GENESIS
April 22, 2017
By Pastor Kim Hickcox
(All Scripture taken from One New Man Bible unless otherwise noted)
Chapter 20 of Genesis is one that shows the abundant favor, grace and mercy of the Lord, as well as the dangers of telling half-truths, which we (referring to mankind in general) are not only very prone to do, but also justify.
Here Abraham once again is on the move and once again tells his beautiful wife, “This is your kindness which you will show to me: at every place where we will come, say of me, He is my brother.” (20:13)
Now we find out the verse before about the half-truth: “And yet indeed she is my sister. She is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife.” (20:12) So he conveniently left out the wife part. Do you suppose this is the reason behind the vow we take in America before becoming a witness in a trial? Back in the good old days, you would put your left hand on a Bible, raise your right hand to God and the bailiff would say, Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you God? And with the appropriate answer of I do, you would be seated and proceed with your testimony.
Chapter 20 is also where we find God’s grace and mercy to both Abraham and Abimelech, king of Gerar, when they settled for a [short] while.
Note that even though Abraham sinned, the Lord came to his defense in verse 7, “Now therefore restore the man’s wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you will live, but if you don’t restore her, know that you will surely die, you and all that are yours.”
Now this is the first time we see the word prophet being used, but whether Abimelech did or did not know the meaning the word itself, he most certainly caught the gist of the message!
But it all boils down to our heart motive, doesn’t it? Both Jeremiah and Samuel verify this:
Jeremiah 17:9-10, “The heart is deceitful above all things, desperately sick. Who can know it?10I, the LORD, search the heart, I try the heart, even to give to each man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.” Here we learn that the Lord knows the true motive of everyone’s heart no matter what they look like to the outside world.
1st Samuel 16:7b, “…For the LORD does not see as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” People can polish themselves up all they want, look the part and talk a good game, but the Lord knows!
And it was this very aspect of God’s nature that saved Abimelech. “But Abimelech had not come near her and he said, ‘Lord, will You also slay a righteous nation? 5Did he not say to me, “She is my sister?” And she, even herself said, “He is my brother.” In the integrity of my heart and innocency of my hands have I done this.’ 6And God said to him in a dream, ‘Yes, I AM knows that you did this in the integrity of your heart, for I AM also withheld you from sinning against Me, therefore you did not touch her.’” (20:4-6)
Because the Lord knew Abimelech’s heart as well as his innocence, in His mercy, He restrained his desire for Sarah until they could have a chat.
But didn’t Y’shua Himself tell us that we could ask the Father to “deliver us from evil” in Luke 11:4? And then there’s what we now know as the Prayer of Jabez in 1st Chronicles 4:10, “And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, ‘Oh that You would bless me indeed and enlarge my border, and that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, so it would not grieve me!’ And God granted him that which he requested.”
“that You would keep me from evil, so it would not grieve me!” Several years ago when I was not living alone, a person very dear to me asked me to lie to someone should I happen to pick up the phone when they called. Now it’s not that I didn’t understand why the lie was being told or even that I disagreed with it. In fact, I remember it seeming to be the best thing to do under the circumstances. However, once I [my flesh, rather] was on board with all this and I actually agreed, the Holy Spirit popped up and I instantly remembered Psalm 51:4 (verse 6 in the ONM)“Against You, You only, have sinned and done this evil in Your sight: so You could be justified when You speak, be clear when You judge.”
So what do I do? Do I side with situational ethics, knowing that this truly seemed to be the best thing to do at this time, say nothing to keeping my word and keeping peace in the house? Or do I tell them that, although I understood, I have to change my mind as can’t possibly lie, and risk all [unnecessary] hell breaking loose in my home? I chose neither. I prayed, asking the Lord to please keep me from sinning against Him by not having that person call whenever I answered the phone. (This was in the days of land lines only – and no caller ID.) And he did! I don’t even remember how many days this situation lasted, but I do remember that, even when I was the only one home, the person I was asked to lie to never called when I picked up the phone! And Iknow that it was because I wanted to honor Him as well as honor the person I lived with. So I didn’t have to break my word or lie because He protected me from both!
And this is also what the Lord did for Jabez and Abimelech. “For He is good: For His loving kindness endures forever!” 2nd Chronicles 5:13. Be it the 21st century AD or the 21st century BC, His loving kindness endures forever!
But then, this applies to Abraham also, doesn’t it? He certainly made his share of mistakes, that this wasn’t even the first time he told Sarah to half-truth for him, was it? But – look at his reasoning: “And Abraham said, ‘Because I thought, “Surely reverence for God is not in this place and they will slay me for my wife’s sake”’” (20:11) Now, I’m not sure why he could trust God for his safety after all these years, but fear got the best of him and the Lord, his Friend understood, because He is good and His loving kindness endures forever!
So let’s take Y’shua’s advice and “…Most assuredly I say to you, whatever you would ask the Father in My name He will give to you…24you must continually ask and you will take, so that your joy could be made full.” John 16:23-24
Whatever is in His Will – you will have! And whatever is not, trust me, no matter how much you may want it now – in the unforeseeable future, it’s better that you didn’t get it. Because He has something much better in store that you don’t even know about yet!! So hang on! Living with and for the Creator of the Universe is nothing if not an adventure!! Because He is good and His loving kindness endures forever!
SHALOM!
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