today's meditation (Gn.16) Trust God to Sort Things Out

(Dear Lord Jesus, thank You for the wisdom which You give us through Your word...)

(Genesis 16:1-16)  Now Sarai, Abram’s wife had borne him no children, and she had an Egyptian maid whose name was Hagar. 2 So Sarai said to Abram, “Now behold, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. Please go in to my maid; perhaps I will obtain children through her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. 3 After Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Abram’s wife Sarai took Hagar the Egyptian, her maid, and gave her to her husband Abram as his wife. 4 He went in to Hagar, and she conceived; and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her sight. 5 And Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done me be upon you. I gave my maid into your arms, but when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her sight. May the Lord judge between you and me.” 6 But Abram said to Sarai, “Behold, your maid is in your power; do to her what is good in your sight.” So Sarai treated her harshly, and she fled from her presence.

7 Now the angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur. 8 He said, “Hagar, Sarai’s maid, where have you come from and where are you going?” And she said, “I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai.” 9 Then the angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit yourself to her authority.” 10 Moreover, the angel of the Lord said to her, “I will greatly multiply your descendants so that they will be too many to count.” 11 The angel of the Lord said to her further,

“Behold, you are with child,
And you will bear a son;
And you shall call his name Ishmael,
Because the Lord has given heed to your affliction.
12 “He will be a wild donkey of a man,
His hand will be against everyone,
And everyone’s hand will be against him;
And he will live to the east of all his brothers.”

13 Then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, “You are a God who sees”; for she said, “Have I even remained alive here after seeing Him?” 14 Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi; behold, it is between Kadesh and Bered.

15 So Hagar bore Abram a son; and Abram called the name of his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael. 16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to him.

TODAY'S THOUGHTS AND MEDITATION:

This is the classic example of how we take matters into our own hands, and only make the "issue" worse.  Abram and Sarai didn't really have an issue, they just became very impatient, and thus they created an issue.

Even after God promised Abram that he would have a son, Abram and Sarai didn't trust God to work that out.  Up until this point, Abram only had one wife, which is God's will.  But their idea of doing God's job for Him was to "take another wife" and have a son that way.  Yes, it was Sarai's idea to commit this sin, but Abram agreed with the plan and followed through on it.

Then when Sarai pointed out the tensions between her and Hagar, Abram refused to deal with it.  I'm thinking that they both should have gone to the Lord to seek forgiveness and guidance!  Instead, Abram encouraged Sarai to manage the situation as she saw fit, which was to abuse Hagar.  ALSO NOT God's will.

The consequence of these sins was and still is HUGE.  The descendants of Hagar's son, Ishmael, are all the Muslim nations we see today.  And these remain as Israel's enemies, because the Muslims believe they are the rightful heirs of Abraham... Since Abraham's firstborn son really was Ishmael... they believe the promised land belongs rightfully to them.  And this tension will only be resolved at the end of the Tribulation, at Jesus' second coming.

It is interesting that God - as THE angel of the Lord - appeared to Hagar.  This is the first time we see this in the Bible, and it is to a woman who is not from Abram's people.  God had seen her affliction and came to her rescue.  The angel of the Lord (Jesus pre-incarnate) appeared to her in the desert, to give her news that her child would have many descendants.  She was also given instructions.  Hagar not only recognized Him as God, but she did obey the Lord's command to return and submit to Sarai.  Whether she became a believer or not, we don't know.

We do know that the Islamic religion has many similarities to Christianity... but both the Jews and the Muslims miss the most important fact - that Jesus is the Messiah (Christ the Lord) - and He is the only way to get to heaven!  We need to not only recognize that, but we need to make Jesus our Lord and Savior.

My takeaway for today is that - if we have made Jesus our Lord and Savior, trusting in Him for our eternal salvation, do we also trust in Him to help us sort out all our issues, big and small - or do we try taking matters into our own hands???...