Overriding the Default Button (Genesis 20)
In this day and age, the Default Button is easily understood and defined as a selection automatically used by a computer program in the absence of a choice made by the user predetermined to be the most often used option. I have heard this term is used by Beth Moore in the context of a Christian defaulting or reverting to dependence upon the old nature. As Christians we have Christ in us the hope of glory and are now partakers of the divine nature. But we still have with us the default button of the old sinful nature. These bodies in which we live have not yet been redeemed. The Apostle Paul tells us in Romans 8:23: “And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.” And we are reminded in Philippians 3:20-21: “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all thing to Himself.” This is why we still struggle with sin, the world and Satan. Thus, we must choose each day to walk by faith while we are still in these earthly tents – So the default button for the believer occurs when in the absence of making a willful choice we revert back to our “old nature” from which we have been delivered.
Although Abraham and Sarah would not have been familiar with a term so common in our computer age, they would know intimately the pain of stepping out of dependence upon God. Could it be God was withholding Isaac, the son of promise, from them until they choose to override the default button of their flesh and depend totally upon God? Could it be God is withholding manifold blessings from us and the church until we do the same? With resolve, we have to choose to override the default button of the flesh and stay out on the waters of faith where the Potter can transform the theory of our faith into the practice of our faith. Given this exhortation, there are three valuable spiritual lessons to learn from Abraham in Genesis 20 to help us override the default button.
FIRST, ABRAHAM SHOWS US WE MUST GUARD AGAINST OLD SINFUL PATTERNS. Pastor Rey Stedman once said, we are still capable as Christians of the worst sin we have ever committed and more. Age does not automatically sanctify us. Unless yielded to the Spirit of God, we will repeat in our old age the sinful patterns of our youth. And old sinful self patterns if not dealt with can return at any time we step out of dependence upon God. The old nature wants dominance in your life and it will not lie down and die for you – you must make a willful choice each day to put it to death. That is why the Scripture says in Galatians 6:1: “Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted.” Notice the warning to the one who is spiritual: “…each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted.” No one is immune – we are all vulnerable to falling victim to old sinful patterns – remembering that but by the grace of God there go I. We must “watch and pray” with diligence for old sinful patterns will try to raise their ugly head.
We find in Genesis 20 Abraham, the very Father of Faith, has been a captive of fear for thirty years. And when he steps out of dependence upon God, he is still just as capable of falling victim to fear again. Fear caused this great man of faith some thirty years earlier to dishonor and disgrace his own wife to save his own life and now he has repeated the same grievous act again because he did not override the default button of his old nature.
Ray Stedman points out in his writings: “This is why when God comes into the human heart through Jesus Christ, he never tries to do anything about cleaning up that old nature. He writes it off as worthless. He says that everything that comes from self is worthless. No matter how it looks in the eyes of others, if it comes from the self-advancing, self-centered core, it is worthless and it always will be. What you now are in the flesh, you always will be, if you live a hundred years… Any dependence upon self always results in the kind of experience that Abraham had. After thirty years of walking with God and learning wonderful lessons in the spiritual life, the minute he steps out of a dependence upon God, he steps back into that same ugly nature he had in the beginning, and it is unchanged after thirty years. Old natures have to be kept out of the place of control through walking in the spirit. "Walk by the Spirit, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh," Paul tells us (Galatians 5:16 RSV).” So Abraham teaches we must be on guard against those old sinful patterns of the flesh and “crucify the flesh with it s passions and desires.” (Gal. 5:24)
SECOND, ABRAHAM TEACHES US WE MUST NOT BLAME THE OCCASION AS THE CAUSE FOR OUR SIN. It is in our old nature to justify ourselves for all we do. However, our new nature must deal with the true cause of our sin, the motive in our heart. Notice in verse 13 how Abraham ignores the cause and blames the occasion for his downfall. He says, “When God called me to wander from my father’s house”. Abraham is using the occasion of the Lord’s call upon his life in an indirect way to blame God for his return to his old sinful pattern. Abraham claims that God sent him out on this dangerous journey upon which he felt he had to take measures to protect himself. We see this same pattern in Adam, when he told God, “…The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate." And things haven’t change today – we still blame the occasion as the cause for our sin rather than dealing with the root problem.
