I don’t typically post the bible studies on the weekends, but we had a little vaca this week in TN and I didn’t get to post one every day, so I’m catching up this weekend. 🙂 So many of you have been so excited to dig into the Word and that makes my heart happy! I pray God is speaking to your heart as you dig in.

Open your bibles with me to Genesis Chapter 20 and read all 17 verses.

Overview: After Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed, Abraham journeyed to the South, and dwelt between Kadesh and Shur, and stayed in Gerar. Abraham told the king, Abimelech, that Sarah was his sister – once again out of fear. God came to Abimelech in a dream by night and told him that he would be a dead man for taking the woman into his harem, because she was another man’s wife. He was upset with God and said “I’m innocent! That man Abraham told me she was his sister! I did this innocently without knowing. Will you still kill me?” God told him Abimelech that he was the reason he had not yet had touched her – God kept him from it. And God told him that if he released Sarah back to Abraham, Abraham would pray for him, and he would live. If he didn’t return Sarah, he and his entire household would die. (Sounds like a pretty easy choice to me!) Abimelech returned Sarah to Abraham along with gifts and asked Abrahm why he would do such a thing? Abraham said that because they were not a God-fearing nation, he was afraid they would kill him to get her. Abraham prayed for Abimelech and his family and God heard and spared them. He also opened up the wombs of the women. He had shut them so they could not get bare children until Sarah was returned.

Lessons from Today’s Scripture:

• Abraham used this same trick before out of fear. Although Abraham is one of our “heroes of faith” he did not learn his lesson well enough the first time. In fact, by giving in to the temptation again, he risked turning a sinful act into a sinful pattern of lying whenever he suspected his life was in danger. No matter how much we love God, we all have certain temptations that are hard to resist, and the devil knows exactly what those are and that’s where he tempts us! As we struggle with these weakness’s we need to ask the Holy Spirit to help us overcome them – and we need to be encouraged to know that God is watching out for us just like he did for Abraham.
• Abimelech had unknowingly taken a married woman to be his wife and was about to commit adultery. But God somehow prevented him from touching Sarah and held him back from sinning. What mercy on God’s part! How many times can you look back and see that God has done the same for you? He often holds us back from sin we don’t even detect. We have no way of knowing – we just know from this story that he can intervene. God works just as often in ways we can’t see – as he does in ways we can.
• Because Abraham “assumed” that Abimelech was a wicked man, he made a quick decision to tell a half-truth. Abraham thought it would be more effective to deceive Abimelech than to trust God to work in the king’s life. Don’t assume God will not work in a situation that has potential problems. You may not completely understand the situation, but God may intervene when you least expect it! I have seen this happen more than once! I have been headed to difficult meetings at work, with difficult people, and I pray before going. I ask God to be there and to prepare the hearts of those in attendance in a spirit of collaboration – and won’t HE Do It!
• Our sins will not only affect us, but our children and others around us. Every choice we make does affect someone else either positively or negatively. Choose wisely!

Join me Monday for Chapter 21! It’s one of my Favorite! We are reminded of God’s faithfulness to keep His promises.

**Notes taken from the Life Application Study Bible