Image: "When You Frame It That Way", 2010, Severn Run E. P. Church, Millersville, Md
Genesis 17:17–18 (NKJV) 17 Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, “Shall a child be born to a man who is one hundred years old? And shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” 18 And Abraham said to God, “Oh, that Ishmael might live before You!”
Abram's struggle with doubt continues. If we had asked him then he would have said: "Well, it's not like I really don't believe what I've been told.... it's just that, you know, nothing's happening!"
It was Abram's doubt that opened his ears to Sarai's suggestion that he take Hagar as his wife. How he must have shaken his head in consternation when friction inevitably developed between Sarai & Hagar. How disappointed he must have been to watch Hagar, pregnant with his first offspring, walk out into the country side.
And then, Hagar comes back at God's command and has a son, Ishamael. How Abram must have delighted in that. "OK, God came through after all. Not exactly how I understood it but I'll take what I can get." Abram transferred his hopes to Ishmael and apparently had affection for him.
Then God speaks to Abram again. From now on it will be Abraham and Sarah. God reveals more of the covenant he has made with Abram and now, as Abraham, he gets very specific. The covenant sign of circumcision is introduced (much could be said here). God's people are now distinguished not just by ethnic origin but by religion. God's covenant people are those who are circumcised in heart through faith, bear the sign of that circumcision in their flesh and live in absolute hope in the covenant promises God has made to them.
But now comes the hard part. "Abraham, you and Sarah are going to have a son... next year!" Abraham's doubts flood back into his heart. "You have to be kidding me. It's been thirteen years since Hagar conceived my son Ishmael. I am a lot older now. Sarah has never conceived and she is will past child bearing age. Lord, don't you really mean Ishmael? Lord... let him live before you."
Abraham here does reveal a soft side of affection for Ishmael. If Sarah did have a child then that old tension thing would probably come back. It's not out of the question that she would seek to have Ishmael killed to ensure her own son's inheritance. Questions like these flooded into Abraham's mind I am sure. He appealed to God for a different plan.
God's answer is pretty terse but not harsh. "No! Abraham. Sarah will bear Isaac and My covenant will be with him! I'll take care of Ishmael. He will be a worldly success. I have not forgotten my promise to Hagar in the wilderness. He will be a wild man and not suited to be head of my covenant people. Trust Me, Abraham, I do things My way in order to achieve My purposes. This is the way it will be."
These powerful chapters deserve much deeper study and commentary. They are so foundational to the redemptive history God has revealed to us. But from this overview as well as the passages in the NT which talk about Abraham's faith and how his submission to God was demonstrated by his subsequent conceiving of Isaac with Sarah, we can be encouraged by what we have read.
Sometimes life is bewildering. Sometimes we just don't have any clear idea what God is doing with us. Our faith teaches us that "God's decree is whatsoever comes to pass" and therefore whatever is happening to us, around us, in our families, in our churches, etc. etc. has to be viewed as having God's hand in it. Even when we see sin powerfully present in our own selves or others about us, we wonder why God is allowing it. That's the journey of faith.
Our lives, like Abraham's, are in God's hands. He is our loving Father, faithful Husband, wonderful Savior and comforting Friend (among many other things). But He is not like us. His ways and His decrees are directed toward higher ends than we can even conceive most of the time and when we can conceive of them, they don't appear wise to us. How many times do we ask... like Abraham... "Lord, are you sure this is what has to happen?"
Our Lord Jesus was fully human, as are we. He felt the pull of doubt also. Even He asked... "Lord, if it be Your will that this thing should pass? But, (and here is faith) nevertheless, not My will but Thy will be done." Abraham finally got to this point. He finally embraced God's promise and lived to see the glory of God exhibited in the birth of his son Isaac far more than was ever the case with Ishmael. So it is with us and so it shall be with us.
Wherever we see our doubts about God's plan for us and His creation being raised in our minds, if we persevere in faith, we shall see how His way was indeed best, beyond all describing, always.
Genesis 18:1-19:38 - The Judge Who Does Right
Image: Afternoon Snack, 2016, Severna Park, MD
Genesis 18:4–5 4 Please let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. 5 And I will bring a morsel of bread, that you may refresh your hearts. After that you may pass by, inasmuch as you have come to your servant.
Genesis 18:14 14 Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.”
Genesis 18:19
19 For I have known him, in order that he may command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the Lord, to do righteousness and justice, that the Lord may bring to Abraham what He has spoken to him.”
Gen. 18:25 Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?”
Genesis 18 & 19 are portrayals of two very different views of "hospitality." In Genesis 18 three "Strangers" approach Abraham's tent. He immediately recognizes Divinity in them though, as we see from their stay in Sodom, their appearance was of ordinary men. The difference between the way these "Strangers" were received is the difference of eternity... the difference within humanity... and the difference between the way God deals with man.
Genesis 18:4 was chosen almost 30 years ago as the "motto" for Severn Run E. P. Church because it incorporated the main feature of the Church planting goal: to become a church that received all who came through its doors as if they were angels in human form. We wanted to be hospitable and welcoming of all whom the Lord sent us.
Abraham welcomed his visitors and prepared for them an afternoon meal. In doing so He showed the result of the Lord's work in his life. He recognized them as being sent from God. He "bowed himself to the ground" before them... a certain token that he knew their Divine Nature. One of the men was the Christ, the second person of the Trinity. He accepts Abraham's bowing in worship as no angel would have ever done. When He speaks of Abraham in vs 19 He speaks as God: "I have known him (Abraham).." and highlights how Abraham's life will be use in His eternal plan. This is God, ... this is the Christ, ... and in some dim manner Abraham knew it. His eyes were opened that much to recognize Who stood before him and his response was worship and welcoming service. That's not a bad synopsis of God's call on any human being's life.
Contrast this welcome with what the Christ received in Sodom. Can any greater travesty be imagined, any greater blasphemy contemplated, than to want to have carnal relations with these "Men?" I cannot even bring myself to write words descriptive of their intent. It's just too horrid to contemplate. The Divine trio's external appearance was probably beautiful. The beauty of the Lord was present in human image and all it evoked in the Sodomites was lust. When we consider the treatment that city received at the hands of our Lord can there be any question of the justice of it?
I think not. The story of Abraham's reception of God and that of Sodom's reception shows us, by analogy, the desperate condition that exists in the hearts of men. There are no neutral parties within human kind. We either have the inner core that welcomes God and delights in serving Him or we have the complete opposite core inner being. We may not be as blatant as the Sodomites but indifference to the Lord is just as fatal as lust. Jesus told the cities of Galilee who did not "receive" Him as Abraham had, that "it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for (them)." That is a sobering thought when we remember how the original Sodomites received Him.
But the Good News is chapter 18. God's love for Abraham is such that He grants him the freedom to intercede for the evil cities themselves. In verse 19:29 we're told that God saved Lot out of Sodom it was because He "remembered" Abraham. God's greatest joy is to use His people as His priests and to hear their prayers and attend to the longings of their heart.
Abraham extended hospitality to the Lord that day... he received Him with gladness and submission and a desire to serve. God's response was to bless Abraham beyond any thing He could imagine.
That's not a bad thing to meditate on and embrace for any of us.
Posted by Gadfly on May 31, 2019 at 09:43 AM in Christian Apologetics, Church, Commentary, Culture, Movies, etc., Devotional Meditation, Discipleship | Permalink | Comments (0)
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