The Compromises of Abraham

The Compromises of Abraham

This Sunday at CDC, we had the privilege of Captain Merrill Leong preach on the subject “The Compromises of Abraham” based on Genesis Chapter 20. In this passage, we see how Abraham, for fear of his life, had asked his beautiful wife Sarah to pretend to be just his sister. You see, in those days, it was quite common for a husband to be killed by others who coveted his wife. However, because of this pretense, Abraham and Sarah got into big trouble when Abimelech, the King of Gerar sent for Sarah to take her as his own wife. Fortunately for Abraham and Sarah, the Lord intervened and came to Abimelech in  a dream warning him to return Sarah to Abraham.

The word “Compromise” used here means to make a dishonorable or shameful concession, to lower one’s standards or integrity. Abraham resorted to telling a half-truth, painting an untrue picture of his actual relationship with Sarah because of his fear of man. It was a cowardly act, endangering the life of his wife, whom he was supposed to protect to save his own skin. God was too small in Abraham’s eyes, and he could not imagine that the God of Heaven was big enough to protect him and his family, but that is exactly what God did for him!

Yet, are we truly any different? We too, compromise easily because of fear or expediency (personal convenience over doing what is right). Which of us has not lied to save our skins before? How many of us have paid off a policeman who caught us speeding or using the handphone or simply to get some processing done faster? It is certainly not an easy thing to maintain our integrity in our world today.

It is interesting to also look at Abraham’s excuse for doing what he did. - "I said to myself, 'There is surely no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.' Besides, she really is my sister, the daughter of my father though not of my mother; and she became my wife.”

Abraham assumed that there was no fear of God in Gerar. However, that was no true, for Abimelech knew God! Perhaps Abraham thought that he was the only one who was “special” in God’s eyes. However there were also other worshippers of God around the world, and quite possibly, Abimelech was one of them. Captain Merrill at this point also drew our attention to the hypocrisy of the Pharisees and teachers of the law during Jesus’ time who saw themselves as the only ones who could follow the law. Also, he pointed out how during the dark ages, the common people were not allowed to read the Bible because it was assumed that they would not be able to understand it, or perhaps ask certain questions like why there were man-made images in the church when God commanded “thou shall not make unto thee any graven image” or why there was a Queen of Heaven in the church when God was so angry with His people in the book of Jeremiah who worshipped the “Queen of Heaven”. God wrote the Bible to be easily read and understood by the common people.

Perhaps, we too are like that, so easily inclined to look down on others, to think we are better than them. So often, we are quick to hear and share juicy gossip, especially regarding the leaders of the church. This pastor had an affair, this leader’s son got drunk, this elder’s daughter got pregnant out of wedlock, etc. Maybe looking down on other’s shortcomings makes us feel better about ourselves, but that is wrong in God’s sight.

Once, a famous Indonesian pastor had a dream. In the dream he was in an orchard full of green apples, and the Lord asked him to pick one and eat. He took a bite and spat it out because it was so sour. In his eyes, the apple was unripe and unfit to eat. However in God’s eyes, the apples were perfect, red, juicy, delicious apples… they just hadn’t arrived there yet! In the same way, all of us who follow God are like the green apples. We are not perfect yet, but one day we will be. We just need to keep following God.

In conclusion, we are firstly called to look again at the compromises we make in our daily lives and consider whether we believe God is able to pull us through if we choose the road of integrity. Secondly, we must check our hearts to see if we look down on others and think too highly of ourselves and ask God to change our hearts. May the Lord help us learn to overcome our compromises to become persons of integrity, and also choose to look with love and hope rather than with judgment on others.

God bless,

Jason