“…and I also kept you from sinning against Me; therefore I did not let you touch her.” (Genesis 20:6)
In Genesis 20 Abraham and Sarah moved to the region of Gerar. Fearing the people would kill him to get his wife, Abraham said of Sarah, “She is my sister.” So King Abimelech, thinking Sarah was “available,” took her as his wife.
But the Lord came to Abimelech in a dream and said, “You are a dead man because of the woman you have taken for a wife, for she is married.”
At this Abimelech protested, “Lord, didn’t he himself say, ‘She is my sister’? In the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands I have done this.”
The Lord replied, “Yes, I know that in the integrity of your heart you have done this, and I also kept you from sinning against Me; therefore I did not let you touch her.”
I find it fascinating that the Lord kept a person from sinning. It would seem that we humans are all too free to follow temptation and sin. Just look around you; just look at history. But from this text we discern that the Lord sometimes keeps a person from sinning.
As I think back over my own life, it does in fact seem that at certain times the Lord stepped in to keep me sinning. Not every time, of course, but on some occasions He very pointedly prevented me from carrying out my premeditated plan to sin. Amazing. Amazing grace!
It would appear, therefore, that we may appeal to God for His keeping power with regard to sin; that we may ask Him to prevent us from sinning; that we may ask Him to prevent our son, daughter, spouse, or friend… from sinning. Is this another facet of what Jesus taught us? “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”
Father, thank You for extending this type of special kindness to us—on occasion You prevent us from inadvertently sinning against You. And sometimes You even keep us from willfully sinning against You. We bow low, for we are wholly undeserving of such grace. And while we dare not presume on You by toying with temptation, we beg You to keep on keeping us from sinning against You.