Way of The Warrior- A Daily Devotional

From there Abraham journeyed toward the territory of the Negeb and lived between Kadesh and Shur; and he sojourned in Gerar. And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, “She is my sister.” And Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah. But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night and said to him, “Behold, you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is a man’s wife.” So Abimelech rose early in the morning and called all his servants and told them all these things. And the men were very much afraid. Then Abimelech called Abraham and said to him, “What have you done to us? And how have I sinned against you, that you have brought on me and my kingdom a great sin? You have done to me things that ought not to be done.” – Genesis 20:1-3,8-9 ESV

Warrior;
Here is the Father of the 3 great Faiths; Judaism, Islam and Christianity and look how messed up Abraham, our Father, was. This is the second time that Abraham was identified as a coward, a liar and a man who trusted in HIS WAY, and NOT GOD’s WAY! This is the second time that He allowed His wife to be taken by another man, based on a lie that she was his sister and not His wife. See Genesis 12:10-20, same lie, same way he set others up to be cursed by God, because of his cowardice. Two learnings we should take from this. First we need to look toward Abraham and not David when we consider restoration with God. Second, notice how when God restores His children, that they GET MORE. When man restores something it might approach the quality of the original, but not quite there. When we restore an old car, or a piece of furniture- we make it look new, but it is not quite the exact way it was before. But God when He restores it is much better much more.

Leader, David was under the MOSAIC LAW, Abraham was under the LAW OF GRACE. This is more similar to us and our situation, than to David and his situation. The law of grace was in place before the Mosaic law, for it is written: Abraham believed God and it was credited as Righteousness. Then God had to teach His Children right and wrong, and He provide the Mosaic Law, as the first agreement. But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second. (Hebrews 8:7-8) The Life, Death and Resurrection of Christ set up the NEW TESTAMENT, the new agreement- a better agreement. The first time Abram gave away his wife, as his sister, to Pharaoh; once God told Pharaoh what was going on, Pharaoh gave back Sarai and had Abram leave. There was a huge difference in between Genesis 12 and Genesis 20: Abram became Abraham and Sarai became Sarah! God made a covenant with Abraham (technically God made it with Himself-see Genesis 15). So the LORD made a covenant with Abram that day and said, “I have given this land to your descendants, all the way from the border of Egypt to the great Euphrates River. (Genesis 15:18)

Conduit; Abram meant “exalted father” or “high father”. Change a few letters in his name and the new name takes on an entirely new significance. In Hebrew, Abraham sounds like “father of a multitude”. When a NEW CREATURE is born, we give it a name- the addition of God to Abram, made him ABRAHAM and made Sarai, Sarah. The second thing to notice is the difference in the restoration of ABRAM versus the restoration of ABRAHAM. Abram was restored to close to what he was before, but Abraham was restored with FAR GREATER. So Abimelech brought sheep and cattle, menservants and maidservants, and he gave them to Abraham and restored his wife Sarah to him. And Abimelech said, “Look, my land is before you. Settle wherever you please.” And he said to Sarah, “See, I am giving your brother a thousand pieces of silver. It is your vindication before all who are with you; you are completely cleared.”(Genesis 20:14-16) If you read the story of the Prodigal Son, you see the same thing. Not only did our GOD RUN toward His son to RECONCILE HIM, he also rewarded him with a ring, shoes, clothes, and a feast of HOMECOMING. Remember the Father had already given the son his due, his inheritance, but when He was RESTORED, He got even more! (Luke 15:11–32) This is our God! He gave His only begotten Son, so that whoever believes on JESUS will be RESTORED and BLESSED. “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.” (1 Corinthians 2:9) Maranatha!