Were Grace Not A Factor ..

Genesis 20:1-16

Message No. 0606 | Twitter @GodandUs | www.wisdom-speaks.ca

Sometimes Children of God don’t think about the many mistakes they have made for which no punishment or the appropriate punishment was not served them. Don’t we sometimes do things which others would do and receive heavy penalties but for us the punishments were waived? Sometimes our actions were driven by genuine mistakes and at other times it was because we were so foolish or so naive to not think of the consequences.

In Genesis chapter 20, the Bible says that Abraham was on a South-bound journey and came to a place called Gerar, where Abimelech was king. Now, Sarah his wife was a beautiful and good-looking woman and instead of protecting her from men who couldn’t take their eyes off beautiful women, he actually decided to protect himself and put his wife in harm’s way. This was the exact opposite of what God told us to do for our wives. In Ephesians 5:25, the Bible says:

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her

God wants us to love and give ourselves for our wives, but Abraham gave his wife for himself. His selfish reason was that they could kill him and take his wife, so, you my wife, please tell the people of Gerar that you are my sister. Now, it happened that Sarah was Abraham’s half-sister, but within the context of this situation, Sarah was by no means a sister to Abraham. The king of Gerar too Abraham’s wife and would have innocently slept with her but God harassed him in the dream and he was so afraid that he not only restored Sarah to her husband, he actually gave Abraham gifts instead of punishing him for lying to him.

In Genesis 27, the Bible records how Jacob deceived his father Isaac to steal his brother Esau’s blessings. There was possibly nothing more evil under the sun, in those days, than to steal your brother’s lifelong blessings, dominion and authority. Jacob wiped Esau clean to the extent that their father had no blessing left for Esau, then Jacob ran away from home. But for the grace of God, Esau could have amounted to nothing. Then, Jacob embarked on a journey and would have zero chance of reaching home without passing through the territory occupied by Esau. Imagine how afraid he was, that his brother would finally get his chance to kill him and his family for the evil that he did to him decades ago, only for Esau to actually throw his arms around his neck and kiss him! If this was not the grace of God, then what was it?

I gave the testimony before, of a time in my life when I was young and inexperienced and spoke carelessly without thinking of the repercussions of what I was saying. A neighbor who apparently did not like me (I lived among a different race and different religion than mine) reported me to the police for killing one of his animals. The truth was that I had zero idea what he was talking about, and I was so angry that he could just blatantly lie against me, so when the police came and said I was wanted in the station, I told the officer that even their commissioner of police could not make me come to their station. I never knew that this was a painful thing to say to the police as it represented the height of disrespect for their boss and for themselves.

The officer left and the next thing I would see after about half an hour or so, was a truck load of policemen who came to arrest me. They would have beaten me so much that if I saw policemen in my dream I would scream in fear, but as God would have it, we had a police officer with the rank of Inspector in our compound and he returned home from outside just as the truckload of policemen arrived and he asked them what was going on. They explained to him, and he told them he was sorry and that they should forgive me and go back to the barracks. Who knows if I would be here today writing this story if they had pounced on me angrily for being so foolish.

God is so gracious to His children, and while this is never an excuse to be careless or to sin, we must never forget or take for granted His love that spares us from the punishments that we deserve. Right from the point where Jesus died for us to pay the punishment of the sins that we committed (and sometimes still commit), God has never ceased to be kind to us and to forgive us even when we do not deserve His kindness. Wouldn’t you just appreciate Him for His grace and love toward you? Wouldn’t you praise and worship Him for not dealing with you according to the multitude and severity of your iniquities? Wouldn’t you love and adore Him for His never-ending kindness for you and your family? Where would you be if not for God’s grace? You should never not thank Him each time you remember some of the close-call situations in your life. Were God’s grace not a factor, our stories could easily have been so much different. We must never take the grace of our loving God for granted. Never.

To leave a comment for this message, add new subscribers or share through social media, please follow these steps:

1. To leave a comment, please use the comments box below.

2. To add new readers, please use the Subscribe Form below or click on the Subscribe menu and enter your email address.

3. To share through social media, please use one of the relevant icons below.

 PLEASE ACT NOW:
 If you are yet to give your life to Christ, you do not have a covenant with God and His promises do not apply to you. To come under these promises, please surrender your life to Christ today, by praying this prayer:
 Lord I know that I am a sinner and I am unable to save myself. I am sorry for my sins and I pray that you please forgive me. I am aware that Your Son Jesus died for my sins and I accept Him as my Lord and savior. I surrender my life unto you from this moment. Please take control of my entire being and help me to be obedient to your Word, going forward. Thank you, Lord, for hearing me. I have prayed in Jesus’ name. Amen.
 If you prayed the foregoing prayer, you have just been born again. Please find a Bible believing church in your area and ask to see the pastor. Let him or her know that you have just given your life to Christ and s/he will guide you on next steps in your journey as a child of God. The Lord bless you!