And there Abraham said of his wife Sarah, “She is my sister.” Then Abimelech king of Gerar sent for Sarah and took her. Genesis 20:2 (NIV)
After action reviews (AARs) serve to help the military review operations/actions and learn for the future. Occasionally, however, there isn’t much learning and the same mistakes are repeated.
This happens in our personal lives as well. Can you remember doing something wrong, confessing your sin to God, and promising Him you will never repeat that mistake? But then you repeat the sin, sometimes again and again.
It is possible for a good person not only to fall into sin, but to repeat it numerous times. It happened to Abraham. Back in Genesis 12 he had lied to the Pharoah in saying that his wife, Sarai, was his sister. The Pharoah almost took Sarai to become his wife, but discovered Abraham’s lie and didn’t violate a married woman.
Did Abraham learn from his sin? No, not much. Read Genesis 20.
So what do we do? Jeremiah 3:22 provides the hope we need: “Return, faithless people; I will cure you of backsliding.”
Our Heavenly Commander is merciful when we return to Him.