The grace of our God is beyond comprehension. The Word of God declares: “For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance” (Romans 11:29). Nowhere is this more vividly demonstrated than in the life of the patriarch, Abraham. “And Abraham journeyed from thence toward the south country, and dwelled between Kadesh and Shur, and sojourned in Gerar. And Abraham said of Sarah, his wife, she is my sister: and Abimelech, King of Gerar sent, and took Sarah.”
Dear ones, this sordid story from the life of Abraham and Sarah is found in Genesis, chapter twenty. Light is cast upon Abraham’s fall by the thirteenth verse of the chapter—“And it came to pass, when God caused me to wander from my father’s house, that I said unto her, this is thy kindness which thou shalt show unto me; at every place whither we shall come, say of me, He is my brother.” Clearly, the evil compact which Abraham made with Sarah was due to the feebleness of his faith in God’s power to take care of them. The intent here is not to sit in judgement of Abraham, but rather, to draw from the scenario a picture of ourselves. Abraham did but illustrate what is all too sadly common among the Lord’s people—that which might be termed what Arthur W. Pink calls, the inconsistency of faith.
How often those who are not afraid to trust God with their souls, are afraid to trust Him with regard to their bodies. How often those who have the full assurance of faith in regard to eternal things, are full of unbelief and fear when it comes to temporal things. We have believed in the Lord and it has been counted unto us for righteousness; yet, how often, like Abraham, in the matter of the practical concerns of our daily life, we too, have more confidence in our own wisdom and scheming than we have in the sufficiency of God. And how did God act? Did He lose patience with Abraham, and cast off one so fickle and inconsistent? Yes, Abraham had dishonored the Lord in acting as he did, in setting such an evil example before these heathren. Yet, behold the grace of Him with whom we have to do. Instead of casting him off, God intervened and delivered Abraham and his wife from the peril which threatened them.
The gifts and calling of God are “without repentance” And why? Because they are bestowed altogether without respect to any worthiness in the recipient, and hence, because God’s gifts are free and we do nothing to merit them, we can do nothing to demerit them.
Be blessed as you walk in Him.
Pastor J. Amos Jones
