TOPIC: Understanding God’s Righteousness
TEXT: Genesis 20:1-16
KEY VERSE:
“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. Now therefore restore the man his wife…” – (Genesis 20:3,7)
MESSAGE:
“Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?” This was the question Abraham, the friend of God, humbly asked Him in the matter of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah – “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” God replied, “If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes”. Herein is the principle of God’s righteousness: that no man suffers for what he has not done.
Abraham had agreed with his wife on their way to Kadesh to say that she was his sister before the people. Now King Abimelech finding Sarah attractive took her as his wife, but did not go near her. Abimelech pleaded his innocence when the Lord told him “thou art but a dead man” in his dream by asking “Lord, wilt thou slay also a righteous nation? 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”.
And God said unto him, “Yea, I know that thou didst this in the integrity of thy heart; for I also withheld thee from sinning against me”. God looks at the heart no matter how zealously we try to play the saint. He sees the inner recesses of the heart to disclose what is hidden there.
But for the Lord’s intervention, the sinful agreement of the couple would have ended disastrously as the covenant child of promise was to come by them. We run a big risk when we try to help God.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
Let God be true and all men liars.
THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR:
Romans 13-16
DCLM Daily Manna 25 April 2021 Devotional Message was written by Pastor William Folorunso Kumuyi; is the founder and General Superintendent of the Deeper Life Bible Church situated at KM 42 on the busy Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Nigeria.
