Don't Be an Amnesiac

Winston Churchill once famously said: "Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it." I've heard this quote more often in the last two years than in all my preceding years put together.

Tensions are running high in this nation. On the day after Election Day, we still aren't sure of the outcome, and goodness, do my social media threads reflect it. 

Tensions are, in fact, running high all over the world. The above quote is flung at each other from the two predominant thought factions, each attaching their own meaning to the phrase like an explosive device, and the throwers watch with glee as the quote blows up in the faces of their targets.

What have we become?!

And it was this quote that came to mind when I read Genesis 20 this morning. Abraham and his wife Sarah have decided to move. Pack up the tents, ship out from the Trees of Mamre, and leave behind the life they've built. Possibly the Lord has said, "Hey guys, you're getting too settled. Time to get uncomfortable again" (have you ever noticed how little patience God has with our comfort zones?). Possibly Abraham can't come to terms with the destruction he'd witnessed when Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed, and he feels he has to leave. My thought train from yesterday hasn't yet departed the station; I still can't get rid of the sad chasm that seems to have stretched between Abraham and his nephew Lot. Why didn't Lot return to Abraham?!

Whatever the cause, Abraham leaves the Trees of Mamre. At this point, he is 99 years old, Sarah is nine or ten years younger, so 89 or 90. They make their way through the desert to the Negev, and they settle down between Kadesh and Shur (likely in the northern part of the Sinai Peninsula). 

When they come into this land, they stop and stay in Gerar for a bit. The king of Gerar, Abimelech, sees Sarah and decides he'd like to have her for his wife.

Pause the story for a second: 

First, I wonder if, rather than viewing Sarah with any degree of romantic attraction, Abimelech instead sees Abraham as a credible power in his land. He assumes Sarah is Abraham's sister (that's what Abe and Sarah tell him), so he decides to take her for his wife as a politically expedient choice instead of trying to engage this man and his massive collection of warriors (remember, Abraham has defeated several kings in order to rescue his nephew Lot). I find it difficult to believe he sees Sarah and, you know... falls in love with her beauty, but I could be wrong. I suspect in those days, 89 or 90 didn't look like dentures and wheelchairs. People seemed to have a bit more longevity than they do today.

Second, this collection of events has happened before. Same story, second verse. The first time, the narrative involved Pharoah of Egypt who got caught up in Abram and Sarai's lie; this time it is Abimelech who gets tangled up in the web.

This has all sorts of implications. Abraham is a man of God, one who walks closely with Him. He is the receiver of the covenant of circumcision, the inheritor of a promise to be the father of a great nation. He is characterized by immediate obedience. He makes it into the Faith Hall of Fame in Hebrews 11. He's got "and it was credited to him as righteousness" after his name. 

So why under the great blue canopy did he feel the need to tweak his circumstances? Where was his faith that God would carry him through this, too? 

Why did it happen TWICE?!

How often have we stood on the mountaintop in the presence of our Lord and shouted our praises? How often have we plunged into the valley and forgotten that close encounter with the God of heaven? Spiritual amnesia is an unrelenting disease, isn't it? 

And it happens to the best of us. If someone were to draw up a list of "the best of us according to mentions in the Scriptures," Abraham would make the top ten, maybe even the top five.

In all this, God takes care of Abimelech, who, incidentally is a pagan king. God appears to the ruler in a dream and warns him away from Sarah (with whom he has yet to consummate his marriage). Imagine, a king who either has never heard of God, or at the very most, considers the God of the universe as a part of a pantheon of gods - finally hearing directly from the Lord in a dream. I'm sure it freaked him out just a little.

He demands an explanation from Abraham, and Abraham offers an excuse. 

It's a weak excuse. It's contrived. It holds water, but just barely. Sarah, says Abraham, is his sister; she's the daughter of Abraham's father Terah, but not of his mother. So, Sarah is Abraham's half-sister. One commentary I looked at says she's Terah's granddaughter, making her Abraham's niece. Whatever the case, Sarah is related to Abraham. 

Abimelech gives Sarah back to Abraham, along with pieces of silver as a testament to show surrounding kings: I didn't commit adultery. He seems to possess some morals, and he and Abraham part on good terms, for now (there's another encounter in the next chapter; I'll get there later).

So Abraham escapes on a technicality.

Do you think Abe feels good about his actions? His conversation with Abimelech comes across almost as an apology. I think he feels rotten.

He has forgotten his lesson he'd learned, and he repeats the same mistake he'd made earlier. He's neglected to trust the Lord's provision when things look tight, when circumstances appear to be a little overwhelming, and he caves... again.

Already, the words of his descendant David might be ringing in his ears, rolling from his lips: Create in me a clean heart, oh God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me (Psalm 51:10).

Renewing: making new again. Putting aside our past, taking hold of the mistake-less future. As my favorite literary heroine Anne Shirley says: "Tomorrow is always fresh with no mistakes in it yet."

Jesus, pierce our hearts where we have forgotten you. We've seen You work, Lord, in miraculous and great and powerful ways... and then we've allowed time to dust our memories so thickly that we can't remember Your faithfulness. 

As a nation, we've forgotten the many ways You have worked on our behalf. Forgive us.
As individuals, Lord, we've forgotten how You have created us to be unified with each other. Please forgive us.
And as a church, Jesus, it seems like we've "forsaken the love we had at first" (Revelation 2:4). We ask your forgiveness.

Jesus, have mercy on us. Restore to us the joy of Your salvation, and give us a willing spirit to sustain us. Then, in the light that comes as a result of our repentance, we will be able to witness, teach others Your ways, show others Your holy truth. Lord, I love Your truth. 

You are the Way, the Truth, and the Life, the living God, the eternal One, and we hold the hope of heaven because of You. Better is one day in Your courts than a thousand anywhere else!