Genesis 21:22b-23a …God is with thee in all that thou doest: now therefore swear unto me here by God that thou wilt not deal falsely with me
How much of God is there in your story? It is amazing how many times we say, “I,” “me,” and “my,” when we are talking about our lives. I’ve even heard preachers who are really quick to say, “My people, my church, my work, my, my, my.” You get the impression they are going it alone. That may or may not be true. I am just saying what we know from what people communicate. Sometimes we communicate poorly, but the fact is that by nature we tend to be stuck on I, me, and my, my ministry, my things, and so on.
If we are not careful, we can go through life as if God is not there. Even if we are living by faith, there are lapses where we are doing things in our own power. We tend to stretch the truth, finesse people, work things, or connive for our own way because we are not living by faith. As someone has said, “Faith is living without scheming.” That is a wonderful definition. Faith is just obeying God, taking God at His Word, and trusting God to make it good. So, there is a sense in which people can trust us when we trust God and they cannot trust us when we do not trust God.
An example is found in Genesis 20 and 21. In Genesis 20 you might well be forgiven if you think that this story is already in the Bible. It is the story of Abraham lying to King Abimelech of Gerar. Abraham said that Sarah was his sister for fear that someone might kill him in order to take his wife. There is a long background to that, but that was something that was a distinct fear in his life. Genesis 20:13 says, “Every place whither we shall come, say of me, He is my brother.”
So, he lied to this king, and verse 18 says, “For the LORD had fast closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech, because of Sarah Abraham’s wife.” Abimelech had taken Abraham’s wife to his harem. God appeared to Abimelech in a dream. He was scared out of his sandals and said, “I did this in the innocence of my heart.” You might think, “How innocent can a man with a harem be?” but he did not know that Sarah was Abraham’s wife. So, there is a sense in which Abimelech, though he was a pagan king, was living more in regard to God than was Abraham, this man of faith. Abraham was a man of faith, but there were lapses.
In contrast to Abraham’s deception, Genesis 21:1 says, “And the LORD visited Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did unto Sarah as he had spoken. For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him.” This is repeated a couple of times in the stories found in these chapters. So, here is Abraham lying to King Abimelech and here is God keeping His promise. What a contrast! God keeps His word. Abraham stretched the truth.
Now, if you can trust God, you can be truth-worthy. If you can trust God, you can be trustworthy. Abraham wasn’t worthy of trust because he wasn’t trusting God. The way you regard the truth depends on how you regard God. Put another way, the way you regard truth indicates how you regard God. There is a real contrast here.
Abimelech later wanted to make a covenant with Abraham because he said, “God is with thee in all that thou doest. Now therefore swear unto me here by God that thou wilt not deal falsely with me.” People can’t trust you if you won’t trust God. Today you need to ask, “Am I living a life that is trustworthy because I find God trustworthy? Am I trying to scheme or strong-arm my way through life? Am I trying to stretch the truth because I don’t feel like I can trust God?” The way you regard the truth indicates the way you regard God. If you can trust God, then you can tell the truth. If you can trust God, you can do what is right and know that you will be glad that you did.
In Abraham’s lie to Abimelech he said, “Yet indeed she is my sister.” He told Abimelech that Sarah was his sister when she was his wife. He goes on to say, “She is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife.” It was a half-truth and a complete lie. Abraham gave a half-truth here because he basically had half of God. He wasn’t trusting God in this spot in which he found himself. In a pinch he resorted to something that wasn’t quite honest, as we oftentimes do. Abimelech could trust Abraham when Abraham decided He would trust God. In Genesis 21:24 Abraham said, “I will swear.” He made this promise to Abimelech that he would deal falsely with him.
How do you regard the truth when it is not convenient, when it is unpalatable, when it is not fashionable, and when it is costly? That is the test of how much I regard God. If I regard God and trust Him to keep His word, then I can keep my word and I don’t need to stretch the truth or work people in order to make things turn out right. Pilate famously said with Jesus standing right before him, “What is truth?” The answer to that is Jesus. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”
Today, whatever you may be facing, listen to God and live in the truth because God is up to the truth that kings cannot resist. Abimelech could not resist the truth and God was up to the truth. God’s will is worth doing God’s way, and the way you regard the truth depends on how you regard God.