Divine intervention is when God intervenes to cause something to happen or to prevent something from happening. It shows that God is sovereign and we must submit to His will for us. Our disobedience and failure will not cause God’s plan to fail, but we must not think that it is alright to disobey God or to plan for failure.

Gen 20:1 : Abraham had left Mamre for Gerar. He knew that Gerar was a sinful place where God was not honoured (Gen 20:11), yet he still went there. His faith was weak at that time.

Gen 20:2 : This was not the first time Abraham had committed such a sin of deception. Note that if Abraham could fail, we too can fail God. We must never apply situational ethics to justify our sin.

Gen 20:4 : By God’s divine intervention, Abimelech was withheld from sinning against God with Sarah. We thank God for His divine intervention to correct things at times when we have failed Him. In times of our weakness in faith, we must pray and ask for God’s divine intervention to help us to grow in Him.

Gen 20:7-8 : When we obey God, we live. When we disobey God, we die. As we know God more and more, we must grow in faith and obedience to Him. Abimelech believed God and he obeyed God in this instance.

Gen 20:9 : Abraham was rebuked for his sin. It is worse when we are rebuked for our sin by an unbeliever. Do not sin because we fear man. We must trust that God is able to save us if we remain faithful to Him. God can save us from the worst situations. We must not allow situational ethics to come in and take matters into our own hands using our own sinful ways. We must honour God.

Gen 20:17 : If God had not intervened, Sarah would have been violated and God’s plan of salvation would have failed. Abraham had to learn this lesson in a humbling manner. God accepted Abraham still for He answered Abraham’s prayer. Abraham learnt his lesson and his faith was strengthened.

May we learn this lesson too.