He fell on his face

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(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

“And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him, saying, As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations. Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee. And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee.”

The Lord came back to Abraham and gave him some encouragement. However, Abraham showed the correct response for any person to have before God. It is not a matter of being a great man or a great woman of God, we need to be men and women of the Great God. Abraham understood that God could do anything. He knew that nothing is to difficult for God but he assumed the correct attitude to God, he fell on is face. The Lord changed his name to show that he was no longer an exalted father but he would be the father of many nations. God controls all of time but he works according to His own timetable for our good. The quicker we fall on our faces before the Lord, the sooner we will be useful in His service.

The problem of pain

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(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

“And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect. And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly.”

Even though the Lord asked Abraham and Sarah to wait for twenty five years, He still took the time to remind them of His promise every now and then so that they could continue to hope and have faith in the Lord. This raises the old question of pain. Why do good people suffer? Surely, if God is God and does control everything why does He let His people suffer. There are many people who say that we will never know why we suffer or have to wait for many years. Others say that one day will realise why we suffered when we are able to help someone else but this implies that God lets one person suffer for another person’s benefit. What kind of God is this? The only time one Person suffered for the benefit of another person was when the Lord Jesus Christ suffered to become the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. The real clue is found in Deut 8: 2 “And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.” The Lord works to humble us and to prove us so that we can do what He wants us to do. In many cultures it is bad to be humble because that means we feel bad about ourselves but in God’s economy we are to be humble so that we realise God’s absolute majesty and feel good about God. If we feel good about God then “And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” (Phil 4: 7) Everyone wants peace of mind and contentment and God works in our lives to make sure that we have free access to this blessing from God whenever we want to take advantage of it. After all there is only room for One God and we do best if we understand Who He really is (see Is 42: 8; 48: 11). Surely God is good to His people for He made us and knows what is best for us, corporately and individually.

These are the generations

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(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

Just a quick word about the “these are the generations” theory. The fact that Moses had original source documents that had been preserved since the beginning of time doesn’t mean that Moses wasn’t inspired by God when he wrote the book of Genesis. In 2 Tim 3: 16 we read that all scripture is given by inspiration of God. It also doesn’t mean that the chapter and verse divisions are not inspired. Moses had a different reason for writing the book of Genesis than the original writers had when they wrote their documents. However, the fact that Moses did have access to original source documents means that he was working with the truth and was used by God to preserve the truth. The last source document for the book of Genesis was written by Joseph and completed by one of his sons for it records Joseph’s death. This is also a very important part of the true history of salvation for it reminds us that people die and that after they die they face judgment. However, for those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as their own personal Saviour, our sins were judged at Calvary and we have everlasting life instead.

Laughter

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(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

“And Hagar bare Abram a son: and Abram called his son’s name, which Hagar bare, Ishmael. And Abram was fourscore and six years old, when Hagar bare Ishmael to Abram.”

Chapter 16 ends with a summary of the forgoing history. Abraham was seventy five years old when he was promised a son. At this stage he is 86, this means that he had to wait about ten years before he tried to solve the issue, with Sarah’s involvement, rather than waiting for the Lord to work the issue out in His own way according to His own timeline. However, the Lord still did work the issue out according to His own timeline, in His own way. The only penalty, if we could call it a penalty, was the son born according to God’s promise was named “laughter” (Gen 21: 3-6). Abraham was one hundred years old when that happened, he waited for twenty five years but God was still faithful.

God is faithful

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(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

“And the angel of the LORD said unto her, I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude. And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the LORD hath heard thy affliction. And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man’s hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren. And she called the name of the LORD that spake unto her, Thou God seest me: for she said, Have I also here looked after him that seeth me? Wherefore the well was called Beerlahairoi; behold, it is between Kadesh and Bered.”

The Lord promised Abraham that He would bless His descendants and He kept His promise. Even though Ishmael was not at the head of the line through which the Lord fulfilled the promise that He made to Eve on the day that she first sinned, He still remained faithful to His promise and Ishmael became the head of a large family of people. These people, along with Isaac’s descendants, survive in great numbers to this very day. This is the way that God always works. He will bless His people even though they choose to go their own way from time to time. God always allows us to experience the consequences of our choices but then He uses these consequences for good in the end.

Submit thyself

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(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

“And the angel of the LORD found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur. And he said, Hagar, Sarai’s maid, whence camest thou? and whither wilt thou go? And she said, I flee from the face of my mistress Sarai. And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hands.”

There is always a temptation for a Christian to rebel against God and to refuse to do what He wants. We must remember that we obey God because we love Him (John 14: 15), not because we want to earn His pleasure. This doesn’t meant that God will abandon us completely and we can no longer have any relationship with Him. As soon as we try to run away from God, God begins to work in our lives to bring us back to Himself. In this case Hagar, who was still part of God’s long term plans, tried to run away from God. God had also made promises concerning Ishmael and these would certainly fail if Ishmael was to die. The Lord came to Hagar and told her to return and submit to His plan for her life. This is a good thing for all of us to do in life. If we submit to God we then have complete access to all of the good things that He will do for us day by day. He will not stop loving us and He will continue to work in our lives to bring us back under the shadow of His wings (see Matt 23: 37). This also reminds us of the story of Mark. When he was young he left the missionary band that was led by Barnabas, his cousin (Acts 13: 13). Later, when Barnabas wanted to take Mark on their second missionary journey Paul didn’t want to take him (Acts 15: 37-41). The Lord used this event to form two missionary bands instead of one and caused His work to prosper. Much later, Paul asked Timothy to bring Mark because Mark was profitable to his ministry (2 Tim 4: 11). The Lord will not give up on any entirely unless they refuse to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as their Saviour and Lord.

Yet He abideth faithful

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(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

“And he went in unto Hagar, and she conceived: and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes. And Sarai said unto Abram, My wrong be upon thee: I have given my maid into thy bosom; and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes: the LORD judge between me and thee. But Abram said unto Sarai, Behold, thy maid is in thy hand; do to her as it pleaseth thee. And when Sarai dealt hardly with her, she fled from her face”.

While it is true that God is slow to anger and plenteous in mercy (Psalm 103: 8), He will not remove actions from their consequences. This still remains the basic rule of His creation. Even science acknowledges this rule with Newton’s third Law, action and reaction are equal and opposite. Everyone knows that you will get apples if you plant apple seeds and oranges if you plant orange seeds. Even evolutionary biologists believe that a mutation will lead to changed genotypes in the next generation. In this case the minute that Sarah  (Sarai) chose a certain course of action she chose the consequences of that action. Hagar was Sarah’s slave and everything that belonged to Hagar actually belonged to Sarah. If Hagar had a child then that child would belong to Sarah. By this time Sarah was also suffering a crisis in hope and chose to help God deal with her problem of childlessness. This was quite legitimate under the rites of that day. However, Hagar had the child that Sarah had not be able to have, at that stage. This reminds us of Proverbs 30: 21-23, “For three things the earth is disquieted... an handmaiden that is her to her mistress.” At this stage Hagar had the heir that Sarah could not produce and she started to forget that she was still Sarah’s slave. Sarah blamed Abraham so Abraham let Sarah did whatever she wanted to Hagar and Hagar ran away. Even though Sarah had her crisis in hope the Lord remained faithful and, according to God’s perfect timing, Sarah had the son that God had promised and that son was an ancestor of the One person Who was able to bless all the families of the earth. Even though we lose hope and act without godly wisdom God always remains faithful (2 Tim 2: 13)