Abraham's Sad Mistake

Gen 20:13  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. 

This is a very sad verse and it affects all of us in the channel of blessing. In line with Gen 3:16, Sarah's desire was toward her husband, he was her strength, her joy, her boast - her man.

To think that he caused her in every place to deny the one thing that was most precious to her, her relationship to her husband. Why did he do this to her? Why did he cause her this pain. Fear, the inheritance from Adam in the garden. He feared for his life and then practised a custom that would bring death. The insecurity that Sarah experienced increased her sense of worthlessness and drove her to ask her husband to take her servant to have a child.

I have often wondered how she could do this! But when you can see that Abraham asked her to deny their relationship in every place, Sarah could have started to feel so worthless and then to not be able to have a child, it seemed as though God was cursing her as well. She appears to have gone so low in her sense of worth that she willingly allowed another woman to take her husband.

It is hard to describe the range of feelings that surface. How fear in Abraham caused him to hurt his most precious friend and companion which led to the creation of the whole Jewish/Muslim conflict. How much sorrow a "little" failure can bring!

How I wish that Abraham had proudly acknowledged Sarah and openly spoke of her as His wife. How different history would have been!

Let all husbands learn from Abraham's sad mistake and rise up and call their wife blessed.