Now Sarai, Abram\u2019s wife, had borne him no children. She had a female Egyptian servant whose name was Hagar. And Sarai said to Abram, \u201cBehold now, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. Go in to my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children by her.\u201d And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. So, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram\u2019s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her servant, and gave her to Abram her husband as a wife. And he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, she looked with contempt on her mistress. And Sarai said to Abram, \u201cMay the wrong done to me be on you! I gave my servant to your embrace, and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked on me with contempt. May the Lord judge between you and me!\u201d But Abram said to Sarai, \u201cBehold, your servant is in your power; do to her as you please.\u201d Then Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she fled from her. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur. And he said, \u201cHagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?\u201d She said, \u201cI am fleeing from my mistress Sarai.\u201d The angel of the Lord said to her, \u201cReturn to your mistress and submit to her.\u201d The angel of the Lord also said to her, \u201cI will surely multiply your offspring so that they cannot be numbered for multitude.\u201d And the angel of the Lord said to her, <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cBehold, you are pregnant
\nand shall bear a son.
\nYou shall call his name Ishmael,
\nbecause the Lord has listened to your affliction.
\nHe shall be a wild donkey of a man,
\nhis hand against everyone
\nand everyone\u2019s hand against him,
\nand he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen.\u201d <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
So she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, \u201cYou are a God of seeing,\u201d for she said, \u201cTruly here I have seen him who looks after me.\u201d Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi; it lies between Kadesh and Bered.
\n And Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram called the name of his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael. Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Dear Friends in Christ, <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
You may have heard of \u201cTiger Moms\u201d who push their children to attain high levels of academic achievement, and of \u201cHelicopter Parents\u201d who are constantly hovering over their kids to make sure they do well in school. Well, apparently, their time is over. There is a new type of parent pushing their way through the schoolyard\u2014and they will stop at nothing to ensure their child\u2019s success. Yes, the new style of parenting is called \u201cSnowplow\u201d parenting. These parents are intent on removing any obstacles in the way of their child, in order that their child does not have to face pain or difficulty on their way to success.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
If their child struggles, \u201cSnowplow\u201d parents will take matters into their own hands and accomplish those challenges for their kids, thinking that they are helping their child without realizing the long-term consequences of their approach. I can understand this to some degree. For example, I remember getting impatient with my child when I have helped with homework. It would be much easier to give them the answer rather than have them struggle to get to the solution on their own.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
We all tend to want to take matters into our own hands when something is not going quite right or taking too long. That\u2019s the situation in which we find Abraham and Sarah in Genesis 16.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Abraham had received the promise of God that he would be the father of many and that through his descendants God would bless the whole world. Abraham and Sarah both believed God\u2019s promise.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
But that promise had been made years ago. Abraham and Sarah weren\u2019t young when God originally made it. They certainly weren\u2019t getting any younger. Plus, Sarah was still barren. Maybe they needed to take things into their own hands and force the issue.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
So Sarah comes up with a plan. Maybe it was just Abraham that was needed for the promise to be fulfilled. She offers her servant, Hagar, to Abraham that he might obtain children from her. Abraham listens, and Hagar becomes pregnant. Their plan worked!<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Or so it seemed. This situation only caused issues in the household of Abraham. Hagar, who was blessed with child, began to look with contempt upon Sarah, who was unable to conceive. Hagar\u2019s behavior got so bad that Sarah treats her badly in return, which caused Hagar to flee. But after that all gets cleared up and God convinces Hagar to return to Sarah, and Hagar gives birth to Ishmael, God makes it clear to Abraham in the next chapter that, despite Abraham\u2019s efforts, Ishmael is not the son that God promised.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cYou will have a son by Sarah,\u201d God tells Abraham, who is now one hundred years old, while Sarah is ninety. So Abraham replies, \u201cOh, that Ishmael might live before you!\u201d Abraham is trying to demonstrate to God that he has already taken care of having a son. \u201cNo,\u201d God says, \u201cSarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Abraham and Sarah did not have to take matters into their own hands to have a son and kick start God\u2019s plan of blessing. God was going to take care of fulfilling His promise in His own way and in His own time.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
