Biblical Fails I

“Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared because of you.” Genesis 13:13

Peter Quill almost ruined the entire universe in Avengers: Infinity War. Iron Man and his team of superheroes had successfully stopped Thanos in his tracks, and they were inches away from pulling the Infinity Gauntlet off his hand. Then Peter Quill, whose only job was to supervise ripping the glove off, gets rage baited by Thanos and RUINS THE ENTIRE OPERATION, closing out the movie with a giant L for the heroes as Thanos vaporizes half the universe. He will regret that choice for the rest of his life.

Abraham was the father of all nations, one of God’s first followers to have a legacy. The world was ripe for his blessing. But when Abraham (Abram) took his wife to Egypt, he devised a plan that would spare his life from the immoral riff-raff. He told Sarah (Sarai) to claim that she was only his sister, so that if someone wanted to snatch her up and marry her, they wouldn’t feel obligated to kill Abraham. This was an excellent plan for Abraham, who did not wish to be shanked for having a gorgeous wife, but a horrible one for Sarah.

As the story goes, Sarah was snatched up by the Pharaoh to be added to his collection of trophy wives, and Abraham was rewarded for having such a good-looking sister. But then God, the one who promised the entire world to Abraham, had to intervene. He gave Egypt a string of plagues and curses, prompting Pharaoh to return Sarah to Abraham unharmed. Pharaoh chewed out Abraham for being a liar, and Abraham saw that the Lord was willing to protect his investment.

Lesson learned…except it wasn’t. Abraham tries that stunt one more time in Abimelech’s kingdom with the exact same results (Genesis 20). Then his son, Isaac, tries it with his wife, Rebekah (Genesis 26). Abraham thought he needed to be cunning and clever to survive the mean streets with his wife. In his mind, this was the only way to travel through these countries. If Abraham were killed, God’s promises would be null and void. But God wasn’t going to break up the family (Abraham and Sarah) to keep the promises. He had Abraham’s back, even when he put his wife up for sale. A royal fail would not stop God from enacting his full promise.

Praise God, even when we try to fix a potential problem and make things worse, he can keep his full promises. Likewise, when Jesus asks you to follow him, he won’t regret the decision just because you made bad decisions. God is bigger than our failures.

Figure it Out:

5because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. 7It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart. For in my chains and in my defense and confirmation of the gospel, you are all partners in grace with me.… Philippians 1:5-7

  1. Circle any words or phrases that are significant to you. Why are they important?
  2. What is the good work Christ began? What does carrying it out look like?
  3. How is Paul being in chains (imprisoned) proof that failure can’t ruin God’s plan?


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