Life gets complicated when we do things our way rather than trusting God to do things His way.

Genesis 16 (NLT)
The Birth of Ishmael
¹ Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had not been able to bear children for him. But she had an Egyptian servant named Hagar. ² So Sarai said to Abram, “The Lord has prevented me from having children. Go and sleep with my servant. Perhaps I can have children through her.” And Abram agreed with Sarai’s proposal. ³ So Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian servant and gave her to Abram as a wife. (This happened ten years after Abram had settled in the land of Canaan.)

⁴ So Abram had sexual relations with Hagar, and she became pregnant. But when Hagar knew she was pregnant, she began to treat her mistress, Sarai, with contempt. ⁵ Then Sarai said to Abram, “This is all your fault! I put my servant into your arms, but now that she’s pregnant she treats me with contempt. The Lord will show who’s wrong—you or me!” ⁶ Abram replied, “Look, she is your servant, so deal with her as you see fit.” Then Sarai treated Hagar so harshly that she finally ran away.
⁷ The angel of the Lord found Hagar beside a spring of water in the wilderness, along the road to Shur. ⁸ The angel said to her, “Hagar, Sarai’s servant, where have you come from, and where are you going?” “I’m running away from my mistress, Sarai,” she replied. ⁹ The angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit to her authority.” ¹⁰ Then he added, “I will give you more descendants than you can count.” ¹¹ And the angel also said, “You are now pregnant and will give birth to a son. You are to name him Ishmael (which means ‘God hears’), for the Lord has heard your cry of distress. ¹² This son of yours will be a wild man, as untamed as a wild donkey! He will raise his fist against everyone, and everyone will be against him. Yes, he will live in open hostility against all his relatives.”
¹³ Thereafter, Hagar used another name to refer to the Lord, who had spoken to her. She said, “You are the God who sees me.” She also said, “Have I truly seen the One who sees me?” ¹⁴ So that well was named Beer-lahai-roi (which means “well of the Living One who sees me”). It can still be found between Kadesh and Bered.
¹⁵ So Hagar gave Abram a son, and Abram named him Ishmael. ¹⁶ Abram was eighty-six years old when Ishmael was born.

Examine the Scriptures
Genesis 16 (NLT)
The Birth of Ishmael
¹ Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had not been able to bear children for him.
        More than 20 years

But she had an Egyptian servant named Hagar. ² So Sarai said to Abram, “The Lord has prevented me from having children. Go and sleep with my servant. Perhaps I can have children through her.”

Man’s way vs. God’s way.

***Galatians 4:22-23 (NLT)
²² The Scriptures say that Abraham had two sons, one from his slave wife and one from his freeborn wife. ²³ The son of the slave wife was born in a human attempt to bring about the fulfillment of God’s promise. But the son of the freeborn wife was born as God’s own fulfillment of his promise.

Sarai was impatient.

A custom of the day.  (Man’s way)  May appear to be a good solution.
This behavior was not wrong in the eyes of the secular world.
A barren women could give her maid to her husband as a wife.  The child would be regarded as the first wife’s child.
If the husband said to the slave-wife’s son, “You are my son” then he was the adopted son and heir.

• Man’s efforts to resolve problems may appear to be good solutions.

God’s way

Genesis 15:2-5 (NLT)
² But Abram replied, “O Sovereign Lord, what good are all your blessings when I don’t even have a son? Since you’ve given me no children, Eliezer of Damascus, a servant in my household, will inherit all my wealth. ³ You have given me no descendants of my own, so one of my servants will be my heir.”
⁴ Then the Lord said to him, “No, your servant will not be your heir, for you will have a son of your own who will be your heir.” ⁵ Then the Lord took Abram outside and said to him, “Look up into the sky and count the stars if you can. That’s how many descendants you will have!”

Isaiah 55:8-9 (NLT)
⁸ “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord.
“And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.
⁹ For just as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so my ways are higher than your ways
and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.

Throughout the scriptures multiple wives caused problems.

Jacob married Leah and Rachel

El-ka-nah married Hannah and Pen-in-nah

(and many others)

And Abram agreed with Sarai’s proposal. 

 Reminds me of Adam and Eve.

 ³ So Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian servant and gave her to Abram as a wife. (This happened ten years after Abram had settled in the land of Canaan.) ⁴ So Abram had sexual relations with Hagar, and she became pregnant.

 Hagar’s status changes from servant to wife.

Genesis 2:24 (NLT)
This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.

• Life gets complicated when we do things our way rather than trusting God to do things His way.

But when Hagar knew she was pregnant, she began to treat her mistress, Sarai, with contempt. 

Conflict between Hagar and Sarai.

Sarai’s proposal brought about conflict.

