“The Lord came to Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what he had promised. Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the appointed time God had told him” (Genesis 21:1-2, CSB).

In basketball not every great player is a starter. You have players who come off the bench who are great defensive players, great rebounders, great ball-handlers or great 3-point shooters. These players may not be the stars of the team but you can’t be a championship team without great role players.

After the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Genesis returned to the story of Abraham. Genesis 20 is devoted to God’s rescue of Abraham’s wife, Sarah, from the harem of King Abimilech.

Abraham had continued his travels around the Promised Land and settled for a while in the region of the Negev. The Negev is a desert region in southern Israel. Abraham obviously had a large entourage and a large number of flocks so when he entered the region he likely requested permission from the king to encamp there.

In making his request Abraham told King Abimelech that Sarah was his sister, not his wife. While it was true that Sarah was Abraham’s half-sister (Genesis 20:12), Abraham omitted the part that she was also his wife. Abimilech took Sarah into his household (or harem) as one of his wives, possibly to seal the deal.

Abraham had faced a similar situation with the Egyptian Pharaoh in Genesis 12:10-20. Abraham told Pharaoh the same story he told Abimilech about Sarah being his sister resulting in the same consequences for Sarah.

It was common in ancient Near Eastern cultures for rulers to take beautiful women into their harem. Offering Sarah to Abimelech was likely a strategy to secure favor and protection from Abimelech without risking his own life. But, God intervened to prevent Abimelech from marrying Sarah and to protect both Abraham and Sarah.

On both occasions when Abraham offered Sarah to the regional ruler, it seemed that Abraham failed to recognize that God’s promise that he would become a great nation and possess the land of Canaan was shared by his wife Sarah. While Sarah is treated by Abraham as though she is expendable, to God she had a necessary role to play in this cosmic redemptive plan–one could argue it was the most important role!

These episodes of God’s care for Sarah demonstrate God’s intervention in human affairs to provide His providential care for His chosen people–the people He has selected to accomplish His Divine Will on the earth. And, this is a theme we will see played out repeatedly as the saga of Abraham’s descendants unfolds throughout the remainder of the book of Genesis–God rescues and redeems His chosen people.

Each of us who are called by God has a role to play in God’s great and marvelous plan of redemption. Yes, some may be starters and some may be role players, but we’re all needed by God to be a championship team.

So, when God calls your name to get in the game, be willing for Him to use you to do His will!

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do. (Ephesians 2:10, CSB)