REPEATING THE OLD FAILURE - After Abraham had left God’s presence and had journeyed toward the south, he repeated an old failure-lying by sacrificing his wife (20:2; cf. 12:11-13). To lie is one thing, and to sacrifice our wife is another. Although many brothers may lie, perhaps none of them would sacrifice his wife. But Abraham did it. I admire Sarah for being such a good wife. She did not complain but was agreeable with her husband’s lie.

THE HIDDEN WEAKNESS EXPOSED - In 20:8-13 we see Abraham’s hidden weakness exposed. Abraham did not lie accidentally; it was planned from the day he first began to follow the way of God. Abraham told Abimelech, “It came to pass, when God caused me to wander from my father’s house, that I said unto her, This is thy kindness which thou shalt shew unto me; at every place whither we shall come, say of me, He is my brother” (v. 13). This hidden weakness was kept within Abraham even after he had been circumcised. In principle, most of us are the same today. On the one hand, we are following the Lord in the church; on the other hand, we have a reserve. In case a certain thing happens, we have a reserve plan to deal with it. Do you mean to be absolute with the Lord? If you do, ask Him whether you still hold on to some hidden reserve. Although you may not believe that you have a reserve, when you take a vacation from the church life, it will be exposed. Many young sisters who are following the Lord in the church have a reserve deep within them. They say to themselves, “Maybe some day a certain thing will happen. If it does, I know just what I will do about it.” This is the reserve planned from the time they first began to follow the Lord. Yes, we are living by faith in the church life. But what do we do when our faith fails? We use our reserve. Perhaps after a short while your weakness will be exposed. This will prove that in spite of your claim to be absolute, you are still not one hundred percent absolute.

I believe that the purpose of this record in chapter twenty is to show us that sooner or later our hidden reserve will be exposed. The Bible is different from any worldly book, for it is a genuine and honest record of a God-seeking people. However much we seek after God, we still have a reserve. I fear and tremble that perhaps there is still deep within me a hidden reserve that one day will be exposed.

PRESERVED BY GOD’S SOVEREIGN CARE - In the Bible, Abraham, in figure, stands for faith and Sarah stands for grace. In other words, in the presence of God, a man always stands for faith and the wife always stands for God’s grace. Abraham was the father of faith, and his life was a life of faith. Since Sarah is the figure of God’s grace, for Isaac to be born of her meant that he was born of grace. Ishmael, on the contrary, was born of Hagar, of the law, of bondage. In figure, whenever faith becomes a failure, grace is damaged. This means that when faith fails on our side, grace suffers on the Lord’s side. Each time Abraham failed, Sarah suffered, and when Sarah suffered, grace suffered.

Furthermore, grace and testimony go together. Whenever we have grace, we have the testimony. When Abraham lied, he did not have the enjoyment of grace. Therefore, he lost his testimony. Whenever faith fails, grace suffers, and the testimony of grace is lost.

God came in to rescue Sarah and to restore her. In figure, this means that God came in to take care of His grace and His testimony. God knows how to sovereignly protect His grace and preserve His testimony. We do not know how many times we have been in danger of damaging grace and losing the testimony because we have left the proper standing. But at a certain juncture, God came in to deal with the circumstances so that the testimony of His grace might be preserved. If this had been clear to Abraham, he would not have lied; he would have believed that God would care for His grace and His testimony.

Although Abraham’s faith failed, God still preserved him by His sovereign care (vv. 3-7, 14-16). Because Abraham’s experience had become abnormal, God did not appear to him. In chapters eighteen and nineteen, God appeared to Abraham but not to Lot. Here in chapter twenty, He did not appear to Abraham; He appeared to Abimelech in a dream (v. 3). In a sense, Abraham’s standing in chapter twenty was nearly the same as Lot’s in chapter nineteen. Therefore, God appeared to Abimelech, a Gentile king, telling him that the one who had lied to him was His prophet. Abimelech was surprised to hear that one of God’s prophets had lied to him at the sacrifice of his wife. In this chapter, we see God’s wisdom, sovereignty, fairness, and care. Leaving Abraham, the one who had lied, God spoke to Abimelech, the one who had been cheated, saying, “Behold, thou art but a dead man, for the woman which thou hast taken; for she is a man’s wife” (v. 3). Abimelech was shocked. Then God told him that he must restore Abraham’s wife and that Abraham would pray for him (v. 7). God did not inspire Abraham to pray for Abimelech; rather, He indicated to Abimelech that Abraham was a prophet and had the position to pray for the king and his family. In doing this, God did not rebuke Abraham.

Although Abraham was outside God’s presence, God still preserved His testimony and gave Abraham many riches (vv. 14-16). When Abraham defeated Chedorlaomer and the other kings and rescued Lot, he refused to accept anything from the king of Sodom because he had the Most High God (14:21-24). However, when Abimelech gave Abraham sheep, oxen, servants, and silver, Abraham did not dare to say, “I don’t need your help. I have the Most High God.” He did not have the position to say this, and his mouth was shut. I do not believe that Abraham thanked Abimelech for his gifts or was happy to receive them. When he received all those gifts from Abimelech in front of Sarah, he must have been ashamed. God wisely and sovereignly restored Sarah, taking care of His grace and His testimony, and at the same time He disciplined Abraham.
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