Genesis 20:1-18
Well, Abraham does it again. Just like he did in Egypt (Genesis 12) Abraham tries to pass Sarah off, not as his wife, but as his sister. The first attempt backfired and the second is going to backfire as well. Hmmm...imagine that!
So what does this passage show us about getting off course in our walk with God? What does it reveal about God and how He works with and through people? Tami W.
Ah, the persistence of sin! Wouldn't it be nice if after we made a mistake one time and recovered from it that we would build up antibodies so that we wouldn't be susceptible to the same sin again? In part this passage is about grace. God steps in to save Abraham again from making a terrible mistake. How many times has God done this in our lives? Praise the Lord!
Yes . . . this tells me that God watches over us.
To me it says; that what could have ended up being a much worse situation is stopped and corrected. Of course, I doubt very much that any person or persons could have done near as good.
All thanks and praise be to God.
This passage continually makes me realise how much I have to learn from my mistakes but how loving God is and how great His grace is. I do have a question though. In Gen 20:7 God tells Abimelech that if he returns Sarah then Abraham will pray for him and he will live. My problem is that it is Abraham who sinned and not Abimelech so why does he have to have Abraham pray for him?
I have the same question ,why would Abraham have to pray for Abimelech? I too have alot to learn and am thankful for Gods wonderful grace,praise God!
Deb, Abraham is God's child, just as we are through Christ. Abimelech was not, so God had him pray for him. Notice too Abimelech was told in advance of a sin he might commit. How great is that. I always forget Abraham and Sara are brother and sister. nNow that is odd to me. Abraham is to be the father of a great multitude of people and he is married to his half sister on his fathers side too. Strange. It sure is great when God steps in, praise the LORD. Alleluia.
I have a comment to Deb's question above abut Abraham who sinned. He is still the prophet of God which is a voice of God to the people. Also, if you read vs. 13, Abraham uses the word wander. This word wander is not a good place to be. He's actually sharing with us where he is spiritually. And like the one sheep that has wandered off, the Lord goes and looks for that lost sheep with compassion. My exciting thing is that God goes to the extent of using a non-believer to bring us back. How awesome is that. I think at times, we can't accept that God uses non-believers to discipline us. When non-believers at work confront us for wrong doing, we tend to get bent out of shape and have a holier than thou attitude and yet someone who doesn't even have the Holy Spirit in them is being used to discipline and correct us. How awesome is God but while going through this type of circumstance, it doesn't feel to good. Praise the Lord for His Grace and Mercy!!!
Abraham was somewhat doubtful like we christians are. This story is telling us that eventhough Abraham and the Father had an excellent relaionship he Abraham being a human, failed because of the flesh; similiarly as how the flesh has failed us christians who claim that we are seeking after rightousness. Of note, Abraham tested the Father a number of times and was rescued by his Grace. Hence, the Lord decided to test Abraham when he instructed him to sacrifice his son of promise, Isacc. Guess what! He passed that test with flying colours. This is telling us that, if we continue to seek after rightousness eventhough we failed God so regularly, we will be conquerers in the end through Christ who strenghens us. The God of Heaven Bless you all. Peace.
Deb,
I'd like to comment on your question.
God had a lesson for both Abimelech and Abraham. They were both guilty in this situation and they both had a lot to think about after it was over. God told Abimelech that he would be punished if he did not return Sarah to Abraham, and Abimelech sought to make things right early in the morning. Abimelech and his household were already suffering the painful consequences because of his lustful intentions (vss. 3, 17-18). God kept Abimelech from going too far with Sarah, and He said that Abimelech would have to call upon the Prophet Abraham to pray for him (the first mention of "prophet" in the Bible). I'm sure that Abraham, as he prayed, thought deeply about his own bad testimony for his God. It was the second time he had lapsed in the same kind of situation (see Genesis 12:10-20) and he learned a hard lesson about the holiness of his calling.
Ray, Biblical Correspondent at Back to the Bible