The Lord is awe-inspiring, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him in Genesis 20:1b-7,
“For a while he stayed in Gerar, and there Abraham said of his wife Sarah, ‘She is my sister.’ Then Abimelech king of Gerar sent for Sarah and took her. But God came to Abimelech in a dream one night and said to him, ‘You are as good as dead because of the woman you have taken; she is a married woman.’ Now Abimelech had not gone near her, so he said, ‘Lord, will you destroy an innocent nation? Did he not say to me, “She is my sister,” and didn't she also say, “He is my brother”? I have done this with a clear conscience and clean hands.’ Then God said to him in the dream, ‘Yes, I know you did this with a clear conscience, and so I have kept you from sinning against me. That is why I did not let you touch her. Now return the man's wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you will live. But if you do not return her, you may be sure that you and all yours will die.’”
What a pickle Abraham created! In maintaining his deception about Sarah, the king took Abraham’s wife to be his. Abraham must have thought, “Who would have known this could happen twice?”
I need to consult some commentators on this to make sure I have this right, but from the position in the story that this takes place Sarah must have been about ninety years old! Sarah must have been one beautiful and very well-preserved lady! Everybody wanted her! I also wonder if she might not have been very early in her pregnancy about this time with Isaac.
What catches my attention this morning is the Lord’s involvement with the turn of events as revealed in Abimelech’s dream. The Lord informs Abimelech as to the threat he is facing if he doesn’t return Sarah to Abraham. The Lord even tells Abimelech that he didn’t allow him to touch Sarah. The Lord also informs the king that it will take Abraham’s intervention of praying to the Lord for him to be saved.
If Abraham had any idea that the Lord would be so involved in protecting him and Sarah he might not have felt the need to rely on a deception to keep himself safe. As it turns out, the Lord took whatever steps were needed in order to fulfill his promises to Abraham. So, I ask myself this morning, do I recognize how involved the Lord is in fulfilling his promises to me to “present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy”? How convince am I of all the things the Lord is doing behind the scenes? How differently would I live my life if I were as aware of all the Lord is presently doing as Abimelech discovered in his dream the Lord was doing then?
Something certainly worth thinking about…
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share your theme of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We’d love to hear from you!
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