Genesis 20
Genesis 20:1-18 (NLT)
1 Abraham moved south to the Negev and lived for a while between Kadesh and Shur, and then he moved on to Gerar. While living there as a foreigner,
2 Abraham introduced his wife, Sarah, by saying, “She is my sister.” So King Abimelech of Gerar sent for Sarah and had her brought to him at his palace.
3 But that night God came to Abimelech in a dream and told him, “You are a dead man, for that woman you have taken is already married!”
4 But Abimelech had not slept with her yet, so he said, “Lord, will you destroy an innocent nation?
5 Didn’t Abraham tell me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself said, ‘Yes, he is my brother.’ I acted in complete innocence! My hands are clean.”
6 In the dream God responded, “Yes, I know you are innocent. That’s why I kept you from sinning against me, and why I did not let you touch her.
7 Now return the woman to her husband, and he will pray for you, for he is a prophet. Then you will live. But if you don’t return her to him, you can be sure that you and all your people will die.”
8 Abimelech got up early the next morning and quickly called all his servants together. When he told them what had happened, his men were terrified.
9 Then Abimelech called for Abraham. “What have you done to us?” he demanded. “What crime have I committed that deserves treatment like this, making me and my kingdom guilty of this great sin? No one should ever do what you have done!
10 Whatever possessed you to do such a thing?”
11 Abraham replied, “I thought, ‘This is a godless place. They will want my wife and will kill me to get her.’
12 And she really is my sister, for we both have the same father, but different mothers. And I married her.
13 When God called me to leave my father’s home and to travel from place to place, I told her, ‘Do me a favor. Wherever we go, tell the people that I am your brother.’”
14 Then Abimelech took some of his sheep and goats, cattle, and male and female servants, and he presented them to Abraham. He also returned his wife, Sarah, to him.
15 Then Abimelech said, “Look over my land and choose any place where you would like to live.”
16 And he said to Sarah, “Look, I am giving your ‘brother’ 1,000 pieces of silver in the presence of all these witnesses. This is to compensate you for any wrong I may have done to you. This will settle any claim against me, and your reputation is cleared.”
17 Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, his wife, and his female servants, so they could have children.
18 For the LORD had caused all the women to be infertile because of what happened with Abraham’s wife, Sarah.
It would seem that the Father of Many Nations was still in the honing process of faith, where trust in his God was enough to keep him through threats to his own life and, later, that of his son. God’s faithfulness, mercy, and great power were being proven to both Abraham and Sarah in a way that transcended their own failures. They were in this together, having plotted it far before they had to use it for self-preservation. Abraham offered his own wife in a way that seemed perverse and selfish, but Sarah also offered herself and fully played the role as planned. Even the people of this godless nation had more fear of God than this couple seemed to display. And yet – God had mercy on the whole bunch of them by intervening and canceling the curse. They deserved destruction in judgment, but God’s mercy proved that their purpose was worth much more than their sin, removing all failures and turning condemnation into blessing.
Where God has proclaimed His plans and purposes, there is a people who are integral to His fulfilled will. While we may have self-preservation auto-responses to life’s threats that completely disregard God as our refuge, He doesn’t disqualify and discard the ones He’s chosen for His purpose. His vision and purpose for us activate mercy and grace in love, completely transforming our deserved destruction into abounding favor in blessing. Our challenge is to recognize God’s intervention in these demonstrations of love. It’s the transformation potential in these failures that will turn the faith path we were once incapable of walking and cause it to be the one our every step is on. He even desires to bring salvation and provision to the ones who intimidate us, drawing them to Himself with displays of His powerful goodness. He understands us and intervenes with a passion for restoration and fulfilled divine purpose.
There is a verse that keeps drawing my eyes to it, in verse 16, although it is in regard to this situation and Sarah’s honor in the process of being restored to her place at her husband’s side, the king compensates her for all that has happened and says “to vindicate your honor before all who are with you; before all men you are cleared and compensated.” I couldn’t help but see us, the church, a foreshadowing of what Christ’s blood does for us, it clears us, it restores us before God. We are the bride presented to the Son, cleared- compensated because we are His inheritance.