Hindsight is 20/20

"From there Abraham journeyed toward the territory of the Negeb and lived between Kadesh and Shur; and he sojourned in Gerar. And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, “She is my sister.” And Abimelech king of Gerar 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 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 and 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 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 bore children. For the Lord had closed all the wombs of the house of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham’s wife." -Genesis 20:1‭-‬18 

(Sure... That's a bit of reading for a devotional, but you'll survive...)

Abraham is at it again!  Telling his favorite lie to quell his fears of being murdered by the rulers of the lands he travels through.  You would think he would have been set right after pulling this same stunt to noone other than PHARAOH!  But no... After being shown the door in Egypt, he is back on his way north into Canaan, setting up camp in Gerar.  He is visited by the ruler of the province, who takes Sarah to be included in his harem.  I guess taxes were different back then...

Now remember something... Abraham is in survival mode.  God had promised him descendants greater than the stars of the sky, but Abraham, though believing, is not quite sure how that will come to pass.  He's already fathered Ishmael, going as far as asking God to place His covenant blessing on him... But, God reiterates that it will be through Sarah that a son named "Isaac" would be born.  Upon him shall be the covenant blessing.

So here is Abraham, all of this swirling in his mind, travelling from place to place wondering at what point this pregnancy might take place.  He never feels safe. He is anxious... He is insecure... He thinks this whole thing rests on him.  That's why, when faced with fearful prospects, he acts out of self preservation, even if it involves telling the same lie.

But what he doesn't see is that God has gone before him...  Again...

Abimelech takes this 90 something year old woman back to his harem and some time must have passed, because inclusive in this period of time, the women of his home had their wombs shut (and I feel like it takes a little bit of time to notice that)...

Now imagine Abraham's state of mind.  The woman he is supposed to father a child with, despite her age, despite her barrenness, is now become a sensual play thing of a Philistine king...

If I was him, I would be freaking out... I'm sure he felt like he absolutely blew it!  This whole divine mission he was on, spoiled by his leadership!  I bet he was thinking along the lines, "If only we hadn't set up camp in Gerar! Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!"

But, Abraham has to learn that "...for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose." If he hadn't understood that leaving Egypt, he's about to figure it out.

Because God has gone before him.  He reveals Himself to Abimelech in a dream... He even goes as far to say that "it was I who kept you from sinning against me."

I don't know how that works... Perhaps God sent a lot of work his way to keep him preoccupied... Just enough to keep him away from Sarah, because even God vindicates Abimelech's story that he had not had sexual relations with that woman.

And that's important.  Because now no one can insinuate that Isaac, the son of promise, was fathered by any other man other than Abraham.  

And that's our takeaway here... If God has made a promise, it will be God that brings it to pass.

In time, Abraham is confronted of his lie.  Understandably, Abimelech is a little upset by this divine curse hanging over him.  He isn't aware of Abraham's insecurities. He doesn't know the anxious thoughts swirling about his mind.  Abimelech knows nothing of Abraham's misguided understanding that God's promise and divine commission somehow rests upon him...

But the fact remains the same.  Abraham's folly has caused all to suffer.  Sarah is carried away to a brothel of sorts, Abraham is tortured by his thoughts, the women of Abimelech's house have been stricken barren, and now a death sentence has been pronounced on Abimelech and his people...

Aren't we guilty of the same folly?  Don't we often act out of self preservation, when we ought to have confidence that the Lord shall bring it to pass?  

It's true in my life...  God called me into ministry.  All seemingly went according to plan at first.  I ended up at Bible College.  Took some mission trips.  I met my wife and we had some kids.  We did a little bit of vocational ministry... But then, things just tapered off.  We bought a home. We settled in.  I left work to become a stay at home dad.  Then the years started passing by and the waiting set in...

Depression set in.  Anxiety set in.  This foreboding sensation of "If I don't do something now, I'll squander God's will for my life" set in...  Cynicism set in and the old man started clawing his way back to the surface.

Now, if the God of Abraham is, in fact, the God of the covenant, He is my God through fulfillment of that ancient promise.  In Christ, I draw my spiritual lineage to that bedouin centenarian wandering the deserts of antiquity.  Moreso, I can relate to his insecurities, his feelings of inadequacy, and his need to be taught the things of God by failure.

In the end, Abraham is given land to dwell... He is given the increase of Abimelech.  God indeed has worked all these things (this lie, this fear, this misguided self preservation) for good.  

But let me add this disclaimer. We are not Abraham and God hasn't made a specific covenant binding our story with His faithfulness... Not in the specific way he had with Abraham...

But, He has grafted us into the narrative through a new covenant.  A covenant ratified by the blood of His Son.  Abraham thought that if he didn't preserve his own life that God's covenant wouldn't go forth.  In Christ, we find the exact opposite.  For it was at the taking of Christ's life that Abraham's covenant would be fulfilled and a new covenant would go forth.

We stand as eternal beneficiaries of this age old story.  Our fears and failures don't have to be the things that steer us. 

Sure, there are ways in which we might shipwreck our faith.  We've seen all the headlines of main line preachers trading their birth rites for mere soup...  So don't hear me wrong, we don't have license to let sin increase that grace may abound... God forbid.

But there is a very real sense that as God did for Abraham, He will do for us.  If we have fear, we can have faith.  If we have insecurity, we can have boldness.  If we lack authority, we can press forth confident in His Spirit.  And perhaps, even in times of weakness, hindsight might render that He has always gone before us and His will shall be accomplished, despite our missteps on our journey to the Promised Land.