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        Sarah, at her old age, births a son, Isaac. Abraham is 100 years old when this happens and Sarah laughed with joy after she had Isaac. She had been worrying that she wouldn't have a child and her distrust in God ruined her peace that she could have felt had she just trusted in God. Learn from Sarah and when you have a troubled heart, focus on God's promises and His
word so you can have your peace of mind as you go through trials.

        Sarah couldn't stand the site of Abrahams other son that he made with Sarah’s servant. It didn't matter that the whole thing was her idea, she didn't want to see it and she didn't want Abraham's first born being the heir to all they had, she wanted it to go to her son, Isaac. So out of anger and jealousy Sarah demanded that Abraham make his first born son and his mother leave.  Abraham was obviously upset over this but God told Abraham not to worry, that they would be fine and a nation would be born to Abrahams first born. So Abraham sent them off into the wilderness, and when things got weary and they ran out of water, God showed Hagar a well to nourish her and her son with, and gave her the reassurance that He was taking care of them.

        Abraham then made a covenant with Abimelech, they agreed to be at peace with one another.  Abimelech knew that Abraham was a man of God and had a close relationship with God and didn't want to be on their bad side. He knew that if he crossed Abraham, God would be displeased with him and Abimelech didn't want that. The fear of God created this covenant.

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        Abraham had journeyed to the south where he dwelt with his wife, but he told everyone that she was his sister. He sensed trouble and feared they would be in trouble but he figured if he could marry his “sister” away then they would be treated better. The bible says this is the second time he did this, meaning he didn't learn the first time he chose to sin to handle his fear by lying.  There are certain sins that each of us are more tempted with than others, with Abraham this was once of his struggles, but the way God handled the situation shows Gods mercy, love and protection.

        Abraham told Abimelech, king of Gerar, that he could have his “sister” as his wife. That night God spoke to Abimelech and warned him that Sarah was not Abrahams sister, but his wife, and that if he slept with her he would surely die. Abimelech begged God for forgiveness and told God that he was lied too and didn't know, so God told him that Abraham is a prophet and if he lets Sarah go then no harm will come to him.  So the next morning Abimelech called in his servants and Abraham and yelled at him for putting him in this position to unknowingly sin. He then gave Abraham money, servants, animals and his wife back and  allowed him to dwell within his city. We can learn from Abimelech how to listen to God well, if someone does harm against you intentionally, it is hard to want to be the bigger person and turn away let alone bless them at the same time. But God told Abimelech to make it right and he did so, he was able to dismiss his pride and anger and follow through with what God wanted, he said no to his fleshly desires to feel justified and obeyed God.

        Despite Abrahams second time of lying to feel safe and to take matters into his own hands with sinning, God made the situation right. God told Abimelech who Sarah was before a bigger sin was done, them sleeping with each other. God also secured Abraham and Sarah with safety and protection to get them out of the situation that Abraham put them in. Abraham assumed that Abimelech was wicked and chose to sin for his safetly, we never need to do this, God will protect us all we need to do is go to Him when we feel conflicted rather than turn to sin.

        Abraham then prayed to God for healing on behalf of Abimelech, his wife and his female servants and they all bore children. God had closed up all the wombs in the house because Sarah was there and sin was being created, once the situation was made right and they all followed God, they were all fruitful and multiplied. Abimelech had no idea he was sinning but he was still suffering from the sin, sin is poison and whether a person knows it or not if they partake in it they will still suffer the side effects of it. If you eat a poisonous food item you will have a bad reaction, sin is like this. Sometimes you won't even know you are sinning but thats why its important to always go to God for guidance so you can stay away from sin.

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           The chapter begins by the Lord appearing to Abraham with three men standing by him (angels).  Abraham begged God to allow him to show the men good hospitality. This was custom back then, a persons reputation was widely connected to how well their hospitality was to people, including strangers. We are to learn from this, when we see that a strangers needs need to be met by feeding them or helping them with shelter, if we can help we should. You never know when the next stranger you see who may need food or shelter could be an angel which is why when we see a homeless person asking for money instead of judging them as a fake we should always pray to God and ask God what this person truly needs for help and how we can help them. You may not have money to feed them, but sometimes simply letting them know the truth of the gospel is all thats needed to fix their problems.

          As Abraham was hosting these three men, they told him that the Lord was blessing Sarah with a child. Sarah overheard this and couldn't help but laugh and doubt that God could do this sense she was well passed the normal child bearing years of her life. This didn't please God, He didn't want Sarah to mock and doubt Him, He wanted her to believe that He was the most powerful and could make anything happen. Sarah lied when she was confronted about laughing at God's promise, she lied out of fear. Telling the truth can be uncomfortable, but the consequences that follow the act of lying are normally far worse.

          The last half of this chapter tells how God said he was to judge Sodom and Gomorah because of how much sin was going on there. Abraham asked God that if their were at least 50 righteous people, would God spare them or punish them with the wicked. God said he would spare the whole town if there were 50 righteous. Abraham continued to ask this question but lowering the amount of the righteous from 50 to 45, all the way down to ten and Gods final response was if there was at least 10 righteous he would spare the whole town. This shows how much mercy God has for his righteous followers