City Life Starter

Written by Scott Fiddler

The Word

From there Abraham journeyed toward the territory of the Negeb and lived between Kadesh and Shur; and he sojourned in Gerar. ² And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, “She is my sister.” And Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah. ³ But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night and said to him, “Behold, you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is a man’s wife.” ⁴ Now Abimelech had not approached her. So he said, “Lord, will you kill an innocent people? ⁵ Did he not himself say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ In the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands I have done this.” ⁶ Then God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know that you have done this in the integrity of your heart, and it was I who kept you from sinning against me. Therefore I did not let you touch her. ⁷ Now then, return the man’s wife, for he is a prophet, so that he will pray for you, and you shall live. But if you do not return her, know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours.”

Genesis 20:1-7 (ESV)

³ I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

Philippians 4:13 (ESV)

Commentary

Instead of trying to explain or understand Abraham’s conduct, I want to focus on God’s. Regardless of what Abraham was thinking, I think most people can agree that what he did threatened to derail God’s plans for fulfilling His promise to Abraham to bring forth from him and Sarah a nation. So, God did what He must sometimes do: He intervened in history to set things back on their proper path. He did this by appearing to Abimelech in a dream so he would return Sarah to Abraham.  

We should find comfort in this story, knowing that God is sovereign and in His sovereignty will intervene in space and time when necessary to accomplish His purposes. He will act outside and apart from us but for us in certain situations to keep our lives on the proper path. But while we can take comfort in knowing this, we should also understand that this is probably the least common and, I believe, God’s least desirable way to work in history. There are at least two other ways.

For example, there are times when the Lord works with us, such as when Moses held up his arms and the Israelites prevailed against the Amalekites (Exodus 17:11-12), or, when we share the gospel and the Lord anoints our words. The action is initiated by the believer, often out of faith, then the Lord steps in to provide a gentle push, an anointing, or favor, to help us achieve His purposes in the earth.

Application

But for the Spirit-filled Jesus-follower, there is a third way, and that is when the Lord works through us. This experience is described by the Apostle Paul in His letter to the Philippians where he said, “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13). This is what we do through the empowering of the Holy Spirit. It manifests in God-inspired insights and God-empowered exploits to carry out His will on the earth. 

It should be noted though that Paul was not speaking primarily or even generally about the exercise of spiritual gifts (healing, miracles, prophecy, or words of knowledge, for example) but about being content in a situation where he was not awash in finances. And when Paul references “all things,” I don’t think he meant he could do everything (such as leap a tall building in a single bound) but all types of things. For Abraham that would have been the power to overcome his fear and not give into a fear-of-man induced deception.

Of course we can’t completely fault Abraham because He didn’t have the benefit of the Spirit of God living in Him to empower him to do what He was called to do to fulfill his destiny. The Spirit-filled believer does.

Prayer

Lord help me to be sensitive to Your leading, so You may work through me. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.