Notice, Abraham sought to justify himself with three arguments and they are arguments still used today when we step out of dependence upon God. First, he said, “Surely the fear of God is not in the place.” This was Abraham’s excuse for his sinful deception but the real problem, as one writer states, was that the fear of God wasn’t in Abraham. The Bible says, “The Lord is my helper, I will not fear what man will do unto me.” If Abraham really trusted the Lord, he would have never trusted in his own efforts to keep his family together or fallen victim to his own fears. Remember the Bible’s promise: “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and sound mind.” (2 Tim. 1:7) Failing to override the default button of fear can make us do and say many things that grieve our Savior. For example, we can make void the grace of God in our Christian life – we can bury our God-given talents instead of using them for the glory of Lord because we are captives of fear. We might say and conclude, “I could never share my faith with another person” or “I don’t want to serve God there.” Or, “I don’t have the ability to do that.” How sad when so often the issue, if God has called you to a task, is not ability but availability.
Second, Abraham thought he found a loop-hole in pointing out that technically Sarah was his half-sister. People are still looking for the loop hole to justify sin in their lives. But Abraham saying, “Indeed she is truly my sister” is another attempt to justify his lie. Outwardly this appears one way but inwardly it appears totally different – and we serve a God that looks upon our heart. It is said, “A half-truth, said with intent to deceive, is always a whole lie.” After 30 years, Abraham still needs to learn this lesson. Do you doubt his life would have been as well protected if not better by simply trusting the Lord? Had he trusted God, he would not have experience the disgrace and shame he brought to himself, his wife and the Lord. Zechariah 8:16 advises us well: “These are the things which you should do: speak the truth to one another; judge with truth and judgment for peace in your gates." Likewise, The New Testament does the same in Ephesians 4:25: “Therefore, laying aside falsehood, speak truth each one of you with his neighbor, for we are members of one another.”
Third, Abraham and Sarah struggle with “besetting sin.” They had employed this sinful pattern of deception before. Abraham and Sarah told this same lie in Genesis 12:10-13: “Now there was a famine in the land; so Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land. It came about when he came near to Egypt, that he said to Sarai his wife, "See now, I know that you are a beautiful woman; and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ’This is his wife’; and they will kill me, but they will let you live. "Please say that you are my sister so that it may go well with me because of you, and that I may live on account of you." Such defaults to the old nature (flesh) deny the truth of God’s Word and His life changing power. Never forget the Lord is a personal Savior and He has come to change your life – to mold and shape you into conformity with His Son. To say, “That is just the way I am” or “That person will never change or “It is just his nature” is saying the Lord does not have the power to deliver and transform your life or the life of any of His children. The Bible says, “Therefore, if any man be in Christ Jesus…”
So, none of these attempts to use the occasion for Abraham’s sin as an excuse erase the reality that his behavior was caused by an absence of faith. We are not justified by self in the Christian life, we are justified by faith. Even more condemning was God’s identification of Abraham as a prophet (20:7). The primary role of a prophet was the declaration of God’s word. When Abraham should have been telling the people of Gerar including their king what the one true God was like, he behaved contrary to the God of truth. I wonder how we are Monday through Saturday? Are we telling people what the one true God is like or behaving contrary to the God of truth?
FINALLY, ABRAHAM TEACHES US THE LORD DESIRES TO USE THE VERY WEAKNESS AND FAILURES OF OUR LIFE TO BRING ABOUT VICTORY. The Potter wants to mold and shape our theory of faith into a practice of faith. We can rest in His promise that He causes all things to work together for good. Because we have been justified by faith and not our performance, God does not cease working in our lives when we disappoint Him. He is a loving and forgiving Heavenly Father. He wants us to be free from the burden of self-effort which tries to make the old nature behave itself. It did not work for Abraham and it will not work for us.
The truth is, like Abraham, a Christian has no power within and of himself alone to live a godly life. A Christian’s sincerest and hardest fought efforts only caused him to fall short, to feel dejected, defeated and to even doubt his faith in Christ. But there is rich joy and victory in store when one realizes the simple truth of Psalm 62:11: “Power belongeth to God.” We are powerless to live a holy life unless we appropriate God’s power by faith through Jesus Christ our Lord. Paul reached this conclusion in Romans 7:25a when he said, “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! Similar to how we have to admit we are sinners and repent to obtain salvation in Christ, we have to admit we are powerless and repent of self-effort to find power in Christ. Only by recognizing we are powerless to live a holy life can we put ourselves in a position to live one.
We must die to self and live to righteousness and accept all that Jesus Christ is in us and wants to be through us. Willfully choose to override the default button and stay out on the waters of faith where your life will be pleasing to God and full of rich blessings.
