Today in God’s Word

November 2, Genesis 16

"Where have you come from, and where are you going?" - Genesis 16:8

If you've ever wondered how you got into a situation as well as how you were going to get of it, you might identify with Abram, Sarai and Hagar in this chapter. That's why I picked God's question to the runaway Hagar as a text for today's chapter.

It's easy to forget that the great heroes of faith were human beings, too. They had weaknesses and they failed, like all humans do. When something goes as wrong as this episode of Abram's life did, we wonder how he (and we) got into such a bad place. Let's explore that for a while.

Can you imagine how Abram's hope was built by God's words in the last chapter assuring him that he would have his very own son and the innumerable descendants God had promised him? Then can you imagine that hope growing dimmer with each passing year until ten years later, at 85 or 86 years old, he still had no child? Apparently Sarai shared his frustration, telling her husband that the Lord had prevented her from bearing children. Their discouragement seemed to play a big part in how this incident developed.

Another misstep along the path of this tragic story was when Sarai decided that God needed some help to keep the promise he had made to them. Sarai had not been able to conceive a child, but she did conceive a plan for taking matters into their own hands about having a baby. She proposed that Abram try to have a baby with her maid servant, Hagar. It's hard for us to imagine that this was a legal or culturally acceptable thing to do, but in ancient times masters held total control over a servant, even to the degree of forcing a marriage and a union to conceive a child. Abram listened to his wife Sarah, and Hagar also became his wife. Just as Sarai planned, the young woman conceived. This was never God's plan, but the humans involved didn't wait for God's plan. Sarai decided, Abram went along with it and Hagar had no choice in the matter.

Satan found a way to divide Abram's household of faith in all this. When the baby Sarai planned for was growing in Hagar's womb, she became haughty and treated her mistress with contempt. It's reasonable that Hagar left Egypt with Abram and Sarai when they came back to Canaan after the famine. We saw that Abram left Egypt with riches, and male and female servants. It was wrong of Sarai and Abram to use the young woman for their selfish scheme. Hagar may have imagined herself and her child becoming the heirs of all that God had promised Abram.

When Sarai blamed it all on Abram, he waived the right and responsibility to deal with it and told his angry wife to do as she pleased with her maid. She dealt harshly with Hagar, and Hagar ran away.

That brings us to the point where God found runaway Hagar and asked, "Where have you come from?" As sad and wrong as the events were that led up to that moment, the consequences that would flow out of this situation would be bitter for many centuries into the future. The Lord promised Hagar some big things about her son who would be named Ishmael. He would be a wild donkey of a man. He would be against everyone, and everyone would be against him. She, too, would have innumerable descendants through this son who was to be born. God kept his word and Ishmael became the father of the Arab nations, who made themselves enemies of Jews and later Christians around the world through the centuries.

Meanwhile, God's original plan went on. It would be another 13 years before God would visit Abram and Sarai, change their names and tell them a baby was coming in a year's time.

When we find ourselves in a bad situation, we may wonder how we got to this place (”Where did you come from?"). We should feed our faith and strengthen our trust in God. We should not listen to anyone, even our own spouse, when they suggest something different from what God has said. (It happened to Adam, and now to Abram.) Don't rush God or try to make what he has promised come faster than his plan to bring it about. Remember Satan is always seeking an opportunity to tempt us to mistreat people around us and disobey God.

Remember that failing to honor and obey God has bitter and long-lasting consequences (”Where are you going?”). The sooner we return and submit to God, the better it will be for us and others who are affected by our decisions and actions.

Copyright © 2021 by Michael B. McElroy. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Today in God's Word—November 2024

East Tallassee Church of Christ