June 4- Genesis 20

June 4- Genesis 20

Dear Father, we come before You in praise and with thanksgiving for You give us our,

‘But God’ moments. You orchestrate our lives for Your glory. May we in our quiet time recognize You for who You are: our Lord God, the God of Israel.

First, do your own quiet time and 4R journaling.  When you are completed, come back here for the lesson.

Request God’s help

Read Genesis 20

Record a verse that stands out to you

Respond to God

But God came in a dream and said…

At first read, this ‘but God’ moment applies to Abraham and Sarah. And while, yes, it does, for this lesson we are going to focus on Abimelech, because it really is a moment for him, too.

Here we have Abraham and Sarah once again claiming each other as siblings only.  What was Abraham thinking???  Hadn’t he learned this lesson before, that God will not forget His promise.  Self-preservation at its finest.  And here comes Abimelech reaching in for the beautiful Sarah, completely oblivious to the deception. Their lies caused Abimelech to make a decision based on info he was given that could have caused him to sin greatly.

Was he a godly king?  No way, he was totally a pagan king.  So, why are we talking about sin then?  ‘But God’!!! But God appeared to him in a dream!  God told him the gravity of what he had done and whilst his integrity was at that moment intact because he had been lied to, if he didn’t fix it, his integrity would no longer be intact.  And he did fix it! He did as Abraham’s God had said and sent Sarah packing, but not without confronting them about their lies!  Especially lies coming from a man God said was a prophet!

The king wasn’t even a God follower, and yet God can work anywhere and in everyone.  No one is out of reach for God.  Despite Abraham and Sarah’s blatant lies, God could not be blocked!  So, side note:  Let’s not be deliberate God blockers for others.  Abraham and Sara’s sins could have caused Abimelech to sin, too!  They could have kept him from experiencing God for himself.

But God!

But God sees potential for sinning and steps in, and for the ‘but God’ moment to have the desired or intended impact, obedience and/or change must occur.  Because Abimelech obeyed, Abraham and Sarah were kept from sinning further, in that way.  It is in everyone’s best interest to take heed of a ‘but God’ moment!

When God steps in between us and our sinning, we should immediately remove that sin and ask for forgiveness. Which is exactly what Abimelech did. Unlike Abraham who offered up sooo many excuses as to why he did what he did, Abimelech owned his bit and corrected it.  A pagan king being more godly than Abraham at that moment! And then to go ahead and rebuke him for his lies and deceit! Ouch for Abraham.  Abimelech even heaped coals upon his head by way of sending him off with generous gifts.  But of course not without the subtle jab of referring to them as brother and sister!

How quickly we can slip into our old ways and habits in times of stress and uncertainty, ways we thought were long gone from us. How quickly we can forget God’s promises.  And oh how it hurts when a non God follower calls us out on it.  May we stop today and remember God’s promise to us, may we stop today and renew our hearts to Him.  The God of our hearts is calling us to Him and reminding us who we are in Him.

“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.”

Hebrews 10:23

(Further Reading: Genesis 12:10-20; Proverbs 21.1; Romans 12.20)

Dear Heavenly Father, we praise You for You never forget Your promises.  We thank You that it is us You love.

What’s next?

As the Spirit leads, in the comment section below, share what He has laid on your heart.  Then join us again tomorrow for the next commentary.

My Verse: Genesis 20:3, “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.”