Genesis 20
Fear and ignorance make for a nasty combination that leads us straight into the grip of sin. We see how fear and ignorance led Abraham to repeat the same lie and deceit as he did back in chapter 12. Abraham explicitly shares with Abimelech that Sarah is his sister, not his wife, which causes Abimelech to take Sarah as his wife. We feel as gross as we did when we read it in chapter 12. But let's look closer at verse 11: “There is no fear of God at all in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.” (Genesis 20:11). In this verse, Abraham is revealing a lack of faith in the God who created everything. He assumed that the people of the land in which he was sojourning through didn’t fear God, which we see is actually not true at all. Abimelech does fear God so much so he is shocked to learn of his sin and asks for mercy (Genesis 20:3-7). Abraham has already lived through this scenario and knows God will deliver them safely. Yet, fear of man and the ignorance of the people he is coming across leads him back to sin, again.
We are no different than Abraham. We are all too ready to run to the comfort of our sin when we don’t know, can’t see, and struck to the core with the fear of man. As believers today, we know the power of God because we believe in the resurrection of Christ. Yet, we can experience that power on Sunday and on Monday go back to pacing our living rooms, biting our nails, or stress eating a bag of chocolate. We willingly walk in the unbelief of the power of our God even though we know God is the one who defeated death and sin for us. “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”
God is real. His power is real. Yet, when we don’t know, when we are too afraid, we run to the sin that Jesus already carried to the cross. God offers us so much more when we abide, trust and walk in faith.
What fear is gripping you so tightly you cannot move in faith to what God is really calling you to?
Who are you making an assumption about that is causing fear of them? I challenge you to trust God and go to them to check that assumption this week.
