READ Psalm 105:12–15. 12 When they were but few in number, few indeed, and strangers in it, 13 they wandered from nation to nation, from one kingdom to another. 14 He allowed no one to oppress them; for their sake he rebuked kings: 15 “Do not touch my anointed ones; do my prophets no harm.”
ONLY BY GRACE. This tells of the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and how God kept them safe during their wanderings. But verse 15 refers to when Abraham told Abimelech that Sarah was his sister, for fear that the king would kill him to take Sarah as a wife. God had to warn Abimelech not to touch Sarah, that Abraham was a prophet (Genesis 20:6). The history of the patriarchs is filled with such missteps and moral failures. How could these be our moral examples? The answer: Biblical faith, unlike other kinds, is not primarily about emulating moral examples. The Bible is a history of God offering his grace to people who do not deserve it nor seek it nor ever fully appreciate it after they have been saved by it.
Prayer: Lord, I praise you that you are a God of grace. I thank you that even more than protecting me from forces around me, you have saved me from myself. Let the knowledge of your grace make me never less but only more intensely devoted to obeying you. Amen.