Have you ever read about the characters of the bible and thought, man I wish I had faith like that person. When we look closely at the scriptural descriptions of God's greatest heros and ministers, each of them comes with a flaw and some form of human failure. When we think of Abraham and Sarah we think what a great couple of faith that God blessed them, giving them a son (Isaac) late in their life and creating a whole nation from their genes. I wonder sometimes, what was it about Abraham that made him the father of a nation, chosen by God. He must have walked around in constant prayer, lived a committed life to God and never was a failure in God's eyes. He probably spoke proper King James English and walked in humble gratitude all the time. How else could he have been so blessed.
Well... when we really dig in to this man Abraham we see a man who had fears, doubts, sins and disobedience. He didn't believe God's promise to give him a son, so he slept with a slave. He lied about his wife Sarah being his sister on two occassions, once to Pharoah and once to Abimelech becasue he was afraid the locals would kill him to take his wife and possessions. In the incident with Abimelech, he actually lost Sarah to the king's harem and never made an effort to get her back. (Women, this is not the marrying kind of man by the way) It was through God's direct intervention and Him speaking to Abimelech in a dream that Sarah was returned to Abraham untouched. Abimelech even confronted Abraham just like Pharoah did about his lie and then made restitution even though it was Abraham's lie that caused the issue. Abraham just doubled down on his sin and justified it with legalistic crap but yet, God's grace still delivered Abraham from himself and protected his wife Sarah.
When I look back at my own mistakes, I often see that God has intervened in spite of what I was doing to be out of His will. In fact, like Abraham, He even used other people to help bring me to a better understanding of His will in my life. Isn't it amazing that God's plan is still God's plan even when we choose to not follow His lead. Abraham didn't believe that God would fulfill His promises so when He almost ruined the plan, God took it upon Himself to get it corrected. I have the opportunity to meet with alot of people who say things like, "it was a God thing, it was a miracle that happened, I am so blessed." That's the great part about blessing and grace, it is gifted not earned. Grace and blessing is given out of the love of God not by anything we deserve. The grace that we see today in gaining salvation through Christ is the same grace that God has given to men since the beginning of time. Saving us from ourselves.
Eph 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,
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