Abraham, Sarah and Abimelech
Gen 20:1 – 9
“She is my sister”
What kind of world this must have been, where a man had to worry that he might lose his life on account of the beauty of his wife. I live in a world filled with worry. I am not immune to it. But I’ve never felt the anxiety that someone might actually kill me in order to steal my wife.
Or maybe I have.
What does it do to a person who lives in constant anxiety? What does it do to me.
It’s a choosing against what’s actually given. It closes me down. I erect barriers to thwart the possibility that my anxiety hopes to avoid. I tell myself that it’s ok to lie – to protect myself. I look at others and see only threats. They are robbers and murders. They are not people but specters and shadows that portend doom. And I am thoroughly lost.
It doesn’t have to be like this. It never did. In each moment present Abraham was never in danger. And neither am I.
