Genes 20:

5 “…. I have done this with a clear conscience and clear hand.”

The above statement is part of the fragment of Abimelech’s argument before God.

Abraham and his wife Sarah left Mamre to relocate to Gerar, part of the kingdom of Abimelech. On the way, Abraham told his wife to present herself as his sister and not as his wife. Sarah was a beauty queen. It’s impossible for a man to see her and not look again. Abraham was aware that the people of the region to which he relocated could kill him in order to take Sarah. “There is,” he told himself, “no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me for my wife.” Was he right as to the fact that there was no fear of God in the place. Yes. This was a contiguous location to Sodom. And it’s the age of “might is right and right is might.” The rule was that of jungle where only the strongest could survive.

It wasn’t long after the destruction of Sodom, and the people of the time knew that this was from the hand of God. Yes, people had the knowledge of God but they didn’t reflect the nature of God; they were foreigners to the righteousness of God and His spiritual and moral excellences. As far as God was concerned, man was dead to Him, had no common ground with Him.

Abraham was God’s stepping stone to reentering the world of man where He had been declare persona na grata. Man was meanwhile running the affairs of his own life, building his own lights, creating his own civilisation, dopped through and through with the soul-of-man alive to himself! One part of the lights of man, Sodom, had just been dealth with a while ago.

The first thing Abimelech did in his encounter with Abraham was to inquire about Sarah’s relationship with him. He was glad to hear that Sarah was just a sister to the pilgrim. Abimelech carefully took the woman to himself in his own household. But God helped him and prevented him from sinning against him. The man couldn’t defile her. Finally, God appeared to Abimelech in a dream and told him he was harbouring death with himself under his own roof. Sodom was too recent a matter to brush aside.  Abimelech immediately knew what God was referencing and he told God, and truthfully, that the sojourner Abraham told him that Sarah was his sister. Abimelech quickly told God that he did what he did in a clear hand and clean hand.

God assured him that He knew that Abimelech did what he did with clear conscience but told him the real truth hidden from him. The fear of God made Abimelech hand over Abraham’s wife immediately.

But that is one form of conscience. It doesn’t secure safety and salvation for Abimelech; if God had not judiciously intercepted him fast enough, the damage could have been final and irredee mable. There’s no redemption in any human activities, no matter how glorious and ideal. It’s true that all races of of man has a palpitating heart for worship. Abimelech had a heart towards God, but that wasn’t a guarantee of being alive to Him. Even the self-defined advanced species of mankind who consigns the worship-desires of man to superstition peculiar to lower-level of human development finds it difficult to erase worship of God from his consciousness. This is God trying to prevent us from dying, separating and away from Him. And again, the most cultured civilisation stands a beggar in the presence of God.

God requires a perfected heart and conscience for the worship of Him. This was and is way beyond what man had/has or could or can attain. Everyman, no matter how morally sound and holy, is guilty before God because he’s ruled over by sin – the very nature of man (as opposed to the acts). It will require faith in the vicarious life and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ to worship God. Without faith it is impossible to please the Lord (Hebrews 11:6). What is the perfect heart? What is the perfect conscience that can go up to the mountain of God?It’s speaking of a guitless soul before God. Everyone, including the most perfect person is guilty before God and cannot worship God, or go to His mountain. We are just like Abimelech  recognising, longing to be reconciled with Him and responding to His promptings, “I have done this with a clear conscience and clean hand.” But how clear and how clean was he before the Creator before Whom we are naked?

Human conscience is therefore not the best gauge of our worthiness to worship Him. However the Lord Jesus Christ has bridged the gap. By Him, There is therefore no more (sin and guilt) condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, those who walk not after the (rules of) flesh, but after the (rules of) spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and death (Romans 8:1-2).

When man fell short of the glory of God in the garden of Eden, one of the things that happened was the supervening of conscience of the Holy Spirit, to lead us back home, to create the desire in us towards God. But over the ages, this has been tampered and morphed many times, failing the function to lead us back again to Him. There’s the good, evil, defiled, pure, weak and hot-iron-seared forms of conscience. Every conscience, shaping cultures, at whatever state, needs to be purged by the sacrifice of better thing for it’s impossible for human conscience to match the righteousness of God, though it can do a lot to regulate and harmonise human relationships. God has helped to bring man to Himself, being His and man’s desire all through the ages. But Christ being come an high priest of….by greater and more perfect tabrrnacle, not made with hands…he entered in once… having obtained eternal redemption..(Hebrews:9:11-12).

Father thank You for bringing us to You, counting us as part of You. It’s a great thing to answer to Your ancient dreams and plans.

Thank You Lord for this