Do you Learn from Your Mistakes?

     We all mess up.  We all sin.  We hurt people.  We all tell little white lies.  What matters is what we do after.  Do we learn from it?  Do we change?  Are we determined not to make that mistake again?

     Abraham is the father of nations.  That title alone demands respect.  He was God's chosen person/prophet and that demands awe.  However, he was human.  He made plenty mistakes in his journey of life.  One of the biggest weaknesses is that he did not always learn from his mistakes.  When in Egypt he scrapped by when he lied about his wife, Sarah, being his sister.  He was wrong, but he did not appear to worry very much about the people he hurt along the way.

     Years later, he and Sarah moved to Gerar.  He repeated the same white lie.  Again the king, Abimelech, took notice of her and married her.  However, God came to this king in a dream this time.  God told him that he was as good as dead for taking a married woman.  You can just imagine the kind of reaction this king had.  He had not had sex with her yet, so he retorted to God that he was innocent in all accounts.  He could not control the lies other people tell.  God knew all this, that is why He was giving Abimelech a chance.

     Early the next morning, Abimelech called Abraham for a private meeting.  He asked Abraham why he had done this to him.  He responded that he had not wanted to die over his wife's beauty.  Abraham rationalized that Sarah was technically his sister (half-sister, but in other places she was called his niece).  Abimelech basically paid Abraham to leave with Sarah with the promise that they would be safe to live wherever they wanted.  Abraham in returned prayed over Abimelech and his entire household.  

Genesis 20