THE ABILITY OF SARAH TO OVERCOME HER WIMPY HUSBAND

The ability of Sarah to overcome her wimpy husband.

Sunday, March 1, 2009

The ability of this fantastic woman to overcome two areas of mental attitude sins is the reason why the promise of verse 9 is fulfilled.
She overcame jealousy and bitterness.

She finally attained spiritual maturity. This speaks volumes for her greatness and for her persistence, and for the fact that she continued day in and day out to take in doctrine in spite of reverses and failures of all kind.

Bethel represents the place of receiving doctrine and growing in God’s word.

The Negev represents a place of neglect of doctrine.

Egypt represents rejection of doctrine.
This is a picture of the believer retreating and not advancing.

HEB 10:38 But My righteous one [the mature believer] shall live by means of doctrine; And if he shrinks back, My soul has no pleasure in him.

Abraham had rejected doctrine and is now trying his own plans, his own schemes, and his resources and they are zilch....and Sarah was affected because of this decision.

Abraham is going to Egypt which is the place of human viewpoint, of human function without God, the place of sublimation, escape and the place of total failure for the believer.

ISA 30:1-2 ”Woe to the rebellious children,” declares the Lord, “Who execute a plan, but not Mine, And make an alliance, but not of My Spirit, In order to add sin to sin; Who proceed down to Egypt, Without consulting Me, To take refuge in the safety of Pharaoh, And to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt!”

This instability in Abraham’s life also leads to instability in his action and in his marriage and relationship with Sarah.

Do not be shocked at what believers do when they get into backsliding or reversionism, their entire life-style changes.

Egypt is the place of weakness, cowardice, deception, and failure. The closer you get to Egypt or the world the more confused you become in your thinking.

Irrationality characterizes the believer in reversionism and the more irrational you become, the more divisive you become in your thinking.

Sarai or Sarah was one of the most beautiful women in the world and you don’t take the most beautiful woman in the world down to Egypt or the world and just simply abandon her.

He admired her beauty in Ur of the Chaldees.
He admired her beauty in Haran,
He admired her beauty in Canaan,
He admired her beauty in the Negev.

But now he’s coming to Egypt representing the world and all of a sudden this beauty that he has enjoyed day in and day out...., this beauty that he has treasured and has been a pleasure to him, suddenly becomes a great danger.

At this time Sarah’s respect for her husband has to be at an all time low.

Abraham the man is disappearing and Abraham the wimp is coming on the scene.

He ran from the famine in Canaan which was nothing more than a test.

His appreciation for Sarah is gone and this is another obstacle that she will have to overcome in order to become a mature believer.

The phrase “see now” is a word used to get her attention, you see he doesn’t have her attention. The word is hinneh-na which means “to behold” or “listen to me please.”
It’s a demonstrative adverb used as an interjection.

A pre-occupied man loses the attention of his woman.

“Yadha-atti ki ishshah yephath-mar-eh att” translated “I know that you are a woman of great beauty or a beautiful woman.”

Look out when he becomes this polite after being preoccupied with himself.

Sarah had to learn to deal with this.
And she did, and that’s why she made God’s hall of fame.

She reached spiritual maturity and visible heroship so much so that her name is written down in the word of God which in 1PE 1:25 abides forever.

She never stops being neat, clean, and well groomed and she makes the most of what she has, which, at this time, was more than almost any other woman in the world.

Abraham is given her a compliment that is true but it’s a front for his cowardice.

He is now setting this beautiful woman up for a proposal which reveals his cowardice, his weakness and his lack of manliness.

He anticipates trouble before trouble comes.

In the gaps where doctrine had departed from his soul, he has imagination, and anticipates all the problems, all the difficulties, and of course this is the way cowards live.

Sarah is married to a coward.
And she still became a mature believer.

Abraham will learn that it isn’t what the Egyptians see that counts, it’s what the Lord saw in eternity past and what He did about it.

The believer going to Egypt or back to the world’s system of thinking becomes frightened, he is very insecure regarding his own life, and therefore he is going to sacrifice all of those around him to protect himself.

He has pulled away from the real source of security, the real source of blessing, and he has no courage or integrity, he came all the way up the maturity barrier and then he crashed and burned.

The believer is two different people depending on his attitude toward doctrine.

He is noble with honor and integrity when he is positive.
But when he is negative then he is a weak coward wimpy type just as Abraham.

The beauty of Sarah which Abraham has enjoyed so much has now become a source misery.

He always emphasized her beauty and he has yet to penetrate her real beauty and see what her soul is like.

Abraham has turned into a scheming, lying, cowardly conspirator.

Abraham is weak and he is appealing to the strength of Sarah.

The weak in attacking the strong always appeals to the strength of the strong.

When a strong person attacks a weak person, he appeals to their weakness.

When a weak person attacks a strong person, he appeals to their strong point.

At this stage she is in love with Abraham and she will do anything for him, that’s her strong point.

Therefore, Abraham uses Sarah’s love to save his own miserable life and to sacrifice her to the sexual lust of the Pharaoh.

Sarah is a nag but she loves Abraham madly.
Therefore, love is her strength and Abraham appeals to her love.

Abraham is begging Sarah for his life instead of using his life to protect her.

But Abraham has permitted Egypt to eclipse God from his view and Abraham says the Egyptians will murder me.

But God says, “I will make you a great nation.”

Abraham says, “They will murder me.”
God says, “I will make you a great nation.”

He doesn’t have any children yet so either God is lying or his fears are unrealistic.”

To trust God with your whole life and then not to trust Him with one circumstance is irrationality and inconsistency.

“Please say” is the qal imperative of amer which is “imri-na.”

GEN 12:13 ”Please say that you are my sister”

This is half-true.

It is a half-true which is really the most evil, heinous, odious, atrocious lie.

To save his life Abraham wants to get rid of his wife.

Selfishness and self-centeredness rob the believer of honor and integrity.

Fear destroys love and turns the believer into a selfish monster whose willing to sacrifice anyone for his own survival.

Sarah may feel complimented but, in reality, she is being used by someone that she loves but someone who loves himself so much that there’s no love left over for her.

An insecure and frightened person will always try to use you.

Sarah thinks that Abraham loves her as she is to be sacrificed to the sex lust of a heathen king.

1. Abraham is willing to betray category two love as the means of saving his own life.

2. True category two love would protect Sarah but pseudo love betrays her.

3. At this time, Abraham is a traitor to Sarah, not her lover and not her protector.

4. Abraham would use Sarah’s beauty to gratify his own lust and then turn around and betray her by exposing her to the lust of others.

5. You cannot truly love someone else and think more of your own life then you do of theirs.

6. One of the great things in category two love is to think more of someone else’s life then you do of your own.

7. Flattery is the facade of pseudo love.

8. No real man and no gentlemen would ever compromise a woman to gratify his own lust for survival.

9. Selfishness destroys capacity for love, capacity for life, capacity for happiness.

10. If a person thinks more of themselves then they do of doctrine, then they will think more of themselves then they do of others they allegedly love.