《四》蒙神主宰的看顾所保守——接上篇
神进来拯救撒拉，使她得以恢复。在表号上，这意思是神进来看顾祂的恩典和祂的见证。神知道如何主宰的保护祂的恩典，并保守祂的见证。我们不知道有多少次处在破坏恩典并失去见证的危机中，因为我们离开了正确的立场。但在紧要关头，神进来应付那些境况，使祂恩典的见证得蒙保守。亚伯拉罕若是清楚这点，他就不会说谎了；他会相信神要看顾祂的恩典和祂的见证。
虽然亚伯拉罕的信心失败了，神仍然藉祂主宰的看顾保守他（创二十3-7，14-16）。因为亚伯拉罕的经历不正常了，神就没有向他显现。在十八和十九章，神向亚伯拉罕显现，但没有向罗得显现。在二十章这里，祂没有向亚伯拉罕显现；祂在梦中向亚比米勒显现（创二十3）。可以说，亚伯拉罕在二十章的立场，几乎与罗得在十九章的立场相同。因此，神向一个外邦君王亚比米勒显现，告诉他那向他说谎的人是祂的申言者。亚比米勒听见神的申言者向他说谎，牺牲他的妻子，很觉希奇。
在本章，我们看见神的智慧、主宰、公平和看顾。神离开说谎的亚伯拉罕，对受骗的亚比米勒说，“你是个死人哪，因为你取了那女人来，她原是别人的妻子。”（创二十3）。亚比米勒大为震惊。然后神告诉他必须归还亚伯拉罕的妻子，亚伯拉罕就要为他祷告（创二十7）。神没有感动亚伯拉罕为亚比米勒祷告；反之，祂向亚比米勒指明，亚伯拉罕是申言者，有地位为君王和他的家人祷告。神这样作，并没有责备亚伯拉罕。
虽然亚伯拉罕在神的同在之外，神仍然保守祂的见证，并且赐给亚伯拉罕许多财富（创二十14-16）。当亚伯拉罕打败基大老玛和诸王，救了罗得时，他拒绝从所多玛王接受任何东西，因为他有至高的神（创十四21-24）。然而，当亚比米勒给亚伯拉罕牛羊、仆人和银子时，亚伯拉罕不敢说，“我不需要你的帮助。我有至高的神。”他没有地位这样说，他的口被封住了。当他在撒拉面前从亚比米勒接受礼物时，他必定很羞惭。神智慧并主宰的使撒拉归回，顾到祂的恩典和祂的见证，同时管教了亚伯拉罕。
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Hidden Weakness (4) – Gen. 20:6
IV. Preserved by God’s Sovereign Care — Continued
God came in to rescue Sarah so that she might be recovered. In figure, this means that God came in to care for His grace and His testimony. God knows how to sovereignly protect His grace and preserve His testimony. We do not know how many times we have been in danger of damaging grace and losing the testimony because we left the proper standing. But at the critical juncture, God came in to meet those situations so that the testimony of His grace might be preserved. If Abraham had been clear about this, he would not have lied; he would have believed that God would care for His grace and His testimony.
Although Abraham’s faith failed, God still preserved him through His sovereign care (Gen. 20:3-7, 14-16). Because Abraham’s experience was abnormal, God did not appear to him. In chapters 18 and 19, God appeared to Abraham, but He did not appear to Lot. Here in chapter 20, He did not appear to Abraham; He appeared to Abimelech in a dream (Gen. 20:3). We can say that Abraham’s standing in chapter 20 was almost the same as Lot’s standing in chapter 19. Therefore, God appeared to a Gentile king, Abimelech, telling him that the one who lied to him was His prophet. Abimelech was very astonished to hear that God’s prophet lied to him and sacrificed his wife.
In this chapter, we see God’s wisdom, sovereignty, fairness and care. God left the lying Abraham and said to the deceived Abimelech, “Behold, you are a dead man because of the women whom you have taken, for she is married.” (Gen. 20:3) Abimelech was shocked. Then God told him he must restore Abraham’s wife, and Abraham would pray for him (Gen. 20:7). God did not move Abraham to pray for Abimelech; on the contrary, He pointed out to Abimelech that Abraham was a prophet and had the standing to pray for the king and his family. In doing this, God did not blame Abraham.
Although Abraham was outside of God’s presence, God still preserved His testimony and gave Abraham much wealth (Gen. 20:14-16). When Abraham defeated Chedorlaomer and the kings and rescued Lot, he refused to accept anything from the king of Sodom because he had the Most High God (Gen. 14:21-24). However, when Abimelech gave Abraham sheep, oxen, servants and silver, Abraham did not dare say, “ I do not need your help. I have the Most High God”. He had no standing to say this; his mouth was stopped. When he received the gifts from Abimelech in front of Sarah, he must have been very ashamed. God wisely and sovereignly caused Sarah to be returned, caring for His grace and His testimony, while simultaneously disciplining Abraham.