Over and Over Again

If you have your Bible (and I hope you do), please turn with me to Genesis chapter 20. If you don’t have your own Bible, please let me know and I’ll get you a Bible you can keep. If you are able and willing, please stand for the reading of God’s Word:

Genesis 20 NIV

1 Now Abraham moved on from there into the region of the Negev and lived between Kadesh and Shur. For a while he stayed in Gerar, 2 and there Abraham said of his wife Sarah, “She is my sister.” Then Abimelek king of Gerar sent for Sarah and took her. 3 But God came to Abimelek in a dream one night and said to him, “You are as good as dead because of the woman you have taken; she is a married woman.” 4 Now Abimelek had not gone near her, so he said, “Lord, will you destroy an innocent nation? 5 Did he not say to me, ‘She is my sister,’ and didn’t she also say, ‘He is my brother’? I have done this with a clear conscience and clean hands.” 6 Then God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know you did this with a clear conscience, and so I have kept you from sinning against me. That is why I did not let you touch her. 7 Now return the man’s wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you will live. But if you do not return her, you may be sure that you and all who belong to you will die.” 8 Early the next morning Abimelek summoned all his officials, and when he told them all that had happened, they were very much afraid. 9 Then Abimelek called Abraham in and said, “What have you done to us? How have I wronged you that you have brought such great guilt upon me and my kingdom? You have done things to me that should never be done.” 10 And Abimelek asked Abraham, “What was your reason for doing this?” 11 Abraham replied, “I said to myself, ‘There is surely no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.’ 12 Besides, she really is my sister, the daughter of my father though not of my mother; and she became my wife. 13 And when God had me wander from my father’s household, I said to her, ‘This is how you can show your love to me: Everywhere we go, say of me, “He is my brother.” ’ ” 14 Then Abimelek brought sheep and cattle and male and female slaves and gave them to Abraham, and he returned Sarah his wife to him. 15 And Abimelek said, “My land is before you; live wherever you like.” 16 To Sarah he said, “I am giving your brother a thousand shekels of silver. This is to cover the offense against you before all who are with you; you are completely vindicated.” 17 Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelek, his wife and his female slaves so they could have children again, 18 for the Lord had kept all the women in Abimelek’s household from conceiving because of Abraham’s wife Sarah.

May God add His blessing to the reading of His Holy Word!

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In the words of New York Yankee’s great, Yogi Berra, this is “deja vu all over again.” I actually thought about just preaching the sermon from Genesis 12 again. I could maybe get away with it; I preached it all the way back on January 8th.

This isn’t the exact same situation that happened in Genesis 12, but it is close. It’s close, but it’s different. A lot has happened since the fellow formerly known as Abram told Egypt’s pharoah that Sarai was his sister and the pharoah took Sarai into his palace.

A number of years have passed. Abram is now Abraham. Sarai is now Sarah. They’re older. They’re (presumably at least a little) wiser. They have had several dealings with the LORD. The LORD and His angels have even appeared to them in some earthly form not long before this.

One would assume there’d be more faith present here. One would assume Abraham and Sarah wouldn’t fall into this same scenario all over again.

One would assume…but here we are. And, get this, it happens in the next generation of Abraham’s family!

Genesis 26:6–7 NIV

6 So Isaac stayed in Gerar. 7 When the men of that place asked him about his wife, he said, “She is my sister,” because he was afraid to say, “She is my wife.” He thought, “The men of this place might kill me on account of Rebekah, because she is beautiful.”

Deja vu all over again…again! Like father, like son. What in the world is going on?! I believe this to be an irrational fear.

This is the reality of the situation: even among the faithful, irrational fears do not just go away.

Do you have any irrational fears? I went on a little internet dive to find some of the more interesting irrational fears.

Arachibutyrophobia (Fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth)

Nomophobia (Fear of being without your mobile phone)

Xanthophobia (Fear of the color yellow)

Omphalophobia (Fear of belly buttons)

Syngenesophobia (Fear of Relatives)

Zemmiphobia (Fear of The Great Mole Rat)

Abraham suffers from androphobia. He fears his fellow man.

It’s almost like Abraham was triggered by this trip to Egypt. It must have reminded him of their travel to Egypt all those years ago (Genesis 12). It was there, Abraham was afraid and thought, “When these guys see how beautiful my wife is, they’re going to kill me. We’ll just tell everyone she’s my sister.”

And so, Abraham turns to his old playbook and turned to the trick that had (sort of) worked for him before. “She’s not my wife; she’s my sister.”

