23 Nov Paul’s Footsteps #61
Footsteps #61
Hagar’s place in the Genesis story is directly related to Abram’s failure to believe God’s promise. As an Egyptian slave in Abram’s household, Hagar likely came into Abram’s possession as one of the many gifts Pharaoh gave to him in exchange for Sarai, an event associated with Abram’s first act of unbelief in God’s promise – “11 As he was approaching the border of Egypt, Abram said to his wife, Sarai, “Look, you are a very beautiful woman. 12 When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife. Let’s kill him; then we can have her!’ 13 So please tell them you are my sister. Then they will spare my life and treat me well because of their interest in you.”14 And sure enough, when Abram arrived in Egypt, everyone noticed Sarai’s beauty. 15 When the palace officials saw her, they sang her praises to Pharaoh, their king, and Sarai was taken into his palace. 16 Then Pharaoh gave Abram many gifts because of her—sheep, goats, cattle, male and female donkeys, male and female servants, and camels.” NLT (Gen.12:11–16).
After waiting ten years for the promised child to be born, Abram and Sarai remained childless. Concluding that God needed their “help,” Sarai gave Hagar to Abram as a concubine. Although strange to us today, Sarai’s plan was quite ingenious. According to ancient customs, a female slave legally could serve as a surrogate mother for her barren mistress. Thus, Sarai could count any child born from her husband and Hagar as her own. While the plan did produce a child, it was not the child God promised.
In this story, we have a powerful example of how when faced with daunting circumstances, even a great man of God had a lapse of faith. In Gen17:18-19, Abraham pleaded with God to accept Ishmael as his heir; the Lord, of course, rejected that offer. The only “miraculous” element in the birth of Ishmael was Sarah’s willingness to share her husband with another woman! There was nothing out of the ordinary about the birth of a child to this woman, a child born “according to the flesh.” Had Abraham trusted in what God had promised him instead of letting the circumstances overcome that trust, none of this would have happened, and a lot of grief would have been avoided. Grief we are still reaping in the Middle East today!
Ask yourself – Is your walk with God more like the Judaizers covenant (Paul’s opponents) or the new covenant? Are you walking by faith with complete trust in the promises of God, or are you on some sort of performance treadmill that causes you to look to yourself and your own works? Remember the words of Martin Luther, “When I look to myself, I wonder how I could ever be saved, but when I look to Jesus, I wonder how I could ever be lost.” Where is your gaze?
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