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Blessing out of Failure

Words of Faith Final

Blessing out of Failure
Words of Faith 4-12-2022
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy © 2022
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
Faith Fellowship Church - Melbourne, FL    
www.faithfellowshipweb.com
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Genesis 20
    [8] Early the next morning Abimelech summoned all his officials, and when he told them all that had happened, they were very much afraid. [9] Then Abimelech called Abraham in and said, "What have you done to us? How have I wronged you that you have brought such great guilt upon me and my kingdom? You have done things to me that should not be done." [10] And Abimelech asked Abraham, "What was your reason for doing this?"
    [11] Abraham replied, "I said to myself, 'There is surely no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.' [12] Besides, she really is my sister, the daughter of my father though not of my mother; and she became my wife. [13] And when God had me wander from my father's household, I said to her, 'This is how you can show your love to me: Everywhere we go, say of me, "He is my brother." ' "
    [14] Then Abimelech brought sheep and cattle and male and female slaves and gave them to Abraham, and he returned Sarah his wife to him. [15] And Abimelech said, "My land is before you; live wherever you like."
    [16] To Sarah he said, "I am giving your brother a thousand shekels of silver. This is to cover the offense against you before all who are with you; you are completely vindicated."
    [17] Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, his wife and his slave girls so they could have children again, [18] for the Lord had closed up every womb in Abimelech's household because of Abraham's wife Sarah.

          Abraham had failed. He had fallen back into his favorite lie: passing Sarah off as his sister. Sarah had gone into the harem of the pagan king Abimelech! The whole line of Israel was at risk! But God came to Abimelech in a dream and said, "You are as good as dead because of the woman you have taken; she is a married woman."  God was watching out for the line of Israel!
          There was an immediate good that came out of this. Now Abimelech feared the Lord. Boy, did he! Not only did Abimelech gain a fear of the Lord. He was also used to bless Abraham and Sarah in much the same way the Pharaoh did before. And there was even a blessing in return! Abraham prayed, and the Lord healed Abimelech's wife and household so that they could have children once again. These people learned that the Lord was to be feared and that He is the source of life.
          There was another blessing. A pivotal truth was communicated to Abimelech and Abraham and God's people. This is what I call a "mega-truth," not your basic spiritual insight! God's preventing the destruction of Abraham's marriage by adultery made it clear that the Israelites should not destroy their marriages by adultery. To take the wife of another man is a life-and-death issue. God takes this very seriously and punishes such a sin. This same language would be expressed in the Ten Commandments several centuries later. This is a big truth.
         We can learn from mistakes and failures. There was a lot of learning going on here! God protected Abraham and Sarah from the most terrible consequences of Abraham's sin. Of course, this is not always the case. There are many times when, although we are forgiven and restored, there are consequences of sin that we must bear. But we also learn in such situations.
          Most of all, we see here that God is always in charge! Even when we stray. Even when we fall back into the weaknesses of the past. God is sovereign. He is at work. This is no reason to sin, but how wonderful it is that our God watches over us and brings healing out of the missteps of our human frailty.
            Have you messed up? Have you "stepped in it" big time? Made a wrong choice? There is hope! Surrender this situation to the Lord today. Stop beating yourself up. He is watching over you even now. He will bring truth that you need into your life through this. Learn this truth! He will bring restoration. He will bring healing. He will bring a blessing out of failure. He will use this for His glory.

          Father, I choose to surrender to You my failure and sin. Teach me the truth I need to learn. Restore me to Yourself. Comfort me in my consequence. Heal me in my brokenness. Give me Your blessing by Your mercy and grace. Give me Your peace. In Jesus' name.

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© Jeffrey D. Hoy 2022
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy - Faith Fellowship Church (EFCA)        
2820 Business Center Blvd.
Melbourne, Florida 32940 (321)-259-7200
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
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The Words of Faith devotion is published five days a week by E-mail, excluding Federal holidays. Please feel free to forward this devotion to a friend who might be blessed by this devotion. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is quoted from the New International Version (R) of The Holy Bible. Copyright (c) 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. Words of Faith (c) 1997, 2022 Jeffrey D. Hoy. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to forward this copyrighted material or use portions of it with appropriate notation of the source for non-profit purposes.