Genesis 20: Dishonest Truth

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It's his word that transforms and you will find more and see more than I can ever articulate. Welcome to chapter by chapter and today's chapter is Genesis 20. Is there such a thing as dishonest truth? You're gonna see it in the life of Abraham and Genesis 20. He has just left the prayer closet for Sodom and Gomorrah and the angelic rescue of his nephew Lot and two daughters. He packs his bags in memory and journeys to Garar and it's there we learn about dishonest truth. Disonest truth may be a new phrase to your ears, but guaranteed it's not new to your vocabulary. Be careful of people that tell you the truth with a slant. The slant is dishonest truth. What do I mean by that? It is people that will tell you one thing that is true on the surface, but it steers you away from the real issue you're asking about. For example, it goes like this. Honey, why didn't you come home tonight? Disonest truth would say something like this. Oh dear, I was working. Now that can have a myriad of meaning. Does it mean I was working on a deal? I was working on a car. I was working on trying to figure out what to bet on at the casino. Even to I was working on picking up a date at the bar. You know people are operating in dishonest truth when they don't give you the details to your question. You know people are lying when they respond back to you by repeating your question again when you know that they heard it the first time. Repeating it back means they are conjuring up in the milliseconds they have dishonest truth. Abraham shows up in a pagan region when a king takes Sarah his wife from Abraham because he is told that she is Abraham's sister. That is not exactly true. Abraham's statement of she is my sister is true, but she is his wife also. This is not incest, but back in this Old Testament culture it was in God's plan to marry within your people group for the sake of purity, but not your immediate family. When Abimelek the king is visited by God he finds the news out that she is married to Abraham. Here is their encounter, Genesis 20 verses 8 through 12. So Abimelek arose early in the morning and called all of his servants and told all these things in their hearing and the men were greatly frightened. Then Abimelek called Abraham and said to him, "What have you done to us? How have I sinned against you that you have brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? You've done to me things that ought not to be done." And Abimelek said to Abraham, "What have you encountered that you have done this thing?" Abraham said because I thought surely there is no fear of God in this place and they will kill me because of my wife. Besides she actually is my sister, the daughter of my father but not the daughter of my mother and so she became my wife. Abraham feared the consequences of telling the truth. From the initial place where God has spoken to Abraham he is a thousand miles from the starting point. He has come so far and believed in so much and has gone through a lot and then the father of faith does something unfaithlike. Always remember that when you don't deal with your past it will resurface again. Years do not distance us from sin patterns. Abraham did this back in Genesis 12 and now again a thousand miles later in Genesis 20. What is scary is that he was willing to sell his wife for his own safety. He decided to use a carnal weapon for his own safety. The Apostle Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 10-3, for though we walk in the flesh we do not war after the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. Fear was the battle for Abraham. Fear was the stronghold. He was going to have to fight fear with lying and when we face an emotion to take our eyes off God there will always be a carnal weapon to fight it. You will have to choose which weapon to fight with. Many will fight in offense with bitterness instead of forgiveness. We will fight disrespect with wrath. We will fight injustice with anger. We will fight loneliness with immorality. We will do whatever we can to make someone want us and love us. Abraham used the carnal weapon of lying to make things easier for him. I remember talking with a backslidden Christian man who was an attorney and told me this. He said, "You just don't understand the way of the court system that I work in. We have to lie to make it." He was saying, "Lying is okay so I can get paid my salary. I disagree. God has never sanctioned carnal weapons to fight with, especially lying. Let's call things what God calls them. God always calls Sarah Abraham's wife." Nowhere in the Genesis story does it say that she is a sister. The last verse of Genesis 20, our chapter says for the Lord had closed fast all the wounds of the household of Abimelec because of Sarah Abraham's wife. Again in Genesis 27, God says these words to the king. Now therefore, restore the man's wife for he is a prophet and he will pray for you and you will live. But if you do not restore her, know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours. The only time Sarah is called sister is by Abraham. He changes God's definitions to fit his situation. God's definitions don't change based on fear, fame, finance, or friends. God's truth can hold up anywhere. Even if truth goes on a thousand mile journey, it was the same in both places. Thank you for joining chapter by chapter. Every chapter from the greatest book, the Bible, the Word of God. Seven minutes a day, seven days a week. We'll see you tomorrow.