When it comes to the blessings and promises of God, we also often think that we have to take matters into our own hands.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
We imagine that we have to activate God\u2019s promises by cleaning up our lives or showing Him how sincerely and earnestly we believe. We think we can manipulate God by our good works and force His hand to pour out blessings upon us. We become impatient with God as we wait for His promises to come to fruition, and so we try to take our relationship with God into our own hands and trust in ourselves to get the job done. In order to maintain our status as God\u2019s children, we imagine that we\u2019ve got to prove ourselves to Him over and over again.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
We all tend to exchange the freedom of the Gospel for the slavery of the Law. Rather than living under the freedom of Jesus\u2019 words \u201cIt is finished!\u201d and trusting that it truly is, we live under the slavery of the Law, which says \u201cDo more! Try harder!\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
In the Book of Galatians, Paul repeatedly demonstrated the foolishness of this thinking. In Galatians 3, he writes, \u201cFor all who rely on works of the law are under a curse. . . . Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for \u2018The righteous shall live by faith\u2019 \u201d (Galatians 3:10a, 11).<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
In chapter 4, Paul supplements his argument with an illustration: the story of Hagar and Sarah. \u201cNow this story may be interpreted allegorically,\u201d Paul says. \u201cThese women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar. . . . She corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother\u201d (Galatians 4:24\u201326).<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
In other words, Hagar represents the Law given at Mount Sinai. All those who submit to the slavery of the Law are children of Hagar. They are Ishmaels. And what eventually happened to Hagar and Ishmael? \u201cWhat does the Scripture say?\u201d Paul asks. \u201c \u2018Cast out the slave woman and her son\u2019 \u201d (Galatians 4:30). Ishmael was not the son of the promise. He was the son produced by Abraham\u2019s efforts, a work of the law. And he was rejected, as ultimately all will be who rely on the Law.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
But God called Abraham and Sarah to trust in His promise and live by faith. God would take care of it. And though it seemed impossible, Sarah
\ngave birth to a son, the son of the promise, Isaac.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cNow you, brothers,\u201d Paul explains, \u201clike Isaac, are children of promise . . . we are not children of the slave but of the free woman\u201d (Galatians 4:28, 31). Those who live by faith, not by works, are also sons of the promise, sons of Abraham, and receivers of God\u2019s blessings.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
But it is not faith in Isaac that brings the blessings of God\u2019s salvation. It is faith in the true Son of Abraham, the Son through whom the whole world is blessed, the Son whose work sets us free from slavery to the Law.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
As our loving heavenly Father, God removed any obstacle between us and our salvation because He knew we could never do it on our own, no matter how hard we tried. He sent His only-begotten Son into this world and called Him Jesus, for \u201cHe will save His people from their sins (Matthew 1:21).<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
This Son would also be born through miraculous circumstances, not through an old, barren woman, but through a young virgin. This Son would also walk up a mountain to be a sacrifice, but unlike Isaac, God did not stop the hands that placed a crown of thorns on the head of Jesus, His own Son, and plunged nails into His hands and feet. Jesus completed the work of the Law, suffered the consequences for our sins and lack of faith, and won our freedom as He declared, \u201cIt is finished!\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Jesus is the true Son of Abraham whose eternal blessings are received only by faith. \u201cFor in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith,\u201d Paul writes to the Galatians and to you. \u201cFor as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. . . . And if you are Christ\u2019s, then you are Abraham\u2019s offspring, heirs according to promise\u201d (Galatians 3:26\u201327, 29).<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
You and I are sons of the promise, sons of Abraham, children of God, through the true Son of Abraham and Sarah\u2014Jesus, the Son of God. In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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