It is mercy extended whenever God gives us the opportunity to clean up any Augean mess created by omission, commission, or presumption. Abimelech took Sarah with the intention of making her his wife. God stopped him short by telling him that he had in fact taken a man’s wife. He was then instructed to make amends by returning the woman to her lawful husband. It is comforting to know that God does not descend upon us with the sledgehammer for every infraction of His will. In mercy, He gives people several opportunities to make things right.

God can accommodate us in our season of ignorance, but He has no provision for rebellion.

This brings us to the necessity of distinguishing between ignorance and rebellion. On first call, Abimelech acted ignorantly. As we noticed in previous meditation, he acted based on the inaccurate information which he had received. From the moment God gave him the complete picture, it became a different ball game altogether. Had he kept Sarah after God had spoken to him, that would no longer be integrity or ignorance, it would mean rebellion. God can accommodate us in our season of ignorance, but He has no provision for rebellion. David knew the danger of sinning with knowledge, so he prayed: “Keep your servant from deliberate sins! Don’t let them control me. Then I will be free of guilt and innocent of great sin.” Psalms 19:13 NLT. It’s a prayer that each of us must make.