“Then God said to him in the dream, ‘Yes, I know you did this with a clear conscience, and so I have kept you from sinning against me. This is why I did not let you touch her.”
~ Genesis 20:6
Hi James and Ellen,
Have you ever told a white lie? What would a white lie be to you? A white lie is not totally telling the truth. A white lie is still a lie. Do you think that telling a lie is something good to do? What do you think that God will do to a guy, gal or kid who tells lies? Do you think that God will bless a guy, gal or kid who tells lies? Do you know who in the Bible is known as the man of faith? Abraham is known as the man of faith. The Hebrews Book has a chapter in it called the faith chapter. This Hebrews Book chapter has names of guys and gals who showed faith. Abraham got more space in this chapter than any other guy or gal. Abraham showed faith when he moved into a foreign land because he willingly did what God asked him to do. The land area where God asked Abraham to move to was called Canaan. God had chosen Canaan’s land area to be one day the land area where His specially chosen guys, gals and kids would have to live in as their very own land. Abraham’s faith had him believing that one day God would bless him and his wife Sarah with a kid. Abraham and Sarah after they were very old were blessed with a baby boy who they named Isaac. Abraham’s faith had him believing that God would raise Isaac up from the dead after God asked him to sacrifice his kid on an altar. God would stop Abraham from killing Isaac just as Abraham was about to kill his kid. Paul talked about Abraham’s faith in the letter that he had couriered to the Christ-follower guys and gals living in Galatia and in the letter that he had couriered to the Christ-follower guy and gals living in Rome. Abraham became the patriarch of the Israelite people group – who were God’s specially chosen guys, gals and kids.
Do you do what you know that you are not to do? When you give an excuse, what are you doing? An excuse can be a white lie. An excuse may be a distortion of the truth. An excuse may be to cover up something that a guy, gal or kid does not want other guys, gals or kids to know about. The front page yesterday in the newspaper that comes to your grandpaa’s field missionary team office in Guatemala reported that the Guatemalan President had been caught in a lie. The President of Guatemala had told guys and gals that he was flying to Mexico City to participate in meetings that had been scheduled with the other Latin American country leaders. The newspaper’s header informed the paper’s readers that the President of Guatemala had flown to Acapulco, Mexico instead to do partying there. It may be that the Guatemala President did meet with the other Latin American country leaders where the special meetings were scheduled to be held but . . . the Guatemalan President just had not told any guy or gal that he was going to stop in Acapulco to . . . a Guatemalan newspaper is now saying that the President of Guatemala has lied. There are guys who have been in or are in positions of leadership in the United States who have purposefully lied – guys like the former President of the United States and now a State Representative. Both guys lied about having been involved in an improper relationship with a young gal. These very influential guys did not want other guys or gals to know that they had or were having immoral relationships so the guys simply said that they were not doing what other guys and gals were claiming that they were doing. What these powerful guys did was to lie. These guys were hoping that guys and gals would stop asking them about their objectionable actions. Do you want to be around guys, gals and kids who lie? Do you think that you can you trust guys, gals and kids who lie? What kind of example are prominent guys to kids – like you, if these well-known guys think that it is okay to lie?
Genesis 20 talks about the greatest guy of faith telling a lie. Why would this outstanding guy of faith tell a lie? Do you remember who this great guy of faith was? The guy was Abraham. Abraham did what God asked him to do when God asked him to move from where he was comfortably living to a new and strange land. Abraham believed that he and Sarah would have a kid someday – because God said so, even though they were really old. Abraham was ready to kill his kid Isaac – as a sacrifice to God, because God had asked him to do so. Abraham really believed that God would bring Isaac back to life after he had sacrificed Isaac the way that God had wanted him to sacrifice him. Why did Abraham think that he needed to tell a lie? Abraham thought that he needed to tell a lie – which Abraham claims really was not a lie, so that he and Sarah would not be killed. Abraham and Sarah had gone to a place where God was not known. Abraham did not trust the king who ruled the land where they had relocated. The king’s name was Abimelech. When Abraham and Sarah arrived in the area called Gerar, Abraham gave Sarah to Abimelech to be one of Abimelech’s wives. Abraham told Abimelech that Sarah was his sister. Sarah – in a way, was Abraham’s sister. Sarah and Abraham had the same dad. Sarah was Abraham’s half-sister. Abraham married his half-sister. This made Sarah Abraham’s wife. Abraham told a white lie to get Abimelech to think that Sarah was his sister and not his wife. Even though Sarah was his sister – in a way, Abraham did not tell Abimelech the honest truth which means that Abraham lied. Abraham’s lie would bring about a punishment. God stopped Abimelech’s wives and slave gals from having kids. It was when God told Abimelech in a dream that Abraham had lied to him that Abimelech found out the truth. Verse 6 says “Then God said to him in the dream, ‘Yes, I know you did this with a clear conscience, and so I have kept you from sinning against me. This is why I did not let you touch her.” God controls the lives of every single guy, gal and kid – even a guy like Abimelech who did not know who God was and Abraham who did know who God was. God used a guy – who had genuine faith in Him, to teach you the consequences of telling a lie.
Genesis 20 (96)