Sermon Series - Genesis 20 - God the Protector

Abraham and Sarah wander...into trouble.  A Lack of Faith (LOF) moment almost derails the covenantal blessing, but God intervenes and protects the promise, Sarah's purity, and Abraham's and Sarah's marriage.

God protects His people, God bears the shield!

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:31

Welcome back to the Figured Show Podcast. I'm your host, Ron Scheffler. And we are in Genesis 20 today with Sermon Series. We're heading back to the Old Testament to pick up Abraham where we left him off. You know, probably out there wandering around in the desert somewhere. We're here to pick him up and continue on in his story. Last we left off, Sodom and Gomorrah were wiped out. Lot's wife turned into a pillar of salt, and Abraham had bargained for lives with the Lord. And now he left the oaks of Mamre area, perhaps to get away from the area of destruction, or perhaps for better grazing for his flocks. So here we go in Genesis chapter twenty, we're going to read the whole chapter. Chapter twenty verse one starts out with this. From there Abraham journeyed toward the territory of the Nagab and lived between Kadesh and Shur, and he sojourned in Gerar. And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister. And Abim Abimelech, king of Jarar, sent and took Sarah, but God came to Abimelech in a dream by night and said to him, Behold, you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is a man's wife. Now Abimelech had not approached her. So he said, Lord, will you kill an innocent people? Did he not himself say to me, She is my sister? And she herself said, He is my brother. In the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands I have done this. Then God said to him in the dream, Yes, I know that you have done this in the integrity of your heart, and it was I who kept you from sinning against me. Therefore I did not let you touch her. Now then return the man's wife, for he is a prophet, so that he will pray for you, and you shall live. But if you do not return her, know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours. So Abimelech rose early in the morning and called his all his servants and told them all these things, and the men were very much afraid. Then Abimelech called Abraham and said to him, What have you done to us? And how have I sinned against you that you have brought on me in my kingdom a great sin? You have done to me things that ought not to be done. And Abimelech said to Abraham, What did you see that you did this thing? Abraham said, I did it because I thought there is no fear of God at all in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife. Besides, she is indeed my sister, the daughter of my father, though not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife. And when God caused me to wander from my father's house, I said to her, This is the kindness you must do to me at every place to which we come, say of me he is my brother. Then Abimelech took sheep and oxen, and male servants and female servants, and gave them to Abraham and returned Sarah his wife to him. And Abimelech said, Behold, my land is before you, dwell where it pleases you. To Sarah he said, Behold, I have given your brother a thousand pieces of silver. It is a sign of your innocence in the eyes of all who are with you, and before everyone you are vindicated. Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, and also healed his wife and female slaves so that they were bore children, for the Lord had closed all the wombs of the house of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham's wife. Okay, so let's kind of recap here. Abraham heads out in a southeast direction, sets up his tent in the land of the Philistines, and more specifically in the land of Gerar and into the territory of King Abimelech. But here we go again. Just like in Egypt, Abraham tells the person in charge that Sarah is his sister, which is kind of true, being that she's a half-sister, but also a true lie, as she is most definitely his wife. Remember that Abraham tells the same lie back in chapter twelve, but that was in Egypt. Abraham has this serious laugh attack. Not laugh attack, lof, LOF, a lack of faith. And he created this potential threat to the promised blessings that God gave him. Now I say potential because God isn't going to let something sinful happen here to Sarah and screw up his own promise, no way. But what's a bit mysterious to me here is that Sarah is taken by the king. So we just read, you know, recently that at 90 year old, she uh she seems to still be desirable, appears to be, right? I mean, recently the mystery is that Sarah laughed previously when she was told she was going to have a child, being quote unquote advanced in years. But apparently this didn't affect her appearance. I mean, kudos to the Hebrew skincare oil of Ovey. Sorry for the bad Yiddish joke there. Ove is a term of exasperation. Which is exactly what Sarah probably felt with her husband, exasperated. Now, as I read this, I'm I'm always a bit dumbfounded when I when I reread this. Dumbfound with everything that's transpired to Abraham. You know, God has spoken to Abraham and led him to a new land. He's promised him an offspring to him and Sarah. He visited his tent with angels, made a covenant with him, saved him and his nephew Lot and his family. Time and again God told Abraham of his plans, and time and again God had to deliver Abraham. Abraham saw all this, witnessed all this right in front of him, right? It's his life. He participated in all of this.

