This week’s reading: Genesis 16:1-16
Hi Friends,
As I have been hinting, we now come to a time in Abram and Sarai’s lives where their doubt and confusion get the better of them. Recall God has promised Abram descendants too many to count, and last week, we heard God reassure Abram that this promised child would indeed come from his own body. But note that God never specified that the child would come from Sarai’s body, so their next move might seem reasonable. It that culture, it was the privilege, and we can say job, of the wife to bear children for the family, especially a son who would inherit the family name. Sarai is currently about 75 years old and still barren, despite God’s promise. According to custom, she does what she can to fulfill this responsibility, but things do not go well, at all, when we step out ahead of God. We are in Genesis chapter 16, reading all of it, that’s verses 1 through 16. Hear the agony their bright idea brings:
“He slept with Hagar, and she conceived. When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress. Then Sarai said to Abram, ‘You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my servant in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the Lord judge between you and me.’” Gen 16:4-5 NIV
Bright ideas. God created each human with a mind that is very powerful and useful to living in this world. The problem is not that we come up with ideas and implement them. The problem is when we do this without God’s guidance and influence. Why? Because we humans only know in part, while God knows ever tiny details of everything. Obviously, it is much wiser to make our decisions, including coming up with plans for life, with the insight of God. Yet we are children who are still thinking “we got this,” so we often take a piece of what we understand, and run ahead of God, doing what we think, feel and want. This is the case here with Abram and Sarai. Now with the understanding that the promised child would come from Abram’s own body, and since Sarai remained barren all these years, she comes up with a plan to bring God’s Promise to fruition. It sounds strange to our contemporary ears, yet this was a custom back in Biblical times. Having an heir was important to all families, how much more to Abram who had been given this grand pledge from God? Again, we think God needs our help to do that which He promised to do, so here, Sarai offers her maidservant, Hagar, to Abram so that this child might be born. The family name must go on so, in this way, Sarai hopes Abram’s name will do just that. Abram agrees to the plan and…let me stop here for a moment. Does this remind us of another event in the Bible that we have already discussed? Think Adam and Eve here. Nowhere in the Bible does it say that Adam or Abram ran to God for consultation before they listened to their wives and followed whatever they said. Remember God made the man the head of the household who was responsible for the whole family. Instead, Adam takes the forbidden fruit and Abram beds Hagar and what is the result? Major problems! With Adam, sin enters into the world bringing death and destruction to all. But with Abram, Pride enters into the heart of Hagar after she conceives, and heartache comes into both Sarai and Abram’s lives. This is what we should expect when we proceed without praying about our decisions. Only God knows the right, and righteous, way to live. We must make it a habit to stop and pray about every choice. While there are some decisions that are a no brainer, like whether we should help a person carry their groceries to their car, there are many choices that require some time, wisdom and discernment. Making it a practice to consult with the Holy Spirit that lives within the believer’s own spirit, should become our go to, more and more, as we mature in Christ. I think both Abram and Sarai are learning a hard lesson here, but so is Hagar.
