Genesis
16 – Lack of Faith
In
life, there are times that our faith looks strong and there are times when we
are lacking in faith. Abram exercised a
strong faith in God in chapter 15 but now, Abram and Sarai are older, and they
have been in the land of Canaan for ten years.
Sarai is now thinking that either she cannot have children or God is
withholding a child from her. She now
takes matters into her own hands and has given her maidservant to Abram as his
second wife. It was customary in those days when a wife could not bear a child,
there was a concubine. God did not
approve of this at all. This was Sarai’s
idea and Abram listened to her. He
surrendered his position of head of household.
This was not according to God’s will. We get it wrong if we think that
just because it is recorded in the Bible God approves of it. The Bible is an
accurate record, so there are many things God does not approve of that are
recorded in the Bible. The sin here in
Abram and Sarai is that they did not believe God. They were impatient.
God is not going to accept this offspring at
all because it is wrong. Sarai soon sees
she has done wrong. When Abram told Sarai to handle Hagar as she sees fit,
Sarai took her sin out on Hagar. Then
Hagar ran away and quit her job as a maidservant. She ran into the wilderness where an angel
stopped her and asked her where she was from and where was she going? Hagar had a duty to fulfill, and she was
leaving behind blessings in Abram’s tent. This is not Hagar’s sin, so God deals
graciously with her. She is overwhelmed
by the fact that she is seen by God. We
may feel insignificant in the scheme of things, but God sees us as special.
Hagar returns and gives birth to Abram’s son, Ishmael. The descendants of
Ishmael are wild men, tribes of the desert which was the fulfillment of the
prophecy that God gave.
Abram
was 86 years old when Ishmael was born.
All
of us come short of understanding and of knowing God. To know God is something
that will secure a place in heaven with out Lord Jesus Christ.
J.
Vernon McGee Commentary, NKJ Bible
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