M-G: 2.9.11 // Half-Truths, Genesis 20:11

Click to Enlarge

Practically speaking, Abraham lived in a world where there was no fear of God. Where could he travel that it could not be said, the fear of God is not in this place? It was here in Gerar (Gen 20:1) and back in Egypt (Gen 12:10-17) that he made the blunder to present a half-truth as the whole truth, and it caused rebuke from the world! Why did he try to pass off Sarah as his sister? Because his beautiful sister and beautiful wife were one and the same though they had a different mother; Abraham feared if men thought that she was his wife, they would kill him to have her but would only bargain for her as a sister. She must have had some incredible anti-aging genes from her mother’s side. Recall she was somewhere around 65 when they left out of Haran for Canaan! Abraham was 75! They are older now.

Abraham, our template of faith in God, was no stained-glass saint. He possessed a sin nature as all men do. I do derive some measure of comfort that no one, even with a stature of faith like Abraham, lives a perfect life every moment pleasing to God. Our inability doesn’t mean we shouldn’t make an effort to live a life pleasing to Him. Paul, who knew very well the struggles of the sin nature (Rom 7), encouraged the Colossians to "walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God" (Col 1:10). In reality, living for God is an obligation, not an option. Abraham struggled or wrestled with his sin nature as we all do in living for God.

We see this back-and-forth wrestling match where Abraham interceded for his nephew Lot in Sodom (Gen 18). His reasoning was that God would not destroy the righteous along with the wicked; he was absolutely correct. However, his reasoning before and after Sodom was flawed and off the mark concerning his wife's beauty being a liability to his physical health! Indeed, he was right about men being attracted to her beauty but failed to see that the omnipotent God sits on the throne and rules in the affairs of men and not on the sideline as a spectator.

Like us, Abraham's faith had to develop; he never reached perfection on this side of eternity. There is nowhere we can go where it is not evident men have no fear of God. There need not be a visible idol made of wood, stone, or metal symbolizing there is no fear of God here! Idolatry is anything that competes for the will of God for our lives. Idolatry is rampant and rabid in the world, and we all live and move among people that have no fear of God. As long as wicked men live there will always be those who desire to have what does not belong to them.  

We should fear Him even in the place that has no fear of Him because He is God Almighty. This means we ought to talk and walk in the whole truth, not in a half-truth, before others, regardless if there is no fear of God in this place called planet earth. <><