Today’s passage comes from Genesis 20. Genesis 20:6 says, “And God said to him in a dream, ‘Yes, I know that you did this in the integrity of your heart. For I also withheld you from sinning against Me; therefore, I did not let you touch her.”
I will admit, this is one of the “odd” sections of the Bible. Abraham has journeyed into the land ruled by Abimelech. Once again, Abraham and Sarah have conspired to lie and deceive someone in order to protect Abraham’s sorry neck. They have again told the lie that Sarah is Abraham’s sister. The reason you ask? Because Abraham was convinced that if Sarah said that she was his wife, the people would see her beauty, and want her for themselves; therefore, they would kill Abraham. One thing that is worth noting here, both of them are complicit in this lie. And later in the passage it is clear that every time they go to a new land, they plan on telling this same lie. Therefore, you almost feel sorry for Abimelech and his household, because they get caught up in the tangled web of deception spun by Abraham and Sarah. In fact, later in Genesis 20, we see that Abimelech’s wife and female servants are unable to have children from the time he took Sarah to be his wife. When God reveals what had happened, Abimelech pleads his case for God not to kill them. Was Abimelech about to commit adultery by sleeping with Sarah? The text certainly indicates that was about to happen. But then we see that God kept that from happening. I heard a pastor say one time, “my greatest enemy is the inner me.” Abimelech was ruled by his eyes (and hormones). Abraham was ruled by his need for self-preservation. Sarah as ruled by her desire to please her husband even though she knew lying was wrong. Despite enough blame to go around, we see the mercy and grace of God. Before Abimelech can commit adultery God warns him. Then God protected Abraham and Sarah, because Abimelech would have been within his rights to have them killed for lying and causing problems for his household.
There are two lessons I believe we can take away from this story. The first is our need for godly wisdom and discernment. It is natural and easy for us to follow the wisdom of the world. However, what we truly need is wisdom that comes from God, and discernment given to us by God. Just because a situation looks right doesn’t mean that it is right. Just because a decision seems obvious, doesn’t make it the right decision. We would be wise to heed the advice of Solomon in Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. Acknowledge Him in all your ways, and He shall direct your paths.” If we are going to gain godly wisdom and discernment, we must be men and women of prayer, as well as, men and women of the Bible. The other lesson I see that we can take away from this story is an understanding that our sinful choices don’t just affect us, they affect other people around us. Because of Abraham’s sinful need for self-preservation, he made his wife a party to his lie and in this case he caused great suffering and nearly caused the death of people who had no idea of what he had done. In our sin nature, we like to believe that the decisions that we make are just about us, and that they don’t involve others. The reality is that is far from the truth. Our decisions not only affect us, but they affect those around us, and in many cases they affect those who will come after us as well. This is why we see God say in Exodus that He will visit the sins of the father to the third and fourth generation. This doesn’t mean that God will hold a man’s son, grandson, great-grandson, and/or great, great-grandson responsible for his choices. Rather, it means that the sins we struggle with, are often the sins that our children will struggle with. As I heard Pastor Jonathan Falwell preach one day, “What one generation does in moderation, the next generation will do in excess.” I would say that we are certainly seeing that in our nation right now.
What decisions do you need to make today? What sins do you need God’s help with in overcoming? The good news is, you can go to Him in prayer as His child, and now that He will hear your prayer, and He will answer it in His time and in His way. Let’s make sure that the wisdom that we seek for our daily lives is the wisdom from above.
By His grace and for His glory,
Pastor Justin