When Abimelek learned of Abraham's sin of deception he rightly rebuked Abraham.

In the Bible we sometimes see how ungodly people rebuke a child of God for their sin.

For example, when Jonah's sin almost caused the sailors to lose their lives in the storm on the sea, Jonah confessed his sin and the sailors rebuked him (Jonah 1:10).

It's a sad situation when the unconverted don't sin against the Lord, while some of His people do.

However, as we saw in our devotional yesterday, God doesn't give up on His wayward child.

Instead, when we confess our sin as Abraham did in our text today, God provides us with blessing—just as Abraham was blessed.

Graciously, God prevented Abimelek from sinning because of Abraham's lies.

The Lord prevented the man from taking Sarah as his wife and thus marrying the wife of another man. So the Lord was gracious to both parties involved in Abraham's deceit.

The Lord is exceptionally willing to be gracious to all of us, sinners and saints alike.

What Christians need to do in order to receive grace from the Lord is to acknowledge their need of it.

The Lord isn't stingy about dispensing grace to the needy. He's generous to all who call on Him.

If you're suffering today, come to this God of grace and ask Him, for Jesus' sake, to pour out grace to you.

If you've stumbled and gone astray from the Lord, return to Him and experience His rich forgiveness and His strength to avoid that sin the next time you're tempted.

Confession is indeed good for the soul.