1 And Abraham journeyed from thence toward the south country, and dwelled between Kadesh and Shur, and sojourned in Gerar.
2 And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister:and Abimelech king of Gerar sent, and took Sarah.
3 But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him,
Behold, thou art but a dead man, for the woman which thou hast taken;
for she is a man's wife. 4 But Abimelech had not come near her:and he
said, Lord, wilt thou slay also a righteous nation? 5 Said he not unto
me, She is my sister? and she, even she herself said, He is my
brother:in the integrity of my heart and innocency of my hands have I
done this.
6 And God said unto him in a dream, Yea, I know that thou didst this in the integrity of thy heart; for I also withheld thee from sinning against me:therefore suffered I thee not to touch her.
7 Now therefore restore the man his wife; for he is a prophet,
and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live:and if thou restore her
not, know thou that thou shalt surely die, thou, and all that are
thine.
8 Therefore Abimelech rose early
in the morning, and called all his servants, and told all these things
in their ears:and the men were sore afraid.
9
Then Abimelech called Abraham, and said unto him, What hast thou done
unto us? and what have I offended thee, that thou hast brought on me and
on my kingdom a great sin? thou hast done deeds unto me that ought not
to be done. 10 And Abimelech said unto Abraham, What sawest thou, that
thou hast done this thing?
11 And Abraham said, Because I thought, Surely the fear of God is not in this place;
and they will slay me for my wife's sake. 12 And yet indeed she is my
sister; she is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my
mother; and she became my wife. 13 And 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.
14
And Abimelech took sheep, and oxen, and menservants, and womenservants,
and gave them unto Abraham, and restored him Sarah his wife.
15
And Abimelech said, Behold, my land is before thee:dwell where it
pleaseth thee. 16 And unto Sarah he said, Behold, I have given thy
brother a thousand pieces of silver:behold, he is to thee a covering of
the eyes, unto all that are with thee, and with all other:thus she was
reproved.
17 So Abraham prayed unto God:and God
healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his maidservants; and they bare
children. 18 For the Lord had fast closed up all the wombs of the house
of Abimelech, because of Sarah Abraham's wife.
Though Abraham thought the fear of God was not in that place, God still controlled those in that place that they did Abraham no harm.
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As I face death, I think of my 3 year old cat ... What will happen to my cat? Who will take care of her? ... Of course I have prayed over this.
Recently something happened that really helped me.
Pam has a neighbor who cares for his wife's cat, Lilly. Pam said to me: Lilly is one of the most undesirable cats that has ever lived, yet God arranges for people to care for Lilly. When
Erlene died, Jim (husband who does not like cats) took care of Lilly.
When Jim (82 years old) had to go to hospital for about 10 weeks, Pam
took care of Lilly. Pam fed Lilly daily. Pam gave Lilly water and
cleaned litter box. Lilly would not let Pam any where near her. Later,
after Jim came home, Pam did get to see Lilly but every time Lilly
looked at Pam she hissed and carried on against Pam. Yet God saw that this very undesirable little cat was taken care of. This story really helped me.
Abraham
was afraid because he thought there was no fear of God in the rulers of
the land. Yet God did not allow the rulers to touch Sarah.
God was in charge ... Sometimes it is hard for us to see God is in charge.