Today we see where Abraham lied and from the LIE came different results. A lie motivated from Fear can be dangerous.
Abraham feared that the King was not God fearing and Abraham was afraid he would be killed. So from this fear came the LIE which resulted in:
1. King Ambimelek taking Sarah.
2. God tells the king he is as good as dead.
3. All the kings officials were gripped with fear.
4. Guilt Came Upon the people of Gerar.
5. Abraham justifies his deception or lie.
Here are my observations from this chapter:
1. Often times fear is planted in our minds from the enemy in hopes of getting us to not follow the lord or deter the work of God.
2. Fear can be planted in our minds and effects our walk and other people's walk with God. For example I'm not good enough I'm not smart enough I'm not popular enough or I'm afraid something will happen to me if I do what's right.
3. Lying results guilt. Now guilt is a good thing because it means we feel convicted of wrongdoing. Guilt can help us repent and overcome the LIE or the fear and get back where God wants us so he can use us to the fullest.
4. When we feel guilt we have two options repent and get restored with God or we try to justify our lie and continue to live in the lie bringing a stronger Wall of resistance to the truth. Lies eventually result in such a strong Wall of Resistance to God that truth is very very very difficult to penetrate it.
What do I fear or what lies am I listening to?
One lie that I battle with is probably that I'm not doing a great job with my new position.
There are many times when we see people who tell lies in the Bible and one of those times is when we read about Abraham in chapter 20. People fail, but God never fails! Isn’t it good to know that God never lies and all of His Word is truth? The Bible contains the good, the bad and the ugly and there may be some parts of it that are harder for some of us to swallow than other parts, but it is all true. John 17:17 is a portion of what Jesus prayed, “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.”
Here’s the link for Fakey Shaky Parts.
https://youtu.be/a4UROOWQvow
Hello all, first time commenting
Genesis 2:24
24 For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.
It’s sad that Abraham lied about Sarah not being his wife, because actually he was selling out half of himself, I don’t think he was protecting his wife as much as he was looking out for himself.
Proverbs 18:22
22 He who finds a wife finds a good thing,
And obtains favor from the Lord.
Finding your life mate is wonderful, had God not intervened Abraham would have lost is wife and King Ambimelek would have been killed.
This life lesson requires you to lose something and not be able to get it back the same, or even at all.
Count your blessings!!!
Wow – so many lessons in today’s reading. Abraham didn’t learn his lesson about lying to protect himself in Egypt. I sometimes think in my own life that God makes me repeat the lessons I fail to understand until I do finally get it. As I get older, I’m a bit more diligent to ask Him to show me what I’m to learn in the current trial. Even when He is working in ways I can’t see like how He prevented Abimelech from touching Sarah and sinning. How many times has God done the same for me – holding me back from sin in ways I can’t even detect?
There’s a couple of wonderful lessons at the end of Chapter 20. Abraham’s testimony is probably pretty well shot with Abimelech because of his lies and cowardliness but God is not ashamed or upset with Abraham – in fact, He told Abimelech that Abraham was a prophet. Romans 11:29 tells us that the gifts and callings of God are without repentance. In other words, He doesn’t take them back and He will still use sinners. That’s good news to you and me!
Even knowing that his current testimony was weak before Abimelech, Abraham could still pray for him and that’s what he did. God healed Abimelech and his household. Jesus tells us in Matthew 5:44 to pray for our enemies. He knew that when we pray and ask that they’ll be healed, or prosper and do well, that our bitterness will disappear and we’ll be blessed. It’s impossible to pray blessing on a person and stay angry with them. This simple truth has been such a blessing to me.
Sarah – I added a comment for you in yesterday’s posts. May God bless you in your walk with Him!
Thank you everyone, for the wonderful, direct responses! From this reading I am noticing that although it seems God and Abraham have a good relationship, and God has favor with him, Abraham does not trust God enough to be honest about his wife, Sarah. The lie almost results in tragedy but thankfully God forgives the King and Abraham. Lying will always result in danger, disappointment, and distrust. Lucky for us and for Abraham our Lord is a loving and forgiving God.