The cup can be replaced, and will be. My husband however, assured me he could put the broken one back together. He actually was able to glue the pieces together enough, that it looked like a cup, but it left areas with tiny holes so that it can never be used for any liquid matter again.
Like the shattered shards I swept up, lives have a way of falling apart into little pieces when we choose to use deception in our relationships or in our decisions. And it seems regardless of the effort, there are always 'pieces' we miss, when we try to put things back together, that weaken a relationship.
Life requires choices. Choices require thought and prayer. Effectual prayer requires a relationship with Jesus. A relationship with Jesus requires trust and faith. While Abram had a faith relationship with God as described in Genesis 15, there were times he failed, as demonstrated in Genesis 20, as we all do, because we are human.
Abram was a righteous man and God showed his grace by assuring him he would have a biological heir who would have descendants outnumbering the stars. Abram was also a human man with very natural emotions and fears. He knew his wife, Sarah was beautiful and fearing for her, made the decision, to which she complied, to tell Abimelich, a king in the region they were traveling, that she was Abram’s sister. It was with this information that Abimelech chose to take Sarah.
The information given, however, was not a full truth, but Abimelech was a considered a pagan who could not be trusted. Further, Abram didn’t trust God to be the protector of the woman who was his wife. The Bible tells us she really was his sister because they shared the same father. But this mis-information allowed Sarah to be included in Abimelich’s harem and could have had enormous consequences. Their lives could have been forever altered, like my cup that broke into many pieces.
God had other plans. He not only protected Sarah from being violated within the harem, but allowed for her release by disclosing her relationship with Abram, to Abimelech through a dream. Abimelech quickly made arrangements to return Sarah along with gifts he hoped would be conciliatory toward the man he now knew was a prophet.
We all make choices; some of them good, and others not so good. Abraham chose to not trust God but God used him despite his lack of faith in this instance. It shows again that God isn’t finished with us yet. We make mistakes and sometimes even act with blatant opposition and rejection of what we know as truth. But God still loves us. This often leaves our lives shattered, and us trying desperately to pick up the pieces.
We need to remember that our choices are sometimes not prompted by God. Our decisions are regarded through only human discernment. It is through God’s grace we can have protection and resolution to the problems we create when we ignore his voice. But we still must deal with the consequences of our decisions, which often leaves us wishing we'd had conversation with the Father first!
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