Medications, I am still alive and in ‘relatively’ good health because of them, but they can also be a cause of struggle; as they were yesterday.

Today I am doing much better and am able to putter around the house – and of course give a more definitive meditation.

Seems that everywhere I turn, in the past few months, I am finding the need for Christ to intervene in so many loved ones and friends’ lives.  He is able and He wants to give us peace and comfort – as I pray for these people I am mindful that the Holy Spirit can do both as well as heal the person or the circumstances they are in – and that is prayer for them.

While we may not always appreciate what we are going through, we can still Praise Him for Who He is.  

Genesis 20:7  Now therefore restore the man his wife; for he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live: and if thou restore her not, know thou that thou shalt surely die, thou, and all that are thine.

Verses 10-13 And Abimelech said unto Abraham, What sawest thou, that thou hast done this thing?

¹¹ And Abraham said, Because I thought, Surely the fear of God is not in this place; and they will slay me for my wife's sake.

¹² And yet indeed she is my sister; she is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife.

¹³ 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 shew unto me; at every place whither we shall come, say of me, He is my brother.

Abraham said he didn’t lie when he said Sarah was his sister – because she was, he just didn’t also say she was his wife.  His reason?  He was afraid they would kill him for her.

Abraham withheld information from his benefactor, information that could have resulted in the death of the benefactor and his country had he chosen to take Sarah as a concubine or wife.

We know that God had a special place in His heart for Abraham.  We know that Abraham was devoted to God and Abraham’s faith is legendary.  So why did he give a half-truth?

All of us want to be seen in the best light possible.  When we have a job interview we give out information that emphasizes our good qualities and we try not to discuss our weak ones.

Through the years I interviewed many people, listening to them you would think they would be the greatest employee ever – and some were.  Others, we found, were not.  Some we found out before we hired them by doing a thorough background check; but, to our misfortune, some – whom we shouldn’t have hired - we did.

We did not expect our applicants to air all their weaknesses; that is why we did background checks, to see if they were what they said they were.  Even so some slipped through the net.

In America it has become second nature – it seems – to tell only half-truths.  We give information that is incomplete or misleading.  We expect politicians to lie, they say something one place and something else another – they give information the citizens want to hear, rather than the full truth.  And we let them get away with it.

Businesses sell their product, always showing the best of it and rarely, if ever discussing the negative.  It is called salesmanship and one of the reasons for the ‘buyer beware’ rules.  While laws have been passed condemning false advertising we know it still exists.

There are times when telling the whole truth will endanger someone.  That is why the government must have some secrets in dealing with other nations.  It always disturbs me when I hear government employees give out secrets on operations that caught terrorists or spies.  It either endangers others, or gives a how to list on how to avoid being caught.

The same holds true every time I hear that a police officer was saved by his vest – it just reminds the criminal that when they are going to attack an officer to go for the head, or wait until they are in civilian clothes when few officers wear a vest.

But it is unfair to give out only partial information when it means decisions are going to be made based on those half-truths. 

IF Abimelech, king of Gerar, who was told that Sarah was Abraham’s sister, had decided to make her his wife he would have condemned himself and his country. 

Abraham was afraid for himself.  Yet, he had been sent there by God; why was he afraid?

Abraham 4:12-13 And the father of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had being yet uncircumcised.

¹³ For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.

Why didn’t Abraham, who is legendary for his faith in, and faithfulness to, God, tell the whole truth?  Was his fear valid?  What should he have done?

Abraham was a man; a great leader and business person – his wealth attests to his ability to manage his resources; yet a man.

He was subject to the wiles of satan; when he took his eyes off God he faltered and for fear of his life he told only a half-truth and in effect lied.   

It took God revealing the subterfuge to Abimelech in a dream to keep the King from making a serious error. 

Withholding information is dishonest and is a detriment to our decision making abilities.  We base our decisions on what we know, and if there is a vital element left out disastrous decisions can made; ones that can be dangerous to us and/or others.

One man who in a management position who worked with me.  I was a new Sheriff, I inherited him.  He seemed to be running a decent operation; but time showed me flaws in the operation.  I became increasingly concerned when I realized the only time he told me everything I needed to know is when I asked the ‘right questions.’  He made the mistake of saying that very thing to me.

His defense - he was responsible for the operation.  As I dismissed him I reinforced that ‘I’ was responsible for the operation, he was responsible to operate it the way I wanted it done.  To give me half-truths was to jeopardize our mission.

In our daily lives we must be as careful as we can to not lie by giving half-truths.  When the whole truth comes out it undermines our credibility and our testimony for God.

We sometimes think we have no choice, that to do anything else will subject us to persecution or worse.  But, if God has placed us in the situation, is it right to not trust Him and not give out the correct information?  Of course not.

The thing we learn from this is that God didn’t appreciate what Abraham had done, but He forgave Abraham. 

Abraham made a mistake, but upon confessing his lie God forgave him and continued to use Him for His Glory.

God knows our heart, He knows that it is difficult for us in certain situations, but He also expects us to be truthful.  He will use us to Glorify Him and His Word. 

We want to be an example – a good example – of a truthful Christian who loves and honors God. 

Mathew 7:24-25 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:

²⁵ And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.

The stories in the Bible are more than history.  They are stories of real people who made decisions that impacted themselves and others.  They show either a dedication to God or disobedience to Him.

They show that even the greatest men are human and make mistakes and that God still forgave them and continued to use them.  The stories are meant for our education in serving God.

If we can take these lessons to heart, learn from them and apply their message to our life we can be like that man who builds his house on the rock.  We can have such a stable base for our faith that nothing can shake us from it.

My prayer is to always remember that what I say has an impact on others.  I need to be truthful in my comments – without malice or lack of love – so that others see Christ in me and will be drawn to Him.

Later, Art :-)

From the ColumbiaRiverGorgeous
May the Good Lord Bless and Keep You 'til we meet again!