Hard lessons. Pride is never ok with God, especially when we do nothing to deserve any accolades. Abram slept with Hagar and Hagar becomes pregnant, so what did she really do to warrant these feeling of superiority? Nothing. She just did her duty which was to obey her mistress. Again, this sounds weird to us, but this was the custom back in the day. If your mistress could not bear children for your master, she had an obligation to provide someone who would carry on the family name. Sarai offers Hagar and Hagar rightly obeys. But then to think she is better than Sarai? And just because God granted her the blessing of a child? This was wrong on Hagar’s part. She begins to treat her mistress with disrespect, and Sarai will have none of it. Sarai turns to Abram and places the blame of him. Again think Adam and Eve here! They each made a bad choice, but instead of taking the blame on themselves, they, and if we are honest we too, start playing the blame game. My study Bible says, “Like many hurting people, Sarai lashed out at someone who was close to her. She might have blamed the system; she might have blamed God for delaying his promise; she might have blamed herself for impatience. Instead, in her distress, she blamed her husband. Wasn’t he the head of the family, responsible for everyone in it?” (Quest Study Bible p 21) Blame. It is a device from the enemy for us not to take personal responsibility for our own actions. The problem with this is, if it is not “MY” fault, then “I” cannot do anything to change the situation for good. When we choose to be culpable, we actually empower ourselves to make the positive changes needed to move us towards a better life. For example, if I blame my obesity on genes, then I am helpless, right? But if I am honest and begin to see how my poor diet or lack of activity are affecting my weight, now I have the power to change those, don’t I? Taking responsibility is a power move, not a weakness. Most of us struggle with this because it kills our Pride, but that is the only way to humble ourselves in order to receive the Abundant Life God desires for us to have. Humility is always the key to true Life. And Hagar is learning this lesson the hard way.
Know who you are. I am sure Sarai started letting Hagar know her insolence was unacceptable, and so life in the Abram family camp got a bit tense. Instead of running to God, Hagar runs away from her mistress. In her defense, the Bible never says whether Hagar knew God, although I am sure she observed both Abram and Sarai’s Faith. So we should not be surprised by her reaction to the punishment she was receiving. She runs away to the desert and there is met but the Angel of the Lord. This is a Christophany here. A clue that this is an appearance of Christ pre-incarnation is in the fact that Hagar names this Angel, “You are the God who sees me.” (Gen 16:13) God Himself meets Hagar where she is, and He does this for us too, my Friends. Praise God, there is nowhere we can run from God that He cannot find us. (see all of Ps 139, especially Ps 139:1-12) And how lovely is the phrase “God who sees me”?! This means that God knows us so well. There is nothing, no part of us, that He is not intimately aware of. Why is this so amazing? Because this should give us the freedom and encouragement to come to Him with everything. Nothing is too insignificant that God does not want us to talk to Him about. Nothing is too minor that God would not love for us to share with Him. Nothing is too mundane that God is not concerned about. Our God is the God who sees us, and here He searches out Hagar to make sure she knows she is important in His eyes, even if Sarai is mistreating her, and Abram is acting indifferent. You and I are just as important to God, my Friends, do we know this? As we connect with God, He teaches us who we are in Him. God makes sure Hagar knows her value, yet here, God also reminds Hagar of her earthly position. She is still a maidservant. The blessing of the pregnancy did not elevate her above his mistress. Again think humility here. Hagar’s Pride had caused all the problems. In essence, she brought it upon herself, but God sees her limited opportunities and meets her, granting her greater blessings. God promises Hagar that her son, Ishmael, will become a strong and free nation in his own right. That he would be able to defend himself against those who might come against him. Again my study Bible says, “Yet God cared compassionately for Hagar and her son. In fact, he blessed her with a promise remarkably like the one he made to Abram.” (Quest Study Bible p21) Thinking we are better than others is never the right thing to do. In God’s eyes, we are all equal in that we are all made in His image. Yet even when we humble ourselves and receive Salvation, we are not better than others. But we are Forgiven, praise God! Knowing who God says we are is probably the second most powerful gift God can give us. But we must seek this gift like a person digging for priceless treasure. This requires we spend time with God, in prayer and in His Word, reading, studying and applying His Truth. And even on those occasions when we get into trouble, then run away and hide, know that God sees you and is drawing you back to Himself, so that we may be humble and able to receive the next blessing He has in store for us.
