Today's Devotional

November 13, 2002

Subject:  Technically...

Genesis 20:2,9,11-12 - "And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister; and Abimelech king of Gerar sent, and took Sarah.  

Then Abimelech called Abraham, and said unto him, What hast thou done unto us?  and what have I offended thee, that thou has brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin?  Thou hast done deeds unto me that ought not to be done.  And Abraham said, Because I thought, Surely the fear of God is not in this place; and they will slay me for my wife's sake.  And yet indeed she is my sister; she is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife."

Just to be sure you know what happened in the passage above, Abraham told the king that his wife was actually his sister because he was worried about what they might do to him because they might want his wife.  Well, after he told the king that Sarah was his sister, God came to the king in a dream and revealed the truth of the matter to him.  Then the king went to Abraham and charged him up about the situation.

Okay, so the scene is set.  Look at the response that Abraham gives.  After he admits to being scared that he might be slain for his wife's sake, he does something that we're all probably familiar with.  He plays the "technically..." game with the king.  he says to the king, "yet indeed she is my sister..." blah blah blah yaddah yaddah yaddah.  Didn't he expose himself first by saying that he was scared of what would happen?  Then he tries to justify himself on "technical" grounds.

Anyone ever done that with God?  Well technically, it's not sin if I love her/him.  Well technically it's not lying.  I just won't tell them everything.  Well, technically it's okay for me to take this because they owe me anyway.

Let's stop the game, because technically when we do this, we're playing the Abraham game and God will reveal the complete truth of the matter.  So let's not spend time trying to justify ourselves, because, "technically" it's just sin and disobedience.  

Carlen