I just finished reading the book of Genesis again. There is always some new knowledge to glean when rereading books of the Bible. 

It always grosses me out though, when I read about Abraham and how he’s always telling people that Sarah is his sister.

Spoiler Alert. She is his sister. And his Wife. Gross right!! 

Same Dad, different Mom. That’s just how it was done back in the OT days.

The first time Abraham did this was when they had traveled to Egypt because there was a famine in all the lands, and only Egypt had food.

When they got there, because Abraham told Sarah to tell everyone she was his sister, Pharaoh snatched her up because she was so beautiful. Abraham didn’t want anyone to kill him and take his wife, he thought that if people thought that she was his sister then they would leave him alone.

It worked, to a point, but eventually the ½ lie caught up to Abraham because God brought on sickness to the whole household of Pharaoh. Pharaoh figured out the lie and kicked Abraham and Sarah out of Egypt.

It could have been a lot worse. Pharaoh could have killed them both. But God was faithful to Abraham and gave him grace and forgiveness and protection.

After they left Egypt Abraham had a lot of good seasons where he trusted God and listened to God’s will.

And then old sin snuck back in.

Genesis chapter 20 tells us an all too familiar story of Abraham settling in the land of  King Abimelech in modern day south central Israel where suddenly Sarah becomes his sister again.

Just like in Egypt, the King takes Sarah because she is so beautiful and disaster falls upon King Abimelech’s household. This time, however, we see specifically how God intervenes to save Abraham and King Abimelech.

Before Abimelech can get down and dirty with Sarah, he has a dream where God comes and speaks to him.

In the dream God tells him he will surely die for what he’s done by taking a married man’s wife. Appalled at this new to him information, Abimelech tells God that Sarah and Abraham lied to him and he truly believed Sarah was a single lady.

God, being God, tells Abimelech he knows this and that is why he kept King Abimelech  busy so that he wouldn’t have time to go get with Sarah. God tells him, return Abraham’s wife and then Abraham will bless you. 

After the dream Abimelech calls out Abraham hard core! Just listen:

“‘…What have you done to us? How have I wronged you that you have brought such great guilt upon me and my kingdom? You have done things to me that should never be done.’ And Abimelech asked Abraham, ‘What was your reason for doing this?’” Genesis 20:9-10

And Abraham, probably filled with shame and guilt, admits he was afraid.

To understand this passage better I turned to one of my favorite Bible commentaries, David Guzik.

There were some significant lessons I learned.

First, and one lesson I have had to relearn over and over again, is we need to stop looking at ourselves to control the situation. 

Abraham knew that he could trust God to take care of him, he heard from him specifically about being the father of nations, but he slipped in his walk with God and turned to his own trust to protect himself and his family.

How often is that the case with us? We know that God has provided for us in the past, but when things get hard and aren’t going the way we want them too, we try to take back control of the situation instead of trusting that God will see us through.

The next lesson this story teaches us is that God is so merciful, even when we keep repeating the same mistakes over and over again.

God knew Abraham was lying about his wife to King Abimelech, yet he still kept Abraham safe through his lie.

I’m not sure about you, but there have been times where I’ve leaned on my own understanding, yet when I’ve realized my fault and went back to ask God for help I see clearly the mercy he’s had upon my situation.

Lastly the lesson of God’s faithfulness is made clear for us in the ending of the story. Abraham was not displaying faith in God when he took matters into his own hands when lying to King Abimelech. Nevertheless God stood faithful to Abraham and he was not harmed.

Psalm 37:24 states, “though he may stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with his hand.”

Over and over again the Bible points out God’s faithfulness and steadfast love. Humans are made in the image of God, but we are not God, so we will mess up. We will make mistakes, we will falter, we will slip back into old sin. 

God is not going to leave us. He will discipline us. He will convict us. But He will not leave us. 

The story of King Abimelech and Abraham finishes by King Abimelech giving back Sarah plus money and giving Abraham any portion of his land to live on. Abraham walked away with blessings rather than what he probably deserved-nothing. 

Abraham obeyed God and prayed for King Abimelech. King Abimelech’s household was restored.

I’m sure Abraham felt a lot of guilt and shame after this incident, but it was a necessary reminder to him that he needed to put his trust in God first. 

How true is this story in our own lives? It’s so easy to fall back into our previous ways of life-back before we accepted Christ as our Savior.

There are times in my own life when I fall back into temptations I thought I had dealt with and had gotten past. Being a Christian doesn’t mean you have to be perfect because no one is perfect except Christ. But we do have to recognize that when we fail we should immediately go to God for help and forgiveness.

Like the story of King Abimelech and Abraham, we must recognize that God is in control and we must look to Him for direction. When you get tempted to fall back into old habits, old sin, put your trust in God to lead you back to the right path.

We can also be thankful for God’s generous mercy. Lamentations 3:22-23 tells us “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning…” When we mess up, repent, ask God for help, and try again come morning. 

And remember God is faithful. He will never leave you nor forsake you (Hebrews 13:5). It can be hard to fess up when you make a mistake because shame and guilt are very real emotions. You may not feel like you deserve another chance. But God took that need to earn a second chance out of the equation. He gave it to us for free. Jesus paid that price for everyone by dying for our sins. 

A loving father doesn’t require payment for his love. He loves us because we are His. We may mess up, but that doesn’t diminish His love for us. His love is unconditional. And because we love Him back, we try our best not to fall back into old habits and ask for forgiveness when we do. 

God loves you. No matter what you do, He loves you. Just like he kept on loving Abraham. Don’t ever think that you could do anything that would make God stop loving you. His steadfast love endures forever. (Psalm 136)