Abraham, the patriarch and father of the Israelite faith,
had been a spiritual failure. He had seriously faltered in his faith. On one
occasion, he stopped believing that God would provide the son whom He had
promised. Therefore, he impregnated his servant, Hagar, to raise up her son as
his own heir.
Even worse, he would habitually pass off his beautiful wife
Sarah as his sister, rather than as his wife, so that he would be financially
rewarded for her. He continued to do this very thing even after Yahweh visited
to promise Abraham that Sarah would deliver the promised child, Isaac, in the
next year.
They then traveled to the land of Gerar, and Abraham again
allowed Sarah to be taken by the king, who had been told that the beautiful
Sarah was Abraham’s sister. However, the Lord struck down the entire nation
with such a horrible and life-threatening disease that the king was unable to
consummate with Sarah. He then appeared in a dream to the king directing him to
return Sarah to her husband lest he die:
·
Now then, return the man's wife, for he is a prophet,
so that he will pray for you, and you shall live. But if you do not
return her, know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours."
(Genesis 20:7)
Despite his failure to trust God, God stood by His prophet
Abraham and required the king to solicit his prayers. Of course, the king
complied but challenged Abraham to explain why a prophet and prayer-warrior
would lie and bring this calamity upon his nation. Abraham confessed:
·
"I did it because I thought, 'There is no
fear of God at all in this place, and they will kill me because of my
wife.'...And when God caused me to wander from my father's house, I said to
her, 'This is the kindness you must do me: at every place to which we come, say
of me, "He is my brother.”’”(Genesis 20:11, 13)
Abraham had not only betrayed Sarah’s trust but had also
been unfaithful to his God. Nevertheless, God remained faithful and even remembered
him as His man of faith:
·
He did not weaken in faith when he considered
his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years
old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb. No unbelief made
him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he
gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had
promised. (Romans 4:19-21)
Despite Abraham’s many sins, He is remembered by God as a
man with exemplary faith:
·
By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go
out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not
knowing where he was going. By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as
in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the
same promise. For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations,
whose designer and builder is God. (Hebrews 11:8–10)
After following the Lord for more than forty years, God had
asked Abraham to offer up Isaac as a burnt offering. Incredibly, He now obeyed:
·
By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up
Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his
only son, of whom it was said, “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.”
He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which,
figuratively speaking, he did receive him back. (Hebrews 11:17–19)
God is able to turn cowards into children of great faith and
courage. We find many such examples throughout Scripture. While suffering, the
righteous Job had indicted God for being “unjust.” However, Job repented after
God had showed him how foolish he had been. He then commended Job for speaking
correctly about Him.
After the LORD had spoken these words to Job, the LORD said
to Eliphaz the Temanite: “My anger burns against you and against your two
friends, for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.
Now therefore take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and
offer up a burnt offering for yourselves. And my servant Job shall pray for
you, for I will accept his prayer not to deal with you according to your folly.
For you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.” (Job
42:7–8)
However, God had severely reprimanded Job for speaking
wrongly about God:
·
“Who is this that darkens counsel by words
without knowledge?” (Job 38:2)
·
And the LORD said to Job: “Shall a faultfinder
contend with the Almighty? He who argues with God, let him answer it.” (Job
40:1–2)
Do these rebukes represent a contradiction or a reflection
of the Love of God, who not only forgives but cleanses us from all sin (1 John
1:9)? The latter!
Manasseh was perhaps Judah’s worst king. He reigned for 53
years and for the majority of his reign he washed the streets of Jerusalem with
the blood of the righteous. However, after Manasseh had been imprisoned by the
Assyrians and had humbled himself before God that God had mercy upon him and
restored him (2 Chronicles 33:13):
·
The LORD spoke to Manasseh and to his people, but
they paid no attention. Therefore the LORD brought upon them the commanders of
the army of the king of Assyria, who captured Manasseh with hooks and bound him
with chains of bronze and brought him to Babylon. And when he was in distress,
he entreated the favor of the LORD his God and humbled himself greatly before
the God of his fathers. He prayed to him, and God was moved by his entreaty and
heard his plea and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then
Manasseh knew that the LORD was God. (2 Chronicles 33:10–13)
If our God was moved by the plea of Manasseh, He can be
trusted to also be moved by our sincere confession of sins. The Apostle Paul wrote
that he was the worst sinner. He not only killed Christians but also caused
them to renounce their faith:
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The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full
acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am
the foremost. But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the
foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to
those who were to believe in him for eternal life. (1 Timothy 1:15–16)
Paul is a prime example of God’s undeserved forgiveness. Our
God delights in elevating those who realize that they don’t deserve anything good
from God:
·
For consider your calling, brothers: not many of
you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many
were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the
wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what
is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing
things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. (1
Corinthians 1:26–29)
King David came to realize this truth after his adulterous
affair with Bathsheba and his murdering her husband, Uriah, a righteous man.
Consequently, his first child by Bathsheba died and his second newborn by her
was in question. Would God bring anything good out of such a sin-stained
relationship? David named this child Solomon (meaning “peace”) perhaps in hope
that there might now be peace between he and his God. However, God’s ways are
not our ways:
·
Then David comforted his wife, Bathsheba, and
went in to her and lay with her, and she bore a son, and he called his name
Solomon. And the LORD loved him and sent a message by Nathan the prophet. So he
called his name Jedidiah [meaning “Beloved of God”], because of the LORD. (2
Samuel 12:24–25)
If the Lord can bring forth blessing from a family so soiled
by sin, there is no mercy that is beyond Him. Amazingly, David is remembered as
“a man after God’s own heart” Acts 13:22)
However, we ask ourselves, “Why hasn’t God been more
merciful to me? Why must I suffer so especially since he promises us the world?”
·
For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD
bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk
uprightly. O LORD of hosts, blessed is the one who trusts in you! (Psalm
84:11–12)
We often forget the hidden ingredient—waiting:
but they who wait
for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like
eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint. (Isaiah
40:31)
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