by Jon Galloway

We know ourself better than anyone else does. If we are truthful with ourself we realize our short-comings, downfalls, temptations, and weaknesses. Sometimes we might think that God can’t use us because we are just not good enough.

But when we read through scripture we discover that God has always used imperfect people to accomplish his will. We might wonder why that is – until, of course, we realize that no one is perfect. All people have weaknesses just like we do.

Although Abraham is looked on as a great man – and he was! – we realize that he was not great because he was perfect. He was a great man because of his faith in God and his willingness to obey God even when it didn’t make sense. The same man who trusted God enough to sacrifice his own son was the man who lied at least twice about his relationship with his wife.

What effect did this have on his children? Were they the same way?

Isaac was the child of promise. It was through him that a nation for God was going to come.

“Now there was a famine in the land – besides the previous famine in Abraham’s time – and Isaac went to Abimelek king of the Philistines in Gerar. The Lord appeared to Isaac and said, ‘Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land where I tell you to live. Stay in this land for a while, and I will be with you and will bless you. For to you and your descendants I will give all these lands and will confirm the oath I swore to your father Abraham. I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and will give them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because Abraham obeyed me and did everything I required of him, keeping my commands, my decrees and my instructions.’ So Isaac stayed in Gerar.” (Genesis 26:1-6 NIV)

So far, so good. Isaac listened to and obeyed God and God gave him the same promise as he had given to Abraham: his descendants would be numerous, would be given the land in which he was living, and ultimately all nations would be blessed through his offspring, his seed.

But then it seems almost like déjà vu. I’m sure this is why the writer stressed that this was a different occurrence.

“When the men of that place asked him about his wife, he said, ‘She is my sister,’ because he was afraid to say, ‘She is my wife.’ He thought, ‘The men of this place might kill me on account of Rebekah, because she is beautiful.’” (Genesis 26:7)

But this was the child of promise! This was the one God had sworn to make into a great nation. Yet he blatantly lied about his wife due to fear for his own life. He ended up getting caught out but God still blessed him.

What does this tell us? Does it not emphasize to us that we will never be good enough. When even great men like Abraham and Isaac get caught out in sin it doesn’t excuse us, but it does offer us hope. If God can use men who sinned like these two, and we could add many others like David to the list, he can use us.

What is God looking for? He is looking for faithfulness. He is looking for obedience. He is looking for people who, although they stumble in their living for him, get back up and get back on the path. He is looking for people who “walk in the light”, people who are wanting to live right and when they slip up and sin ask for forgiveness, put the sin behind them, and get back on the path.

“If we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.” (1 John 1:7 NASB)

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