Studies

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Studies in Genesis
Presentation 28
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I Can Fix it Gen 16v1-16
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Introduction
When I was a child I was given an aeroplane
construction kit for my birthday. It was made of
a light balsa frame covered with tissue paper and
powered by a large elastic band. My dad said, I
would need his help to put it together and I
should wait until he had a free Saturday. You can
guess what happened! I couldnt wait and decided
to help dad out. Pieces were glued in place
upside down and the wrong way round the result
was a mess. Why didnt I wait? Impatience can
complicate our lives and it will certainly
complicate our spiritual lives as Abram learned
to his cost.
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Temptations Timing and Appeal
God had made great promises to Abram. In order to
strengthen Abrams faith in those promises, they
were sealed in a very spectacular manner by a
covenant. God was saying in effect, If I fail to
keep my promise, I will self- destruct. Now we
might think that after such encouragement Abrams
faith would be unassailable. He could trust God
to provide him with an heir! But in actual fact
the fiercest temptations often follow the
greatest encouragements. Jesus wilderness
temptation followed hard on the heels of his
baptism, when he heard the encouraging voice of
God saying , This is my beloved Son Severe
testing often follows Gods blessing and
encouragement.
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Temptations Timing and Appeal
Further, we might expect that a temptation to
step out of Gods will would come from
unbelievers, who want to harm us but often it can
come from well-meaning friends and family who
think they are trying to help. You will
remember, when Jesus explained to his disciples
that he was going up to Jerusalem to die that his
dear fried Peter exploded in protest and sought
to steer Jesus away from the cross. Jesus traced
that temptation to its source with the words,
Get behind me Satan Matt 16.23. Dear Sarah
was the mouthpiece of Abrams temptation.
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Temptations Timing and Appeal
In that day childlessness was a source of great
shame for a wife and that, linked to impatience,
caused her to suggest that her slave Hagar might
act as a surrogate mother. As soon as we stop
trusting in God we tend to blame him for our
difficulties, the Lord has kept me from having
children v2. It is as though Sarah was saying,
God is forcing me to do what under normal
circumstances I would reject. Foolishly Abram
agreed. Now this temptation would not have taken
root so readily in Abrams heart if it had been
spiritually healthy but his impatience was
diluting his trust in God.
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Temptations Timing and Appeal
Further, this temptation had a particular appeal,
because it was the practice of the day to father
children through concubines it fell into the
everyones doing it category. But more than
that, surrogacy seemed a perfectly reasonable way
forward - Sarah was past the age of bearing
children and Gods promise was to Abram! Hagars
children would have his bloodline! After all
dont people say, God helps those who help
themselves! All sorts of meaning can be poured
into that expression but we cannot use it to
justify unbelief, impatience, or running ahead of
God. The Psalmist writes, Wait for the LORD be
strong and take heart and wait for the LORD Ps
27.14.
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Disintegration of Relationships
Abram and Sarah refused to wait upon God any
longer and that resulted in the disintegration of
the relationships in Abrams household. We read
that, Hagar when she became pregnant despised
her mistress v4. Whether by word or attitude
Hagar was saying to Sarah, I have been able to
give my master what you have failed to give him.
Such careless cruel barbs do untold damage to
childless women cf Hannah in 1 Sam.1.3-7. Given
the fact that 1 out of 6 couples today are
unable to have children, great sensitivity needs
to be exercised in their presence.
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Disintegration of Relationships
What is Sarahs response? She blames Abram v5 -
had she forgotten that it was she brought the
whole idea of surrogacy to Abram in the first
place! When our plans go sour we blame, either
God, or others for their failure for we cannot
bring ourselves to accept the blame for decisions
we have made. And it has ever been so from the
time of Adams disobedience. Of course Sarah
may also be alluding to the fact that Hagar
entered their household during their stay in
Egypt. And they had only gone to Egypt because
Abram failed to trust God to provide for all
their needs in Canaan. The consequences of
disobedience do complicate our lives.
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Disintegration of Relationships
How did Abram respond to the this crisis? He
washed his hands of it, saying to Sarah, do what
you think best. This was not spiritual
leadership at its best! And as a result Sarah
mistreated Hagar, who in turn ran off into the
desert imperilling her own life and that of her
unborn child. Abram failed to take decisive
action. Why? Did he think, as many people do
today, anything for a quiet life? Now it was
Abrams inactivity that resulted in Hagar
thinking, the only way to find relief is to
escape from this situation. What a mess! God
then took the initiative and stepped into the
situation.
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The Intervention of God
We read that the The Angel of the Lord found
the runaway Hagar in the desert. This is the
first use of the term Angel of the Lord in the
OT. Many scholars consider this to be a
pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus. Clearly, God
is indicating that he has a special interest in
those unjustly treated, the helpless and the
distressed. Hagar, though not a complete
innocent, was nevertheless the victim of the
impatience and unbelief of Abram and Sarah.
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The Intervention of God
We may attempt to run away from the terrible
things that happen to us but we can never outrun
God. Note the significance of the question put to
Hagar. Where have you come from and where are
you going? Hagar could answer the first part of
the question but she did not know where she was
going. Indeed, she had nowhere to go. In her
panic to escape she had endangered her life and
that of her unborn child. God often comes to us
in our lostness in order to give direction to
our lives. But that invariably involves our
readiness to admit that we have nowhere else to
go.
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The Intervention of God
Hagar learned that if she returned to the place
God wanted her - and that is always the starting
point of recovery - then God would make her son
the father of a great nation. Its not easy to
return to the point, where we made a wrong choice
and start over, but it is the only means by which
we can be assured of Gods blessing. In Jesus
parable of the prodigal son Lk.15.11ff the hard
decision to return home to the Father and admit
he had been foolish to leave was the one, which
brought about unprecedented blessing.
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The Intervention of God
Significantly, Hagar named the place where she
encountered the Angel of the Lord, Beer Lahai
Roi, which means, The One who sees me. What had
she discovered? Not just that God sees the world,
but that, he sees me - he really is interested
in an apparently insignificant person like me!
Are you aware of the fact that God sees you? He
sees, where you have come from and where you are
going. He sees what you are going through, how
you feel, what your anxieties are, what you need
and what you dont need. He sees what he wants to
make of your life and how that is to be
achieved. You cannot see it but he can and it
is for this reason that we must learn to submit
to his wisdom and walk in the path that God has
set out for us.
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The Consequences
When we run ahead of God, when we demonstrate
impatience with his plans for our lives, when we
think we can fix Gods plans, when things are not
happening quickly enough, we are simply adding
complications to our lives! Abram had to live
with the consequences. The immediate
consequence of Abrams impatience and unbelief
is Gods silence. Hagar returned, Ishmael was
born, but heaven remained silent. For thirteen
years there is no recorded communication from
God cf. 17.1. What went on in Abrams mind
during those silent years? We are not told!
Surely, he had only tried to help God out, what
was the harm in that? Was there a growing sense
of unease in Abrams heart that he had blown it
big time?
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The Consequences
What he certainly could not have foreseen was the
long-term consequences. Hagars son Ishmael,
became the father of the Arab nations and they in
turn would be a thorn in Israels life throughout
her history! We cannot undo the past and while
Gods grace and forgiveness enable us to deal
with our failures we must live with the
consequences. What a sobering lesson we have
here of the danger of a determination to fix
Gods plans, when in our impatience we think he
is slow. Jesus, though tempted to run ahead of
God, and to achieve Lordship by a quicker and
easier route, nevertheless set his face towards
Jerusalem and to death upon a cross! His is the
example to follow!
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