was more along the lines of the political and financial benefits of an alliance between Abram and Pharoah than her physical beauty. This would explain why, later on, a 90 year old woman would command such devotion from a king.
In both of these circumstances in which Abram pretended Sarai was his sister ( a half truth, as she was technically his half sister as well as his wife), Abram makes out like a bandit in the end. He gets his wife returned to him, but also receives a large amount of property in order to smooth over this embarrassing incident. Despite Abram’s fear, which was coiled like a snake around his heart, God was still in control. He had made promises to Abram, and God does not break promises.
If only we could remember that better when we ourselves are gripped with fear. When that snake coils its cool body around our quivering heart, we tend to go blank and respond without thinking. And yet, when we do that, we find ourselves in the same predicament as Abram, acting foolishly and embarrassing ourselves or others.
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