SPEAKER_00 6:28

So he's got this first hand experience.

SPEAKER_01 6:32

And he still faltered, still had a lack of faith at times, still sinned. And yet I wonder Sure, I can get frustrated with reading Abraham's story here, but I wonder how do I, how do I really react to things? How do I actually respond myself in particular situations when I'm tested? I mean when I really look in the mirror at myself, how do I actually respond to things? I too have witnessed all that God has done for me. I too have had a front row seat for my life. I too have participated in God's blessing for me. I too have seen how God has provided for me over and over and over again. But will I have a lof moment again? I pray not. I long to be a man of faith that will not waver, that will not lose hope, that can stand strong in the storm. How do you truly assess yourself? How do you truly think you will be when the waves come crashing in against your home? This chapter of the book of Genesis is a story of God as the protector, protector of his people, but also of Sarah's purity in her marriage. God's covenant is not going to get screwed up. No way. For the promise to be fulfilled, marriage takes first place here. God is holy and separated from man's corruption. Sarah must be protected. We cannot be living in sin. Whatever that sin is, in one part of your life, you have a secret life over here, but yet expect to be part of God's blessings over here in this other part of your life. It just doesn't work that way. Abimelech here appears to be an upright man. God comes to him in a dream. Abimelech pleads to God, saying he didn't do anything wrong willingly. He even says, In the integrity of my heart and in the innocence of my hands, I have done this. I mean, this guy realizes he's talking to God, calls him Lord, and pleads his case. He can't lie here. So I think this guy has some solid standards. It's interesting to note here too that back in chapter 18, Abraham asked God if there are righteous people in Sodom, would he spare the city? So Abraham's trying to intercede for the people back then. Now this appears again, but the roles have swapped, right? King Abimelech asks if God would destroy an innocent people. There is a bit of wordplay here for certain. And this would certainly mean something to Abraham. God gives the king a warning. Return the man's wife. He's a prophet. Fun fact, this is the first time that that word is used in the Old Testament, the word prophet. Now Bimelech rises early in the morning, and I don't know how that dude fell back asleep, quite honestly. I I would have been jumping out of bed. I would have got dressed, threw on my socks, and woke up the whole house pronto. I don't know how he fell back asleep. It would have been on my mind. I would have been tossing and turning if I didn't get out of bed. I would have felt like, you know, maybe it would have been like a scene in one of those old Western movies when the wagon trains needed to circle up because the Indians were attacking, right? Can't you see the scene? You know you're going through going through the prairie and you can see the Indians on the horses kind of following along the wagon train and then the wagon train they start getting all this activity and uh circling the wagons up.

SPEAKER_00 10:27

I think in my head I would have been shouting and telling everybody, get those wagon trains circled up, collect the sheep and oxen, get the male and female servants together. We gotta make a giant gift to this prophet guy. Grab a thousand pieces of silver in a bag, get the children in the basement, shoot out the fireworks, and get that woman out of here.

SPEAKER_01 10:46

God designed marriage to be a covenant, no third parties here. He made Abraham and Sarah to be one. They will produce the godly seed. This is part of the covenant. God protects. Abimelech kind of lays into him too, right? Looks at Abraham and he's like, Look, man, this huge guilt was thrown upon us because of your lie. God came to me in a dream. That's how bad this could have gone. And Abraham's response is pretty weak here, and he has a couple of excuses, right? He's just weakened he says, Well, you know, I thought there's no fear of God in this place. That's incorrect. He judged the people incorrectly. The people of the land were afraid after what Abimelech told them, so the people had to be fairly righteous. And we've already established that Abraham appears to have a lack of faith. Both men make amends, though. Abimelech with all the abundant gifts, Abraham with his prayers for Abimelech. God opened the wombs of the women in the land, showing how just of a God he really is. Creating or preventing creation. God is in control. Because Abraham was weak in this instance, God intervenes. He prevented the destruction of Abraham's and Sarah's marriage by adultery, and so the promise continues. You know, listeners, God is willing to intervene in your life to help you through your troubles when you lack faith. He will guide you, he will provide a way to him. Give him your grief, give him your pain, your indecisions, your life. Nothing is too small or too big for God. Seek after him and witness the change that comes upon you by following him and understanding who Jesus is and what he really did on that cross. Listeners, thanks for tuning in. And until next time, Godspeed and bear your own.