May 21
TREKKING WITH ABRAHAM
“Now Sarai Abram’s wife bare him no children: and she had a handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar. And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, the LORD hath restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai. And Sarai Abram’s wife took Hagar her maid the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife.”
Genesis 16:1–3
When the plain statements of God do not seem to happen, or be true in one’s life, I have found that, generally speaking, Christians go “all religious” and invent (Yes! I said “invent”) “bible teachings” to substantiate one’s experiences that are not biblical. In plain language, if the Bible teaches something like “God heals the sick”, or “God will financially bless those that give”, and we see that sick people aren’t healed, or regular tithers that are not financially blessed, we invent teachings that justify our experience. I have heard people say,“Because I prayed for somebody, and they were not healed, doesn’t this show that God only heals sometimes?” The answer is “No!” We evangelicals, charismatics, Pentecostals and/or fundamentalists are always strong on “standing on the promises” for things in the next life and beyond time, but when it comes to believing promises in the here and now, in this time and space world, we go all flippity floppity and justify a non performance of the Divine fiat with human manipulation of “God didn’t really mean this …He meant that!”. If God promised healing for all (and He does), but all are not healed, it in no way suggests that the scripture is in any way at fault. Apply this to today’s reading.
We are, today talking of Sarai offering Hagar to have a child by her husband. If you have read yesterdays thought you will know that I am not at all sure that Sarai knew of God’s promises to Abram. But Abram knew all about it, whether or not Sarai did! Follow the logic of the story. God has promised a child. True! Abram was getting on in years. True! Abram’s wife is not pregnant! Fact! So; God helps those that help themselves – right? Eh! Humanistic philosophy! But when used to justify, “Faith without works is dead,” it could seduce Christians into acceptance as “True!” The statement could be partly true with a raft of caveats. More often than not it is just not appropriate. But if we did accept that premise, it would be OK to bring in any woman off the street for Abram to sire a child. Wow! That is way out and wild! However, it was not a woman off the street; it was a personally owned slave who was valet, or lady in waiting to Sarai. The scripture says she was Sarai’s “handmaiden”. If she has a child by Abram, it will go down in social circles as Sarai’s child. So Abram chose to do it and agreed to the plot. The attitude that says, “Poor old God! He needs a helping hand when He promises something that seems humanly impossible!” is a curse from the pit of hell. If one has a problem that needs a miracle to resolve, trust me when I tell you that the lights in heaven will not go dim in a power shortage when He comes to meet your need.
 |
| I have absolutely no idea if the lady above looks anything like Hagar in the Bible, but I found a site called women in the Bible and under Hagar’s name is this picture. Read more at http://www.womeninthebible.net/1.2.Hagar.htm |
Because of Abram’s situation, and Sarai’s suggestion in the opening verses of Genesis 16, I want to highlight today what I call, “The Principle of the Half Story.” In a nutshell, this principle says that the promise, the goal, the dream or story is totally different on page 75 of any novel, than it is on page 150. And if we are still breathing, we are only in the middle of a half told story. Your life and my life is like a book. You are the hero or heroine of that book. It might look like all is lost on the page where you are at present reading and experiencing. But there are fresh chapters to come, and storyline changes are just around the corner. God has promised an ending different to your present scenario. Sarai and Abram are in the middle of a half told story. But to them as Genesis 16 commences, it seems like they are on the last page, and the dream has not been fulfilled. If one utterly ignored any future hope, and simply dwelt on the present situation, Abram and Sarai are in an irrevocable quandry that will never be resolved. The dream is shattered. We always seem to think that the present page is the last page of life when things are not going the way we believed for. But that is only half the story.
Remember in Mark 2 the paralytic man carried by four friends. They came with their sick friend. “Jesus heals the sick”, they believed. They planned and plotted. They went to the house that Christ had rented or bought, or was given. All their beliefs were in place. All their expectations were mutually agreed, and fervently they encouraged each other. They extended themselves to give their sick friend the time and effort to get him to Jesus, and they were ready to see their friend healed. But when they got there, the house was full, crowded and they were unable to enter because of the crowd … now what? End of story? No! It is only half the story.They now have a situation that HAS TO be negotiated. They cannot ignore the position as if it will pass itself. What are their options?
First: They could choose to believe that the crowded house means that it is not the will of God for their friend to be healed and go home. I would suggest that this is how a lot of people respond today. Their experience causes them to rewrite the tenets of their faith. The belief previously was “Jesus heals the sick people”. People often change that to “Jesus heals the sick people sometimes!” and some even change it to “Jesus heals the sick people in Bible times, but not these days.” Experience and circumstance should never dictate your belief system.
Second: Another option could have been the choice to believe that “God doesn’t want our friend healed today – so we shall come another day.” This is the easy going, laid back, “cool dude” attitude – but what if their friend dies overnight? What if Jesus never returns to the area? What if the four friends cannot afford the time to bring their friend another time? They start talking of, “This is not God’s time to heal my friend”. There are sections in scripture when waiting for God’s timing is relevant. But God wants you well and whole now. Healing is in the atonement. That means it is for NOW! Now is the accepted time! Now is the day of salvation and healing! But, this second option is quite definitely a possible way to take – it eases pressure. But we have a third option.
The third option is bold, brave and God inspired undoubtedly. It is the option of faith. Faith says “now!” Faith takes its claims in the “now”. I have heard several teachers in my life preach authoritatively in Hebrews 11 verse 1. The Authorised Version says, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen”. And some even say that faith is, “Now faith” to take its miracle, meaning that “Now faith” is a noun. Faith is for the now. I have to concede that the parsing of the Greek for the sentence and the use of the two words, “Now faith” as a noun seems a little dubious, but the spirit behind what they are saying is absolutely correct. The four friends chose to believe for the now, got to Jesus through the roof, and their friend was healed and saved. They allowed God to finish the story for them.
Now, back to Sarai, Hagar and Abram. Definitely Abram knew the promise of God – he would have a child. There is a vague possibility that Sarai might have known about it (but I don’t think so). Hagar was just a pawn in the story at the moment. Whatever Sarai’s motive, she offers her handmaiden Hagar to sleep with Abram to have a child on Sarai’s behalf. Whether it was lust, or simply the clinical desire for a child that helped Abram to concur with Sarai, we shall never know. But we are clearly told in the New Testament, that the righteous way forward would have been to say,“God has promised! Leave it to Him! I will have a child via Abram and Sarai as legal, lawful righteous husband and wife. “Marriage is honourable, the bed undefiled” says Hebrews. So why would Almighty God suggest a child via other means, that would break this principle?
Unbelief has its own man made cunning plans to give God a “helping hand” while it talks and sounds religious and biblical. God help us to see life and our choices through the eyes of faith.
WHAT’S THE POINT? Never allow the downside of life to have authority over the upside of God’s promises,
Trekking with Abraham 