Week 2 Day 3: Ah Ha!

Genesis 15-17

Finally. I can say it. Abraham. Sarah. Their names changed. I always thought God had a sense of humor. We went from Sarai and Abram to Sarah and Abraham. Do you see? God added an "ah" and a "ha". If that isn't a sense of humor, what is?

A couple things stick out to me in this passage.

God has promised Abraham an offspring. Abraham believed him. He didn't seem to be in any hurry. But Sarah was. That sounds a lot like me. I want things to happen now, not next week. So what does Sarah do? Takes matters into her own hands. I have to confess, I have always thought of Abraham as a bit of a wimp here. At least from what I have read in the verses, he doesn't put up a fight. He goes along with her and her plan with Hagar. No questions asked. I also can't help but wonder (as a woman)...did Sarah deep down WANT Abraham to argue with her? I know I would have.

Anyway, my heart hurts for Hagar in this story. She is the servant. She has few choices. And now she is not only pregnant, but she also is now scorned in the eyes of Sarah who was the one with the plan in the first place. So she runs away to the desert. God meets her there and basically tells her (in a nice way) to suck it up, to go back and have the baby. But here is the best part. He would be a "wild donkey" living in "hostility". Boy, aren't those inspirational words you want to hear when you are expecting! The cool part? Even after those words that seemed so unsettling to me, Hagar did go back.

The final thing that stuck out to me was Abraham's response when once again God tells him that he will have an heir. Here is Abraham's response Genesis 17:17-18...
Abraham bowed facedown on the ground and laughed. He said to himself, "Can a man have a child when he is a hundred years old? Can Sarah give birth to a child when she is ninety?"¹⁸ Then Abraham said to God, "Please let Ishmael be the son you promised."

I just love this response. Especially the last part. You know at a 100 years old, Abraham is feeling a bit old. Heck, I feel that way at almost 40. I can totally understand why he might say, "Couldn't it be Ishmael? I am too old to be doing this, God."

Honest.

I like honest.

And I think God does too.

It isn't like he didn't realize what Abraham was thinking. I love that Abraham just felt comfortable enough in his relationship with God to say, "Okay, let's get real here..."

And the very best part?

God didn't strike him down with lightning for being honest and sharing his thoughts. Instead, he just firmly answered that Abraham was GOING to have an heir, and no, it wouldn't be Ishmael.

That is the God I am glad I serve. I can go to Him with anything, all my fears, all my worries. And He doesn't strike me down on the spot for saying such things.

So very thankful for that.

More later,
Reba