Fear, Failure & The Faithfulness of God

Introduction

As long as I can remember, the three stories about Abraham and Isaac lying about their wives being their sisters have offered a strange departure from the flow of the narrative.

It offers a strange departure from the summation of Abraham’s life (Rom. 4:20).

Often, we take very little away from these stories except that Abraham and then Isaac shouldn’t have done what they did.

But we want to understand the purpose of their inclusion here and learn the lessons Moses wanted us to learn.

The Three Stories

These stories are difficult to interpret.

The patriarch lies in each case.

The patriarch ends up more blessed than when the story begins.

The narrator nor God makes any reprimand or rebuke toward the patriarch and in fact, the only rebuke is for an innocent man in the second story.

If you wanted to make the point that you shouldn’t tell lies, these stories don’t really impress that upon the listener.

They overlap, but are quite distinct.

In the first story, Abraham leaves the land of Canaan which I believe is a point of emphasis and God’s intervention is interpreted but not directly communicated with Pharaoh.

In the second story, the largest portion is communication is between God and Abimelech and we are assured that Abimelech did not approach Sarah.

Notice that Abraham indicates a pattern of behavior in this story.

In the third story, Rebekah is not even taken by Abimelech but he is angered at the possibility of sin.

Repetition has meaning.

The commentators think it means sloppy story telling.

They think it is proof of different authors telling the same story.

Literalists too often believe that real history can’t have deeper meaning and so woodenly read it and look for only surface moral lessons.

We need to see this as real history being reported by and even guided by an omnipotent hand.

The Point for Israel

God will keep His promise of the land (Gen. 12:9-13:1).

Notice that Abraham starts and finished in the Negev.

When Pharoah tells Abraham to “go,” it is the same word used by God in 12:1.

Salvation will not ultimately come from a foreign nation. God will bring His people to His promised land.

God will keep His promise of the seed (Gen. 20:1-18).

Notice first of all that Abraham comes to Gerar from the Negev giving us a connection to the first story.

Remember the last time we saw Abraham and Sarah was Gen. 18. There God promised that by the same time next year they would have a child.

This story brings THAT promise into danger and the narrator (and God in his response) goes to lengths to make sure we understand that nothing happened between Sarah and Abimelech.

So when we come to the fulfillment of the promise in chapter 21, we know that there has been no molestation of the promise.

God will keep His promise to bless His people (Gen. 26:6-17).

Notice that we begin the story in Gerar, again making a tie to the previous story.

Instead of the death Isaac feared, he receives reverent treatment and abundant blessings.

Those blessings come, in this story, not from the ruler but are attributed more directly to Yahweh (v. 12).

More specifically, God blesses Isaac through the promised land.

The Point for Us

God keeps His promises.

That is the main point and we don’t want to miss that.

There are times where our children have misbehaved but correction isn’t the only (not even the primary) thing they need to learn.

We certainly need to learn what God’s will is but we need to learn that in the context of knowing who He is.

In fact, learning His will is built on knowing who He is.

In this case, the point is being made not only to Abraham and Isaac, but to Israel and to all generations everywhere.

The folly of men cannot hinder God’s promises.

I don’t mean that you won’t lose God’s blessings no matter what you do.

I do mean that God’s people won’t lose their blessings no matter what you do.

Some people grow bitter and angry at the Lord’s people and make efforts to tear down the work of the Lord. They are fighting the whirlwind. It is not in their power to take away what God has promised. In fact, the pattern has been that the more they try, the more certain the blessings grow.

The wisdom of men cannot secure God’s promises.

In each case, the patriarch wanted to avoid disaster but instead created the potential for disaster.

The fears of Abraham and Isaac are valid except that God has promised.

When Israel comes to the promised land, they have valid fears except that God has promised.

Too many churches and too many individuals see some danger and scramble to set aside God’s word and guidance in order to avoid the danger but only ensure danger instead.

You will not improve your situation by saying, well all that is well and good until it comes to “the real world.”

Conclusion

No matter what it may look like, God will always do what He said.

Even when you falter, God can bring you back to where you were and continue blessing you.

So come to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He has proven Himself worthy of all you can give Him.