 ⁵ Then Sarai said to Abram, “This is all your fault! I put my servant into your arms, but now that she’s pregnant she treats me with contempt. The Lord will show who’s wrong—you or me!”

Conflict between Sarai and Abram.

⁶ Abram replied, “Look, she is your servant, so deal with her as you see fit.”

             Abram transferred his responsibility to Sarai.

 Then Sarai treated Hagar so harshly that she finally ran away.

Hagar may have been heading back to her homeland of Egypt.

⁷ The angel of the Lord

 Messenger of the Lord

Preincarnate manifestation of Christ

The Lord Himself. (Verse 10)

 found Hagar beside a spring of water in the wilderness, along the road to Shur. 

 An angel (God) found Hagar.

But she had obviously become a believer in the God of Abram, and she has a place in God’s Holy Word.

2 Chronicles 16:9 (NLT),
The eyes of the Lord search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.

⁸ The angel said to her, “Hagar, Sarai’s servant, where have you come from, and where are you going?”  “I’m running away from my mistress, Sarai,” she replied. ⁹ The angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit to her authority.” 

Submit to authority.

 In Genesis chapter 21, after Isaac was born, Hagar was sent away.

 ¹⁰ Then he added, “I will give you more descendants than you can count.”

 Genesis 17:20 (NLT)
As for Ishmael, I will bless him also, just as you have asked. I will make him extremely fruitful and multiply his descendants. He will become the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation.

 Arabs (hostile to the Jews)

 Genesis 25:13-16 (NLT)
¹³ Here is a list, by their names and clans, of Ishmael’s descendants: The oldest was Nebaioth, followed by Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, ¹⁴ Mishma, Dumah, Massa, ¹⁵ Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah. ¹⁶ These twelve sons of Ishmael became the founders of twelve tribes named after them, listed according to the places they settled and camped.

 ¹¹ And the angel also said, “You are now pregnant and will give birth to a son. You are to name him Ishmael (which means ‘God hears’), for the Lord has heard your cry of distress. 

• God heard Hagar’s cry of distress.

 ¹² This son of yours will be a wild man, as untamed as a wild donkey! He will raise his fist against everyone, and everyone will be against him. Yes, he will live in open hostility against all his relatives.”

 Arabs (hostile to the Jews)

• There are negative consequences for doing things outside of God’s will.

 ¹³ Thereafter, Hagar used another name to refer to the Lord, who had spoken to her. She said, “You are the God who sees me.” She also said, “Have I truly seen the One who sees me?” 

 Hagar recognized God as the one who hears the afflicted and recognizes their needs.

Hagar renames God.

• The living God sees and hears.

¹⁴ So that well was named Beer-lahai-roi (which means “well of the Living One who sees me”). It can still be found between Kadesh and Bered.

 ¹⁵ So Hagar gave Abram a son, and Abram named him Ishmael. 

Abraham named Ishmael, acknowledging him as his son and heir.

• The son of the slave wife was born in a human attempt to bring about the fulfillment of God’s promise.

 ¹⁶ Abram was eighty-six years old when Ishmael was born.

11 years after Abram settled in Canaan.

• God’s servants are to trust His Word and wait patiently for its fulfillment.
• Human efforts will not help.

 

 

 

How Can I Be Sure? (How Can I Know?)

Who’s asking?

Abram (Abraham) A man of faith.  (Hebrews 11:8-10 (NLT))

 

Genesis 15:7-21 (NLT)
⁷ Then the Lord told him, “I am the Lord who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land as your possession.”

God promised to give Abram “this land.” (Descendants were promise in verses 4-5)

• God promised to give Abram descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky. (Genesis 15:5)
• God promised to give Abram the land He was showing to him.  (Land identified in Genesis 15:18-21).

⁸ But Abram replied, “O Sovereign Lord, how can I be sure that I will actually possess it?”

 How can I be sure?  How can I know?

A genuine request for information and assurance.  It’s a legitimate question.

Is it o.k. to question God?

• Numerous people of faith (Hebrews 11) asked for and received signs from God. (Abraham, Gideon, David (Psalm 86:7), Moses)

God responded, using an ancient tradition.

⁹ The Lord told him, “Bring me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.”¹⁰ So Abram presented all these to him and killed them. Then he cut each animal down the middle and laid the halves side by side; he did not, however, cut the birds in half. 

 ¹¹ Some vultures swooped down to eat the carcasses, but Abram chased them away.

Evil omen

• God’s promises of blessings do not negate hard times.

¹² As the sun was going down, Abram fell into a deep sleep,

A unilateral covenant. Abram was sleeping.

 and a terrifying darkness came down over him. ¹³ Then the Lord said to Abram, “You can be sure that your descendants will be strangers in a foreign land,

 “You can be sure ….”

 where they will be oppressed as slaves for 400 years. 

