The power of fear

And Abraham said, Because I thought, Surely the fear of God is not in this place; and they will slay me for my wife's sake. 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. And it came to pass, when God caused me to wander from my father's house, that I said unto her, This is thy kindness which thou shalt shew unto me; at every place whither we shall come, say of me, He is my brother. –Genesis 20.11-13

When Abraham and Sarah travelled to Gerar where Abimilech, a local king,  lived. Abraham thought once again that he had to take matters into his own hand. He worried for his life because he reasoned that if the king there wanted to take Sarah he would have Abraham killed in order to do so.

Now first of all what kind of convoluted thinking is that? Why would we reason such a thing? If the king wanted her he could just have taken Sarah and not given Abraham a second thought.

But Abraham tells a half-truth to protect himself and possibly give his wife to another man. That is a desperate and selfish and faithless step to take in order to protect his life. He tells everyone that Sarah is his sister so that if Abimilech wants her he can have her without killing Abraham.

It is hard to believe that a man of God would ever pull a stunt like that.

It almost caused him big problems. Fortunately Abimilech had more character than the man of God. God came to Abimilech, not Abraham, and warned him of the great sin of taking Abraham’s wife.

Abimilech was in a panic, but fortunately he hadn’t touched. But he did chastise Abraham for his lie.

It is amazing what fear will make us do. That is why we are so often told to not be afraid.

God is control. Don’t lie, don’t fear, don’t try to manipulate Him.

Trust trust and wait.