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You must be in fellowship prior to your Bible study, so that the spiritual information you receive can become a source, of blessing to your soul and produce spiritual growth. Daily Bible Study
Lesson # Genesis 20:8-10 Study Material - Genesis 20:8-10 You must be in fellowship prior to your Bible study, so that the spiritual information you receive can become a source of blessing to your soul and produce spiritual growth. Gen. 20:8-10 8 So Abimelech arose early in the morning and called all his servants and told all these things in their hearing; and the men were greatly frightened. 9 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 on my kingdom a great sin? You have done to me things that ought not to be done.' 10 And Abimelech said to Abraham, 'What have you encountered, that you have done this thing?' Abimelech rose early, terrified at the nature of his dream, he could not continue to sleep. He called all that were in his house and disclosed the content of the dream, its message, its warning, its commands, and its consequences. The house hold was immediately terrified at the thought of their impending doom. They were to take action immediately in order to avoid it. Note they listened to the dream and took action, yet they will not respond fully to believe in the God of Abraham. Sodom, on the other hand, when the warning was made known by Lot thought that he was only teasing them. And Sodom did not take the warning seriously nor even lean toward some type of preventative measures - that is make further inquiry as to the nature of the judgment and its cause, and how to avoid it. Well, leave the city would have been an easy way to avoid it, of course - but do not look back! Sinners live in degrees of sin. That is they may still be able to recognize the threat of punishment and make decisions to avoid it. They buy locks for their doors. They buy insurance. They do the common sense things that help them to avoid problems common to life. Adultery is a common problem in life. In some societies it is accepted. Even Christians passively accept it in their conscious compromising of life's morals and standards. People live with each other before marriage. They always have throughout history. Today in our society it is an accepted pattern, though there is still a strong tendency to marry even by folks living together. It sort of legitimizes their relationship, at least in the way other look qt them, or even in how they look at them selves. So Abimelech was not as far gone as the people of Sodom. They lost all sense of fear. Fear often drives people to a straighter pattern of life. The loss of fear results in ones loss of all values and all concerns for others. We see this in those terrorists in Afghanistan and elsewhere. They twist the truth and could care less for anyone but themselves. Abimelech asks as to what it was that caused Abraham to do this deception. Here Abraham will respond that it was his impression of the reputation of Abimelech to take what he would and kill him, Abraham. But this was a false fear for two reasons. Abimelech was not a righteous person, but then he was not a sadistic person as those in Sodom, nor a violent person. Abraham had fabricated in his own mind a fear of something that did not exist. Second, God was on Abraham's side. God spoke to Abraham directly and in visions. God only spoke to Abimelech indirectly in the dream. Gods conversation with Abraham was for blessing. Gods communication to Abimelech was for warning. Believers in fellowship and advancing to spiritual maturity can expect and anticipate blessing. Believers out of fellowship, and unbelievers can expect and should anticipate warnings and misery and punishment. Promises of blessing should be met with continued Bible study and greater faith. They should be met with greater self assurance and more stability in life. Warnings of discipline come in all forms. Maybe you'll get a ticket for speeding, maybe you will have some sort of accident, maybe you will experience some sort of loss in your life (great or small). Regardless of the problems that occur, you should review your life and ask why it is happening to you. Abimelech asked this question. 'Why did you do this to me?' And if you are objective then you will discover the reasons. You have been out of fellowship, not studying your Bible regularly, not growing up spiritually, not applying Bible doctrine to your daily life. Instead you have been defiant, stubborn in your pursuit of whatever it is that you justify yourself in doing. Abimelech justified his taking yet another female into his harem. He lived this way, it was an accepted way of life, but he was wrong in following this practice. And he still has not seen his error, so his troubles will continue in different forms in the future. We will meet Abimelech again later on in the next few chapters. So why did God not go to Abraham and discipline him? Well he did. In the next few verses we will see how. Can you figure it out? But for now our subject is Abimelech. A person stubborn in his ways, convinced that what he is doing is right and it was Abraham's fault entirely that he got the dream and the warning. Abimelech was wrong in his conclusion. His life style was wrong, thus the warning. His attitude toward life and doing things the way he wanted to do them was wrong, thus the discipline or the threat of it. A wrong life style or a wrong attitude in life is not in accordance with Gods plan for each individual nor for history in general. The price for continuing in ones irresponsible way is death - eventually. Usually misery will precede that as continued warning. Only stupid people ignore the warnings, and the world is full of stupid people. What is stupid? Anyone who does not study their Bible daily and grow up spiritually and apply Gods word in their life. If everyone did this, then there would not be any problems in the world. God would be supplying everyone total prosperity and so forth. But this is not the case. People ignore God, ignore the warnings we see everyday in life. Abimelech recognized the warning, but instead of seeking out the correct solution, he looked for a patsy. Abraham was the one who lied, surely it all must be his fault. We cannot blame our problems on anyone but ourselves. We choose to be responsible in life or we choose to ignore responsibility and pursue our selfish desires. Remember that there is a consequence for all that you think and do. The consequence may take years to come down on you, or it might be just around the corner. Either way, you will be the one that hurts in the end. Not someone else. 
Now is the time to post a prayer. End Of Lesson Study to show thyself approved (mature) unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing (studying/discerning), the Word of truth. |
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