Fearful of Grace (Genesis 20) [Jay Thomas]

Sometimes stories in the Bible repeat themselves. Genesis 20 is one of those. At first blush, it seems to repeat the story of Abraham lying to a powerful and dangerous king about Sarah being his 'sister' so that the king won't kill him to get Sarah. That is part of a pattern, for sure, but there is another really important layer in Genesis 20, that sets it apart from the prior story with Pharaoh. This king is open to the truth. Abimelech wants to do the right thing, even in his current pagan worldview. In our story, Abraham learns he does not need to fear the king of the land and the consequences of honesty. Abraham, on the contrary, needs to fear and heed God's grace, because the apparent enemy might in fact be a future brother in the Lord. That has significant ramifications for us, God's people, who live among the nations today, nations who are being prepared by God to receive the truth when presented with it.