Your First Chapter: Remember What Matters MostSample

Rejoice in this Trouble!

You are a miracle!"...You’re a dead man!" (Genesis 20:3 NKJV) Whaaaat, what have I done? That's what Abimelech the king must have asked himself!

He had taken the beautiful Sarah into his harem, and now God appeared to him in a dream— imagine that first—and said these very words:

“Indeed you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is a man’s wife.” (Genesis 20:3 NKJV )

However, Abimelech knew nothing of this! Abraham, the one who was married to Sarah, had kept quiet about it. It was a set-up by the two of them to get royal protection in this foreign land.

What a tricky situation! People can get themselves into such trouble! I was astonished to read in the next verse: "But Abimelech had not yet come near her..." (Genesis 20:4 NKJV)

Wow, the Bible says that Sarah was a beautiful woman, and Abimelech takes her into his harem but doesn’t touch her. How does that work?

Do you know how that works? It works when we trust God with our lives, despite our human stupidity and our many bad decisions, and He continues to take care of us in His endless mercy, a mercy that surpasses our understanding:

"Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." (Hebrews 4:16 NIV)

This had been demonstrated in Abimelech's tricky situation in such a way that he had inexplicably not yet touched Sarah!

We can see how this miracle could have happened from the further conversation between Abimelech and God: "’Did he not say to me, She is my sister,’ and didn’t she also say, He is my brother? I have done this with a clear conscience and clean hands.’ Then God said to him in the dream, ‘Yes, I know you did this with a clear conscience, and so I have kept you from sinning against me. That is why I did not let you touch her.””(Genesis 20:5-6 NIV)

God sure is clever! He probably crashed Abimelech's computer and squeezed in all of his appointments so that he would be distracted! Abimelech must have been madly annoyed...but do you see what these distractions were for? They saved him from making a big mistake where his life was at stake.

What is bothering you right now? What is distracting you? And what if behind that unexpected annoyance is God’s unexpected protection?

Trust Him. Trust Him!

You are a Miracle!

Déborah