Title Repeated Mistakes/Genesis 20:1-8
Content We have already joined Abraham's journey of faith 18 times. In the meantime, we have looked at the life of Abraham from the perspective of faith. In Chapter 12, we looked at how they traveled from Haran to mountains and valleys on the ship of God's grace during various religious journeys. Lot's faith, inserted in the name of his family or relatives, in his journey of faith was reviewed under the title {Family breakdown caused by greed}. Today, we want to continue to participate in Abraham's short-lived journey of faith.
Genesis 20 can be divided into three parts as a whole. Today's text also reveals the wealth of Abraham, who is called the father of faith. When we look at the mistakes of our seniors of faith and think, "Aha, those people are like that, but they are people of faith like me, no matter what you do if you live your life freely, it is okay to live your life of faith by making mistakes." no. On the contrary, Abraham, the father of faith, falls into a trap if he is careless. I have to be careful. I need to quickly clean out my most stinky closet. You have to be challenged like this. I am the three people who appear in today's text. To be precise, we want to take a new challenge in our religious life as we look at the two of us and God.
The second is Abraham. The places where we can look at Abraham in the text are verses 1-2, 11-13, and 17.
First, if we look at Genesis 18, he will give us Isaac. next spring. And there is a hot intercession for Lot. It is absurd to see Abraham, who had such a good faith, revealed in chapter 20. This is even more true when we consider Isaac's birth in chapter 21. A husband who gives up his wife to another person who will give birth to his son when he is old enough, and moreover, Abraham has already had a criminal record once in 12:14-20. Even more shocking is verse 13 of the text. Abraham and Sarah had a silent commandment. So, from the time we left Haran, he continued to say, "Wherever we go, call me your brother. This is the grace you will show me." The two main reasons we can look at in this situation are the downhill after the peak and the fear of losing faith.
Chapter 12 also shows a very humble appearance in contrast to the passionate appearance of when he left Haran. The point is that the text also took place after fervent intercession. This gives important guidance in the life of faith. When our faith is burning and we think we're going to put our faith in Jesus now, the trap lurks. So it leaves us in deep disappointment. "I'll do it for you, then it's like that" makes me fall into despair. But God says in 1 Corinthians 10:13. He gives you the assurance of victory. Also, the main reason for falling into temptation is fear in verse 11. The irony is that Abraham had a prejudice that unbelievers would be like this. And then they were afraid and made a mistake God is not like this, but the situation is not like that at all, but he fell into fear by guessing alone and put himself on the test bed. And then they do shameful things.
Are there things that cause us fear? Are we not drowning in spiritual pride? What are the things that make us feel as frightening as Abraham? If such a thing is with me, how should we act? Shouldn't we be fighting honestly while remembering the Lord who gave us the assurance of victory? Do not try to escape or dodge in a cowardly way. It is not God's way. We must overcome by faith. We must remember that fear arises in our hearts when we think we are at the peak of our faith.
Everyone! Do we have the same fear as Abraham? Even that, we have to remember that God knows and He heals us when He wants us to.
We must also remember that there are still good people like Abimelech around us. You cannot be saved just because you are ethically good. Because he says that there is no other name under heaven given by which men can be saved. However, such people may criticize our lack of faith and not acting according to our beliefs.
We are Abraham's mistake! We must also remember the mistakes we made when we thought we had the best faith. And in front of that fact, you have to realize that mistakes have a habit of repeating themselves. And don't let the ties of vigilance loosen. And we must always live a life that trusts in God. Even today, we have to believe that the good God is the one who cares for us and wants to lead us to the best path. That is why we want our religious life to appear in a more prosperous form. ( * )