Genesis 20:11 (BSB)
Abraham replied, “I thought to myself, ‘Surely there is no fear of God in this place. They will kill me on account of my wife.’
Abraham, having heard God tell him to leave the home of his father without any foreknowledge of where he was going, obeyed. God formed a covenant with Abraham and promised that he would be the father of a great nation, even though he was childless and his wife was past her fertile years.
This man was able to speak with God openly about the sins of the surrounding nations and prevail with his request to spare those evil nations if there were only five righteous people found therein. Even though God had promised to be his great shield, that promise was not enough for Abraham to trust God fully when certain situations arose. Twice he lied by asking his wife to pose as his sister when her beauty made him fear for his own life. He was even chastised by an evil King, who acted with more integrity than Abraham when he learned that Sarah was truly Abraham’s wife and not his sister.
Abraham, like all of us, had a complicated life filled with some moments of courage and other moments of utter failure. One minute he acted bravely by saving his nephew from robbers and thieves and then he brought chaos and confusion upon his family by having a child with a woman other than Sarah. Still, God kept his word to Abraham and called him a friend of God.
