Genesis 20
Abraham was a man of faith, but that does not mean that his faith did not falter from time to time. This chapter recalls one of those times, and it is indeed a great failure! Instead of trusting God, Abraham chose to lie, thinking that through the lie, he would save his own life. He even persuaded Sarah to lie also. This was actually a partial truth because according to v. 12, Sarah was his half-sister, but the important part, the fact that she was his wife, he chose to leave out! And so he greatly misled this pagan king, Abimelech. We have seen this scenario before when 25 years earlier in Egypt, Abraham had told the same lie. And so we know that he didn't learn from his earlier mistake!
Once again, God intervened to protect Sarah, but instead of speaking to his friend Abraham, God spoke to the pagan king! vv. 3-7. Abimelech heard God and obeyed and restored Sarah to Abraham along with much money and many material things. vv. 14-16. Abraham surely must have been humiliated to realize that this pagan king seemed to have more fear of God that he himself did. Sometimes God uses unbelievers to remind us of how we should live!
Psalm 21
Psalm 20 is David's prayer before a battle, and Psalm 21 is his praise after the victory. How easy it is to pray when we're worried and anxious, but I'm afraid it's equally easy to forget to praise the Lord and offer thanks after He answers our prayer. May we never be guilty of forgetting to be thankful.
Meditation:
"Be exalted, O LORD, in Your own strength!
We will sing and praise Your power."
Psalm 21:13
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