Day 2: Duping The King

Genesis 20:2-3

New Living Translation (NLT)

² Abraham introduced his wife, Sarah, by saying, “She is my sister.” So King Abimelech of Gerar sent for Sarah and had her brought to him at his palace.

³ But that night God came to Abimelech in a dream and told him, “You are a dead man, for that woman you have taken is already married!”

Genesis 26:5-10

New Living Translation (NLT)

Artist Raphael, circa 1518

⁵ I will do this because Abraham listened to me and obeyed all my requirements, commands, decrees, and instructions.” ⁶ So Isaac stayed in Gerar.
⁷ When the men who lived there asked Isaac about his wife, Rebekah, he said, “She is my sister.” He was afraid to say, “She is my wife.” He thought, “They will kill me to get her, because she is so beautiful.”⁸ But some time later, Abimelech, king of the Philistines, looked out his window and saw Isaac caressing Rebekah.

In a way, i gotta feel sorry for poor King Abimelech. And I have to shake my head in wonder at Abraham and Isaac! Two generations in a line of very godly men having a moment, so completely lacking in trust, that they would take their lives out of God's capable hands and tell such a whopping lie to save their own skins.

I have to feel sorriest for the wives... Imagine being told by your husband that you have to pretend not to be married, knowing full well that you are likely to be taken in marriage by someone else! That very nearly happened with Sarah.

Fortunately, God was watching over them in spite of their stupidity. But God was pretty harsh with Abimelech, even though he never consummated the relationship with Sarah. I wonder then, if 50 or 60 years later, he ever made the connection between Isaac and his father, when Isaac told the same lie?

It's a mighty gracious God we serve, who is willing to forgive our stupidity and watch over us even when we take matters into our own hands. We don't usually get a glimpse into how far reaching our sin can be, and how it impacts others. We see it here, though. Because of the lie told to him, Abimelech's whole household was destined to come to an end. God had struck all the women barren. If Abimelech hadn't restored her to Abraham, that would have been the last we heard of him... and it would have been through no fault of his own. No intentional fault, anyway. 

Day 1: Innocence Lost

The first year I did this, i used the s.o.a.p. format to journal through. not this year. i'm going to be a little less structured in my note taking, and just write about what really stood out to me each day. of course, i may not always post an entry, because sometimes life gets in the way. this really is very time consuming. my typical routine is to wake up, turn on some praise and worship music on pandora and spend about 30 minutes waking up to God's grace, and then delve into the day's reading. you might ask how much reading that is every day, and the answer is roughly 12 pages. the official schedule is exactly 12, but i don't like stopping mid-chapter, so i tend to read on through a little further. if i don't stop to eat in the middle, it takes about an hour. there may be days that i will split the reading into a morning and evening portion. after i read, if time permits, i write my notes while it's still fresh in my mind.

Art by Wolfgang Sauber, used with permission

so let's get to it, shall we? i always read from my NKJV Bible, but i will often quote from other versions, such as below, i'm using the NLV for my notes. 

today i read the first 16 chapters of genesis. here's what struck me most...

Genesis 3:4-5, 16

New Living Translation (NLT)

4 “You won’t die!” the serpent replied to the woman. 5 “God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.”

New Living Translation (NLT)

16 Then [God] said to the woman,

“I will sharpen the pain of your pregnancy,    and in pain you will give birth.And you will desire to control your husband,    but he will rule over you.[a]”

Genesis 4:7, 13

New Living Translation (NLT)

7 You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master.”

13 Cain replied to the Lord, “My punishment[a] is too great for me to bear!

The loss of innocense always begins with temptation. in eden, the serpant came and taunted eve, enticing her to eat of the fruit that God had forbidden to them. once she caved in and ate, (and sharing with adam), their spiritual eyes were opened and they were able to see right and wrong. as part of God's reaction to their disobedience, God told eve that she would from then on try to control her husband... but that the husband should rule over her. and in a godly marriage, that's still true today. the head of the house should be the husband... but oh, how we wives tend to want to be in control.

later, after eve's sons gave offerings to the Lord, cain got angry because his offering wasn't good enough. why was that? probably because cain only 'gave an offering of the fruits" and abel gave an offering of the first of the fruits. my guess is that cain gave God what was left over after he'd used what he wanted for other purposes. God doesn't like leftovers. 

so God asks cain why he's so glum, and reminds him that we're always going to be tempted. sin is always going to be there to taunt us, and to try and control us, but that we have to stand up and kick sin in the teeth and rule over our sinful nature. 

i added verse 13 just because it was the first biblical example of whining about the consequences. cain's response to God was pretty much "that's not fair!" of course it's fair! you screwed up... what do you want, a medal? how often do people break the laws and then want to lay the blame elsewhere. they don't want to face the punishment for their actions. they'll blame it on someone else, or on a crappy childhood even. but ya know, it doesn't matter how crappy our childhood is. we have choices. and when we make right choices, we sure do want the credit for making them! it's only fair that when we make wrong choices, we own them, too, no matter how hard the lesson is.