Withheld From Sinning

If you ever feel you were not given the credit you deserve, just imagine how often this happens concerning God!  I am confident He is often not given any credit when He deserves it, and He is blamed when He only is righteous, holy and just.

As I read the Bible recently, I came across the passage where Sarah, at Abraham's request, deceived Abimelek king of Gerar that Sarah was his sister--and not his wife.  Abraham believed Sarah's attractive appearance put his life in jeopardy as her husband, that unscrupulous men would kill him to have her.  This ruse actually put Sarah's sexual purity at risk, for Abimelek--believing Sarah was Abraham's sister--had her brought to live with him.

The LORD God spoke to Abimelek in a dream and told him he was as good as a dead man, because the woman he had taken was married.  Abimelek had not gone near her, and protested he was completely unaware of her married status.  He insisted he did not have any sinister, adulterous motives.  Genesis 20:6 reads, "And God said to him in a dream, "Yes, I know that you did this in the integrity of your heart. For I also withheld you from sinning against Me; therefore I did not let you touch her."  Abimelech credited himself for being a man of integrity and honour, yet God revealed He was the one who prevented Abimelech from sinning against God.

This made me consider:  I wonder how many times God intervened to keep me from sinning.  Well, it is safe to say every time I consciously or unwittingly did not sin, it was by God's power and grace.  Can we stop sinning by our willpower or strength when we cannot even cleanse our hearts and minds from sinful desires?  Abimelek was prevented from sinning by God, and it follows God can do the same for us.  We cannot blame God should we sin, for God never tempts anyone to sin as James 1:13-14 says:  "Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. ¹⁴ But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed."

How blessed we are the all-powerful God is never tempted by sin, is able to cleanse us from sin and keep up from sinning as well.  Let us praise and worship our awesome God who is pure and holy in all His ways, who declares us righteous by grace through faith in Him.  To be free of the oppressive power and eternal punishment for sin is a wonderful gift of God we may not appreciate as much as we should.