Submit and trust Me. The Angel of the Lord tells Hagar to go back to her mistress and submit to her, trusting Him for the rest. To her credit, Hagar obeys. Could this be her first real encounter with God and so her Pride is lessened, and now, she can actually appreciate the gift of a son? I know that God blessed my life so very much my first 33 years of life, even though I was miserable way too often. The reality is I did not appreciate all His favor, nor did I give God any credit for any of the good in my life. Like Hagar, I was patting myself on my own back when all things were good…but being stubborn and pitiful when things did not go my way. This is the fallen nature, isn’t it? Then I had that first beautiful meeting. The Angel of the Lord, that is Jesus, came to me in a powerful way. Ok, maybe not like He did here to Hagar in the dessert, but God did reveal His Love and Grace to me profoundly. It changed my whole life. Not just my eternal destiny, but everything in this life too. My life became centered around Him. I am sure my family had no idea what had happened to me…and to be honest, I don’t think I fully understood the scope of it all either. I just knew I was different…even if I did not act too much different in the beginning of this amazing relationship. But this is the process. Once we are saved, God begins to work with us to continue the transformation. At Salvation we go from death to Life. In Sanctification, we move from darkness to Light. That is, we go from that MMI mentality where “I” am the center of my world, to placing God rightfully at the center of our whole world. We must continue to surrender our lives to Jesus as our Savior, but we also must submit to Him as our Lord. That means He gets to tell us what to think, feel and want…because like I said above, only God knows what is truly best for us. Submission is not an ugly word. It is a freeing word. We are placing the responsibility of our lives, for all our choices, on the only One Who knows it all. Then freed from that huge burden, we can be content and enjoy life as we simply live love. Hagar chooses to surrender her Fear and Pride to God and returns to Sarai to submit to her lawful authority. It might have taken a moment or two, but I am sure Sarai’s heart softened towards Hagar as they awaited the birth of this child. But sadly, the fruit doesn’t fall too far from the tree, as the saying goes, so later Ishmael’s wrong attitude also causes some problems. More on that in a couple of weeks. Here Hagar has at least begun to learn this lesson of humility and submission. I continue to learn it as well. This is a major piece of Sanctification. Not only do we need to submit our thoughts, emotions and desire to God, but we must learn how to discern what those are. The only way to do this is to return to God, over and over again. This is also a big part of maturing in Christ: understanding that we are children who will stray. The Bible calls us sheep, and while sheep are cute and cuddly, they’re also thick skulled! (see Isa 53:6) We children, or sheepeople as the term goes, think we still know better and we go our own way, turning away from God and His Plan for our lives. Eventually, we mess up and must humbly come back to our Good Shepherd, Who is always ready and willing to receive us back. This is yet another reason why we can trust Him, God’s Love never fails. (see 1Co 13:8) God will never leave nor forsake us. (see Jos 1:5) Nothing can separate us from the Love of God that is in Christ Jesus. (see Ro 8:38-39) Surrender your heart to God. Submit your soul to God. Then obey with your body. Our appearance, words and actions should point to God more and more, and as they do, our lives become more abundant.
God wastes nothing. Even though the events of our reading this week are filled with needless pain and suffering, God will work it all together for their, and our, good. Romans 8:28 remains my anchor through all of life’s storms as it keeps me steady, even when the boat of life is rocking like crazy. Abram and Sarai make a bad decision by not waiting on God. This is what children do, and God understands. Hagar allows a bad attitude to bring trouble into her life. This is also what children do, and God understands. Please never misunderstand God’s patience for God’s permission, though. While He never condones bad choices, He knows who He created in us, and He also well knows the affects of sin and the death it brought on. Our greatest blessing is the fact that God so loved the world that He sent His one and only Begotten Son to pay for our sin debt and to lead us towards Eternal Life in Him. (see Jn 3:16) God does not want us to sin, but when we do…because this side of Heaven, we will…God never wastes any of it. He will use it to teach us this most vital lesson of humility, submission and trust. And as we learn it, and implement it, our lives get more amazing than when we tried to be the lord of our own lives! This has, and continues to be my experience, and I am so very thankful that God sees me, is patient with me, and loves me forevermore. Want a deeper reality of that too? Then won’t you join me?
Until we meet again, keep lifting your eyes to God, He’s closer than you think.
<>< Peace, Diane