Bible scholar Joyce Baldwin writes this:

“The man who was pioneering the way of faith, and who was learning the basic lessons that generations to follower were to observe from his life, faltered over a relatively small danger because he was gripped by fear. The incident is utterly true to life, and shows how vulnerable Abraham was.”

Over and over again,

God’s People are Inconsistent

This is a recurring phenomenon. After we read the first go-around of the whole “she’s my sister” gambit, we can hardly imagine that Abraham would try that ever again. I mean, what a fool!

But as my favorite Proverb says:

Proverbs 26:11 NIV

11 As a dog returns to its vomit, so fools repeat their folly.

Gross. Awesome. Accurate.

Abraham just walks around locked-and-loaded with “She is my sister.” It’s like his opening line or something. This precaution was his policy (v. 13). Why? Why does he keep repeating this?

It’s not a total lie, but it is deceptive. It’s not a total lie—Sarah was Abraham’s half-sister (weird), but they’re also married (a truth he has chosen to leave out).

It’s intentionally deceptive—a deception Abraham played-up wherever they went. What’s more, Abraham manipulated Sarah, telling her she could prove her love for him by saying, “Yep, that’s my brother.”

Abraham put Sarah in danger and ran all sorts of risks with this deception. So why?

Abraham foolishly thinks he’s justified in his deception. He tries to explain himself and comes out looking like a fool and a coward. He’s meant to be faithful and courageous but he’s foolish and cowardly.

There’s this inconsistency in him. Abraham is not alone in illustrating moments of greatness intermingled with moments of disobedience and shortsightedness. He’s pretty much like the rest of us: inconsistent.

In Genesis 18, we find Abraham pleading with the LORD for the sake of Lot and the people of Sodom. Abraham’s found praying, interceding; he’s the picture of faith.

And now here, in Genesis 20, we see the once-faithful, praying Abraham deceiving people— “She’s my sister” — and justifying it— “She really is my sister, plus I had to do it because God had me wander from my father’s household and put me in this position over and over again.”

God’s people are inconsistent. This shows itself here with Abraham; it’s a failure of faith.

Abraham had a personal relationship with the LORD. Like, actually personal. Face-to-face even. They spoke. The LORD Himself made a covenant with Abraham. The LORD Himself had made promises to Abraham—Gen 12:3 “I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse…”

But all of this hadn’t worked its way into the details of Abraham’s life.

“It’s not that the LORD hadn’t been gracious toward him, not that he couldn’t remember God’s promises—but it all didn’t trickle down into a scary situation in Gerar.” - Dale Ralph Davis.

God’s people are often inconsistent. If you are a Christian, this is likely true of you.

Most of your failures don’t come because you suddenly doubt the teaching of the Bible—the doctrines of the Trinity or Jesus’ resurrection—or that you’ve stopped believing in the sin-atoning death of Jesus.

It’s not that I don’t believe in the sovereignty of God. Of course I believe that; it’s the foundation of what I believe, that God is sovereign, over and above and in charge of all things.

But then I get held up in the TSA security line at the airport about to miss my flight, and in that moment I don’t functionally believe in God’s sovereignty.

I do fine in my faith until Dad’s diagnosed with cancer and Mom with dementia. I trust the LORD with my life and eternity, just not always in the details of life. My belief doesn’t always trickle down into every specific scenario.

“Doctrinal faith doesn’t become daily faith.” -DRD

The people of God are inconsistent; it’s a recurring inconsistency.

This scenario with Abraham has happen before—folly without faith.

So don’t be shocked by your own foolishness. Don’t be shocked when you’re controlled more by your fears than you are comforted by the promises of God.

Don’t say silly things like, “I’ve learned my lesson. God will never have to teach me that one again.”

Oh, yes He will! More than likely, He will. It took at least three times for Peter to learn something Jesus had for him, and that’s just what’s recorded for us.

This is true: God’s people are inconsistent.

Abraham lies and deceives and Abimelek takes Sarah, and then we see how:

God Evaluates Sin Differently than We Do

Can you imagine God appearing in a dream and saying, “You’re a dead man, buddy!” This here is the first of four dreams in the OT where God appears to an outsider. This one has to be a little scary. “You’re as good as dead…”

Abimelek hadn’t gone near Sarah. Nothing had happened between them. And, AND, Abraham lied about who she was AND Sarah lied about who she was. “That’s my sister.” “That guy? Oh, he’s my brother…”

Abimelek had not knowingly done anything wrong.

Still, God says, “Welp, you’re dead.” And then God makes this comment, an evaluation of sin that’s maybe a little surprising.

Look at verse 6 with me:

Genesis 20:6 NIV

6 Then God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know you did this with a clear conscience, and so I have kept you from sinning against me. That is why I did not let you touch her.

