GOD-GIVEN INTEGRITY
Genesis 20:5-6 (NIV 1984) Did he not say to me, ‘She is my sister,’ … I have done this with a clear conscience and clean hands.” Then God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know you did this with a clear conscience, and so I have kept you from sinning against me. That is why I did not let you touch her.”
When God visited Abimelech in a dream telling him that He was going to kill him concerning his involvement with Abraham’s wife, Sarah, Abimelech pleaded his case before God, explaining that he had not had sexual relations with her. He pleaded on the bases of the integrity of his heart and the innocence of his hands. At first glance this seems a bit self-righteous, but it was true, and God affirmed it, yet He goes on to qualify Abimelech’s integrity by saying, “and it was I who kept you from sinning….” Is this not the paradoxical tension we have in our lives with God? We do not have the ability in ourselves to follow and obey God; we need Him, yet when He works in us we still have a choice and must make the decision to obey. I have heard it said, “We can’t do God’s part, and God won’t do ours.” This seems like “works salvation” but it’s not. When it comes to following God we are not puppets without will, but neither are we left powerless to make it on our own. The same inspired apostolic gospel that exhorts us to save ourselves from this corrupt generation (Acts 2:40) also tells us that whoever does not work but trusts is counted as righteous (Rom 4:5). So which is it? Save ourselves or trust God? Well, both. We save ourselves BY trusting in God, who is the only one who can save us. We have a will to choose and a choice to act; yet God actually works these in us, causing us both to will and to act (Phil 2:13). Are we not promised that when we are tempted God will provide a way out so that we may stand up under it? (1 Cor 10:13) God provides the way. We do the standing. While we do not save ourselves in the sense that only God can save a person, we are not static in the process. We are involved.
Abimelech was right in telling God that his heart had integrity and that his hands were innocent. When we resist sin and make right decisions, it is okay to recognize our integrity and be encouraged with ourselves, yet we also must remember where the strength came from. Our encouragement with ourselves should lead quickly into a thankful heart, for it is the Lord who empowered that integrity and helped us to choose righteousness. The next time you confess sin to the Lord, also thank Him for the righteous choices you may have made in the process. Perhaps, you didn’t go as far in the sin as you could have, and obviously, if you’re confessing, you’re turning away from the sin. Both are a testimony of God’s work in you, and are the pathway to clean hands and a clear conscience, God-given integrity that justifies a thankful heart.
