Today's encouragement comes from Genesis 20:11, which says this:
"And Abraham said, 'Because I thought, surely the fear of God is not in this place; and they will kill me on account of my wife.’ "Things are often not what they seem to be. Abraham, understandably, thought that the pagan king Abimelech and his people possessed absolutely no "fear of God" whatsoever. This was a feasible deduction. After all, they were idolaters. But, remarkably, God had appeared to this Abimelech fellow, and had spoken to him in a dream, (cf. Gen. 20:3 ff.).
. . . Conversely, we might know some very religious people, who, in fact do not turn out to have any saving relationship through Christ at all. Hence, let us not assume too much of anything in this regard. God may be at work in some-one whom we would never imagine; and He may not be active among those whom we would expect (He would).
Puritan quote of the day: "Disband the army of your sins, and God will sound a retreat to His judgments. Remember, great sins have been swallowed up in the sea of God's infinite compassions.” —Thomas Watson, in, "The Doctrine of Repentance"]
