Disobedience Out of Fear

When you were a child, did you ever tell your mom or dad a lie out of fear of the punishment that would come if you told the truth? It takes a few mistakes like this until the child realizes that the punishment from lying is worse than the punishment would have been for telling the truth. Children are not the only ones guilty of this thinking. Adults operate in this same mode at times because of fear of the repercussions if they were to be truthful. It happens on the job, with our families, with our friends and even in our churches. There will be occasions when "the truth hurts", but should that stop us from telling the truth?

Genesis 20:11-13 Abraham replied, "I thought, 'This is a godless place. They will want my wife and will kill me to get her.' And she really is my sister, for we both have the same father, but different mothers. And I married her. When God called me to leave my father's home and to travel from place to place, I told her, 'Do me a favor. Wherever we go, tell the people that I am your brother.' " Does this ring a familiar bell to anyone else? "Well, it really is not a lie because this much of it is true...." However what is the perception that is on the receiving end? Abraham wanted the Pharaoh and his people to believe he was not married to Sarah so he conveniently omitted that part of the truth. The reason? He was fearful of dying. So to compensate for his fear, he distorted the truth. He essentially lied.

Abraham was fortunate that in this situation God intervened directly with the Pharaoh and told him the truth. Pharaoh then came back to Abraham and questioned him at which point Abraham had no choice but to tell the truth. Perhaps because God has a greater plan for which he needed Abraham and Sarah, He saved Abraham in the midst of this act of disobedience. In any case, Abraham and Sarah came out of this covered with God's mercy and grace. However, there were consequences down the road.

Genesis 26:7-9 When the men who lived there [Gerar] asked Isaac about his wife Rebekah, he said, "She is my sister." He was afraid to say, "She is my wife." He thought, "They will kill me to get her, because she is so beautiful." But some time later, Abimelech, king of the Philistines, looked out his window and saw Isaac caressing Rebekah. Immediately, Abimelech called for Isaac and exclaimed, "She is obviously your wife! Why would you say, 'She is my sister'?" "Because I was afraid someone would kill me to get her from me," Isaac replied. Isaac had no convenient explanation that was a distortion of the truth. He just lied to protect himself. He was afraid. Although I have no documentation to support my theory, I believe that Isaac grew up hearing the stories of his father's many exploits and how God showed up to save him. It is very feasible that this story is one Isaac grew up hearing. When he finds himself in similar circumstances it is very natural that he would repeat what his father had done, even if it was wrong.

The question that immediately pops into my head is where was their faith? God had clearly had His hands on their lives from day one. If they had enough faith wouldn't they have realized that God is big enough to handle any situation? After all, they had intimate experience with God Himself in their lives. After all, Isaac was saved at the last minute from being a sacrifice on the altar. Surely he if anyone would believe in the power of God in all circumstances, but something happens to our flesh when we are confronted with an obstacle. We react. First response kicks in, and we react.

A relative told us the story of his entering his 3 year old's room and she immediately looked up and said, "Daddy you need to leave now." She knew she had been caught and the first response was Daddy needs to not be here! Did she think through that response? No - she did not even think about how to cover what she was doing - just get Daddy out of here! How like us when we are confronted with uncomfortable circumstances. What can I do to get out of this jam? Not what will God do because of the situation in which I find myself? God is an infinitely "BIG" God. He can handle any situation that we encounter, but do we trust Him to do so, or do we feel compelled to take care of it ourselves?

Obeying the Word of God is more complex than just looking at the ten commandments, yet it is as simple as obeying the two greatest commandments. Our lives are multi-faceted jewels with more dimensions and reflective surfaces than we realize. This complex individuality gives us multiple opportunities to choose obeying the heart of the law versus legalistically figuring out how we can twist it to fit our needs. Life can be very straightforward or we can make it so convoluted that we will lose track of its turns. If we choose to honor Him in all that we do, say and think, it simplifies the choices in our lives. In any given situation, ask yourself, is what I am about to think, say or do going to honor God or is it about protecting myself and hence honoring self over God. We must trust Him in all things and believe without question that no matter how the circumstances look, if we choose to honor Him then He will work it out to the good - our good and ultimately and far more importantly His good and that of His kingdom.