DEVOTION
GENESIS
NO
LIE
Gen
26:7-11
7
When the men of that place asked him about his wife, he said, "She is my
sister," because he was afraid to say, "She is my wife." He
thought, "The men of this place might kill me on account of Rebekah,
because she is beautiful." 8 When Isaac had been there a long time,
Abimelech king of the Philistines looked down from a window and saw Isaac
caressing his wife Rebekah. 9 So Abimelech summoned Isaac and said, "She
is really your wife! Why did you say, 'She is my sister'?" Isaac answered
him, "Because I thought I might lose my life on account of her." 10
Then Abimelech said, "What is this you have done to us? One of the men
might well have slept with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon
us." 11 So Abimelech gave orders to all the people: "Anyone who
molests this man or his wife shall surely be put to death."
NIV
There
are two striking thoughts about this narrative. We see that Isaac commits the
very same lie his father did in the very same place. We have to wonder if
Abraham had ever spoken of this offense he committed to his son Isaac. It would
seem because Isaac has done the same thing, Abraham had kept silent about this
matter to his son. This begs the question whether it is a good thing to expose
our failures to our children in hopes they will be aware of those temptations
and thus be able to guard against them. This would have to be done in the most
delicate of manners as not to lose the respect of our children. But this might
have prevented Isaac from repeating the sin of his father. Yet the respect
issue has much value and perhaps it is best not to be completely transparent with
our children, even as they become adults. Plus there might be another reason to
keep our failures to ourselves. If we confess our failure, sin to our children
then it might offer them a good reason to follow suit. If dad or mom did it,
then would be alright if I did it. Yet this is exactly what Isaac did, with or
without the knowledge of his father’s same offense. Yet how often as children
we have observed the bad behavior of our parents and perhaps swore within we
would never be like that, yet sometime later did in fact begin to behave similarly.
It does give thoughts to perhaps Isaac was not oblivious to Abrahams faults.
Yet that is no reason to lie to Abimelech that Rebekah was his sister. She was
his cousin and thus family, but not his sister, as Sarah was to Abraham, so
this was really an outright lie. This lie was again, as stated in the
narrative, to protect himself from harm. It does seem strange this version uses
the word caressing when describing the actions Abimelech observed Isaac and
Rebekah involved in. The original word means more of sporting, laughing out
loud, to play or to toy with. Perhaps this was done in a romantic way, which
gave Abimelech the insight Rebekah was actually his wife and not his sister.
The point of his whole lie, the resulting behavior and the finding out of the
truth is that their sin was found out. They could not keep up this lie
completely without being found out.
Num
32:23-24
23
"But if you fail to do this, you will be sinning against the LORD; and you
may be sure that your sin will find you out.
NIV
Although
God was speaking to the children of Israel this truth applies to all of us today.
It is without question God knows when we are sinning, when we are living a lie
so to speak. We cannot hide our sin from him. We might attempt to hide our sin
from others, even those close to us, but that will not last hidden for long either.
Isaac and Rebekah could not keep this lie going forever and they were found
out, not just by God, but by other people. This is not just an Old Testament
truth that we can live by. Jesus said:
Luke
12:1-3
"Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees, which is
hypocrisy. 2 There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden
that will not be made known. 3 What you have said in the dark will be heard in
the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be
proclaimed from the roofs.
NIV
Although
it may not be the wisest of things to confess all our sin before our children
in hopes of giving them insight or perhaps giving them permission to commit the
same errors, we can be sure that God sees us for who we truly are. Our only
saving grace is that we are in Christ. This is what will be revealed. Yet we
need also to see we need to keep our lips from lies. We should not be like the
Pharisees, being hypocrites. Appearing to be so super spiritual while still failing
to be perfect human beings. Are we not all sinners saved by grace? Pretending
not to have any sin is in fact a lie. Thinking more of ourselves then we should
is living a lie. It is true that some of us might have a larger grasp of the
scripture then others. Some of us might have an education in biblical studies,
knowing chapter and verse of many of the books of the bible. Some of us might
have extended knowledge of the Hebrew and Greek languages which may give better
insights into certain truths. Some of us may have been saved for many years,
while others are new to the faith. But the fact remains, there are none righteous,
no not one for we all have sinned and are in need of a Savior. Sooner or later our sin will find us out.
Certainly by God, but also by those we live among. No matter how hard we try,
we cannot keep up a lie our whole life. It would be good to be who we are,
sinners saved by grace. Now that does not mean we should just go on sinning, go
on lying about our life to God or others. We should endeavor to be truthful in
all we do and say. We need to be the man or woman of God we say we are. Yet not
pretend we are sinless either. We might think a little white lie is alright if
it keeps us from harm, such as telling that officer we did not see the speed
limit sign or some other seemingly small offense. Although some of us may believe
we never lie, and not only ascribed that honestly is the best policy, but behave
that way, it is good not to become judgmental about those who may have been
caught in a lie. No matter the sin, if we are guilty of one we are guilty of
them all, at least according to the law.
James
2:11
10
For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of
breaking all of it.
NIV
James
goes on to say that judgement without mercy will be shown to anyone who does
not have mercy. We are all guilty under the law, but praise God, Jesus
fulfilled the law and thus we are free from that guilt and shame because we are
in Christ. Nevertheless we still need to live the truth, not a lie.
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