I visited a church in New York City recently and met three young women from Indonesia. All are graduate students and all are Christian—I know because I asked them. Indonesia is the largest Muslim nation by population in the world and the three students at church surprised me. O Sir, they enthusiastically told me, there are lots of Christians in Indonesia.

The world is not always as I assume. Abraham endured a similar experience. He moved to a new region and disingenuously introduced his wife as his sister. The ruse fell apart when the Lord appeared to the king and said, You are as good as dead because of the woman you have taken; she is a married woman.

King Abimelek immediately confronted Abraham, who offered this excuse: I said to myself, “There is surely no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.” Big whiff by Abraham. His assumptions proved totally wrong when Abimelek wholeheartedly responded to the Lord.

I wonder who I discount as I make assumptions about people? It certainly pays to ask a few questions. Five minutes of conversation with those students in New York opened my eyes and encouraged me as to how the Lord works on the far side of the world. Now I want to visit Indonesia.

Lord, show me where I make cheap assumptions about others. Give me the humility to ask good questions and to listen carefully to the response. Slow me down and point out where you’re at work when it’s not obvious to me.

Genesis 20 in reading the Bible in 2023

Photo by Trevor Hayes