400 years of oppression.

 ¹⁴ But I will punish the nation that enslaves them, and in the end they will come away with great wealth. 

¹⁵ (As for you, you will die in peace and be buried at a ripe old age.) 

 ¹⁶ After four generations your descendants will return here to this land, for the sins of the Amorites do not yet warrant their destruction.”

 God’s timing

•  God tells us that we can know for certain that His promises will come true. (“You can be sure …”)
• God’s promises might not be fulfilled in our lifetime.

The ritual (the sign)

¹⁷ After the sun went down and darkness fell, Abram saw a smoking firepot and a flaming torch (symbolized the presence of God) pass between the halves of the carcasses.

Abram did not walk through the halves of the carcasses.

Ancient tradition

Referred to in scripture:

Jeremiah 34:18-19 (NLT)

¹⁸ Because you have broken the terms of our covenant, I will cut you apart just as you cut apart the calf when you walked between its halves to solemnize your vows. ¹⁹ Yes, I will cut you apart, whether you are officials of Judah or Jerusalem, court officials, priests, or common people—for you have broken your oath.

 ¹⁸ So the Lord made a covenant with Abram

•  God’s promises must be taken seriously.

that day and said, “I have given this land to your descendants, all the way from the border of Egypt to the great Euphrates River— ¹⁹ the land now occupied by the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, ²⁰ Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites,²¹ Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites.”

Unilateral covenant

Numbers 23:19 (NLT)

God is not a man, so he does not lie.
He is not human, so he does not change his mind.
Has he ever spoken and failed to act?
Has he ever promised and not carried it through?

•  God does not lie.  God keeps his promises.

P.S.
Genesis 24:1-7 (NLT)
A Wife for Isaac
¹ Abraham was now a very old man, and the Lord had blessed him in every way. ² One day Abraham said to his oldest servant, the man in charge of his household, “Take an oath by putting your hand under my thigh. ³ Swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and earth, that you will not allow my son to marry one of these local Canaanite women. ⁴ Go instead to my homeland, to my relatives, and find a wife there for my son Isaac.”
⁵ The servant asked, “But what if I can’t find a young woman who is willing to travel so far from home? Should I then take Isaac there to live among your relatives in the land you came from?”
⁶ “No!” Abraham responded. “Be careful never to take my son there. ⁷ For the Lord, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and my native land, solemnly promised to give this land to my descendants. He will send his angel ahead of you, and he will see to it that you find a wife there for my son.

Abram believed.

Hebrews 11:13 (NLT)
¹³ All these people died still believing what God had promised them. They did not receive what was promised, but they saw it all from a distance and welcomed it. They agreed that they were foreigners and nomads here on earth.

How can we be sure that we can live a godly life?

Pray

Ephesians 1:18 (NLT)
I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called—his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance.

Colossians 1:9 (NLT)
So we have not stopped praying for you since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding.

Spend time in the Word

Acts 17:11 (NLT)
And the people of Berea were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica, and they listened eagerly to Paul’s message. They searched the Scriptures day after day to see if Paul and Silas were teaching the truth.

John 8:31-32 (NLT)
³¹ Jesus said to the people who believed in him, “You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. ³² And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Remain faithful: hold to my teaching, If you continue to accept and obey my teaching, If you abide in my word,

God’s promises to us.

2 Peter 1:3-4 (NLT)
Growing in Faith
³ By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. ⁴ And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.

 

• God has given us great and precious promises.
  • God gives us everything we need for living a godly life
• • God’s promises enable us to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption.

Genesis 15:1-6 (NLT)

The Lord’s Covenant Promise to Abram

¹ Some time later, the Lord spoke to Abram in a vision and said to him, “Do not be afraid, Abram, for I will protect you, and your reward will be great.”  ² But Abram replied, “O Sovereign Lord, what good are all your blessings when I don’t even have a son? Since you’ve given me no children, Eliezer of Damascus, a servant in my household, will inherit all my wealth.  ³ You have given me no descendants of my own, so one of my servants will be my heir.”   ⁴ Then the Lord said to him, “No, your servant will not be your heir, for you will have a son of your own who will be your heir.” ⁵ Then the Lord took Abram outside and said to him, “Look up into the sky and count the stars if you can. That’s how many descendants you will have!”  ⁶ And Abram believed the Lord, and the Lord counted him as righteous because of his faith.

 

• Believers in Christ do not need to be afraid.
• Do not depend on your own understanding.
• Don’t play the blame game, especially with God.
• God’s promises are beyond our imagination.
• The only work God wants from us is to believe in Jesus.
• Abram had a right relationship with God because of his faith, not because of his works.
• Christians have a right relationship with God because of their faith, not because of their works.