In Genesis chapter 20, we find Abraham and his wife Sarah traveling even further South to a new land and going back to old ways. Abraham tells the people of the new land that Sarah is his sister and the King of that land, Abimelech, decides to take her as his wife. This is now the second time something like this has happened. Sarah must have been really beautiful because at this point she was 90 years old and King Abimelech still wanted to be with her.

When King Abimelech goes to sleep, God talks to him about Sarah and reveals that she is already married to Abraham. Abimelech is shocked and says to God, “Hey I didn’t sleep with her, I didn’t touch her, I didn’t do anything and your boy Abraham said she was his sister and even she said she was his sister, so I believed them.” After saying he didn’t do anything wrong, Abimelech asks God to spare his life and God says he’ll keep him safe and that’s why He didn’t let Abimelech sleep with Sarah in the first place.

After his conversation with God, got up early and went to Abraham and asked him why he lied about his wife. Abraham said he lied because he was scared for his life because he thought he was going to a godless place, a place that didn’t know the difference between right and wrong. Clearly he was wrong, because Abimelech spoke to the Lord and was there to make things right. Abimelech gave Abraham some livestock, servants, silver, and returned his wife and told Abraham that he could live anywhere in the land and that Sarah’s innocence was vindicated (the silver was a symbol of that). After that, Abraham prayed to God and God made it so all the women in Abimelech’s kingdom could have children again, because the entire time Sarah was there, they had been barren.

I think there’s three major takeaways here. The first one is, if this part of the story feels familiar like you’re reliving it, take a look at the choices you’re making. If Abraham would have told the truth, this story would be vastly different than Chapter 12, but he chose to say that his wife was his sister again. If you keep reliving the same chapter of your life over and over again, take a look at the decisions you’re making to see what’s getting you to end up there.

The second takeaway is the importance of integrity. Integrity is the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles. Even when you could get away with doing something bad because of a technicality, you don’t do it. Even if someone did something that wrongs you, you continue to be upright in your actions. That’s exactly what Abimelech did. Even though Abraham lied to him, Abimelech still went to vindicate Sarah’s innocence. He didn’t lash out, he didn’t keep Sarah for himself, he didn’t punish anyone. He kept his moral uprightness and made things right, even apologizing in a place where he had been wronged.

And the last takeaway is that prayer is powerful. In the last two verses of this chapter, Abraham prays and women who were barren are able to conceive again. That right there is a miracle.

So I leave you with this, be encouraged because even if you make the same mistakes over and over again, there is always another chapter in the book of life and in that new chapter you can choose to take a different path. You can chose to be integral and you can pray about any situation and know that God will hear you and will answer your prayers. The answer might not be what you want to hear, but he will answer you so keep on praying.