Welcome to the strange world within the Bible, the book that evaluates things in ways we can’t fathom.

God tells Abimelek that it was His providence that kept Abimelek from sleeping with Sarah and sinning against God.

It’s a sin against the LORD God, not a sin against Abraham.

In the ANE—the world of Abraham’s day—adultery was a private wrong committed against the husband.

But in Israel, among the people of God, adultery not only hurt people, but also defied God. Among God’s people, adultery was an offense against God.

David understood this. After his sinful relationship with Bathsheba, David confessed to the LORD:

Psalm 51:4 NIV

4 Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight; so you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge.

Sin—all sin—is an affront to a holy God. It’s not a private matter. It’s not a personal thing. Sin is not merely an issue you need to work out with the other people in the equation.

Yes, you need to do that. But you must realize that your sin—whatever it is—is a sin you’ve committed against God. You must seek Him, confess it to Him, repent of it, and thank Him for the forgiveness you have in Christ.

Also, we should be praying that the Lord would do for us what He did for Abimelek—hold us back from sinning against Him.

What follows from this moment is teaching us, again, that

God is Graciously At Work in/through/in-spite-of His People

God orders Abimelek to return Sarah to her husband, and says that Abraham—a prophet—will pray for him and he will live.

This bothers us. Well, it bothers me. Sticks right in my craw. Abraham’s held up here as a prophet? The one who deceives and causes this problem for Abimelek is going to be the one through whom Abimelek is restored?!?

It’s out of sync. It doesn’t feel right. What business does Abraham have as a prophet?

Understand: Abraham is a prophet by God’s appointment, not by human merit. God is graciously at work through Abraham who deserves it not at all.

God appointed Abraham to function as a channel by which God would bless the nations, and so Abraham was to function as a channel of blessing to others.

Abraham had been a real bother to Abimelek. But now, at God’s direction, he becomes a conveyor of God’s blessing.

God is graciously at work in and through and even in spite of His people.

Abraham has really screwed up. Again. In the same way he had before. Abraham exposes his wife, once again, to danger, leaving Sarah to fend for herself.

But God is faithful to His promise. He told them plain:

Genesis 15:1 NIV

1 After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.”

The LORD is faithful to His promises, even when His people don’t live by that promise.

The LORD intervenes here. He steps in. He protects old Abe and Sarah.

The LORD is serious about His people, their protection, their lives.

The fault is Abraham’s, but the LORD is protecting and caring for Abraham and Sarah, and warning Abimelek that he’s gonna die if he doesn’t give Sarah back to Abraham.

Abraham is walking foolishly, not faithfully. Abraham fears man more than he seems to fear God.

But God refuses to allow His people to be swallowed up. This is such an important truth, the OT people of God sang a song about it:

Psalm 105:12–15 NIV

12 When they were but few in number, few indeed, and strangers in it, 13 they wandered from nation to nation, from one kingdom to another. 14 He allowed no one to oppress them; for their sake he rebuked kings: 15 “Do not touch my anointed ones; do my prophets no harm.”

God is graciously at work in and through and in spite of His people. God is graciously at work in and for US.

I believe in the indestructibility of the Church (“Church” with a capital ‘C’). God will never allow His people to be eradicated in this world.

Now, this doesn’t mean all God’s people will be kept from danger or death. That’s not how it works out. But the LORD will always, always, always have a people for Himself. The Church is indestructible—God sees to that.

The Church is indestructible because it belongs to God. And God is graciously at work among His people.

God wasn’t going to let anything happen to Abraham or Sarah. God had big plans to use Abraham and Sarah, their offspring, and their offspring’s, offspring’s, offspring.

Through Abraham and Sarah, all the nations of the world would be blessed. And blessed they were—not through Abraham and Sarah directly. But through their descendant: Jesus.

Galatians 3:13–14 (NIV)

13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.” 14 He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.

God is graciously at work among us. This we can see, over and over and over again.

Though we stumble and falter and fail, though our fears are many and our sins are great, His grace is greater still.

God keeps showing us, over and over, that He keeps on dealing with us—His fragile people—and that Jesus is faithfully shepherding His foolish sheep.

Psalm 94:14 NIV

14 For the Lord will not reject his people; he will never forsake his inheritance.

Over and over again, His love never fails, it never runs out, it never gives up on me. Over and over again, His mercies are new; new every morning, in fact.

Over and over again, the LORD God is with us, inconsistent as we are, sinful as we are, fearful as we are.

Even when what we believe doesn’t trickle down to our daily lives, the God in whom we believe is faithful, over and over again.

Over and over again, our God is graciously at work in us and through us and even in spite of us.