A Marriage definitely not made in Heaven

          In our study of God's will we have seen how we can get ahead of God's will through the young life of Moses. Moses was in the right place, trying to do the right thing, but at the wrong time. Moses had to learn that the timing also glorifies God as well as what ever you do. We saw also from David's life how it is possible to skip some important part of God's will. We might think something isn’t too gravely important so we skip it; we go from step 1 to step 4 and later we find that we have missed something we needed. David lost a good man because he got in a hurry and forgot some elementary things that God had laid down in scripture about transporting the ark of God. David learned that you have to do God's will by the due order.

           Now we come to the next circumstances to avoid if we possibly can; which is helping God's will by our own means. Now that sounds sort wrong doesn’t it? We want God’s will fulfilled in ourlives and anyone would just assume that what ever it takes, God’s will must be done. Now, that sounds right, and is right, however with this one reservation. What God has promised, he will bring it about and He will fulfill it. God doesn’t need our help when it comes to fulfilling the promises that he has made to us.

          To think correctly about this, always remember to think of yourself as a channel or pipe or wire and there will be no problems. But Christians get themselves in all kinds of trouble when they don’t want to be the pipe or channel or wire for God’s will to be done. They want to be the water flowing through the pipe, they want to be the electricity streaming through the wire instead of being content to just be the wire! There’s a big, big difference here and I want you to get it before we move on.

          If you haven’t figured it out yet, I am not God and neither are you! There are some folks that think that the preacher can solve all there problems. That’s why he’s there for they think! And how sad it is, when they come to the fact that the preacher isn’t God, or the S.S. teacher isn’t God, or the Christian that they highly admire can not snap their fingers and their problems just vanish away. All that any pastor, or any evangelist or any S.S. teacher, or any someone that you think all lot of; all that they can do is inspire you to life for God. God himself has to enable you to live for him.

          You know, I have some dear family members that will not come out to hear me preach. But when their favorite evangelist comes to church. Man you would think that they just got saved! 

          They would do anything for this man, they want to take him to eat, and they are ready to quit their jobs to help out in this man’s ministry. If you saw them the week before you wouldn’t think that this person loves God; much less is saved! They wouldn’t do anything for their own pastor who’s their year after year but they exhaust themselves for their favorite man. Why the different attitudes? I don’t really know, but I bet that this favorite of there’s, is a little more than just a man in their eyes. He’s more than just the wire he’s the power! He’s more than just the pipe but the water in the pipe!

That’s not healthy at all.

          Can you tell the difference between the wire and the electricity? You can’t see the electricity but you sure can feel it if you complete the circuit! All that the wire has to do is summit itself to be used and the electricity can flow throw it to light up thousands of homes and business with just one wire coming out of the source. The power isn’t the wire, but only a channel for the power to travel through.      

          When we come to Genesis chapter 16 we have Sarai who could not tell the difference between herself as the wire and God as the source of power to fulfill what he had promised.

          What did God promise Abraham? In three places (Genesis 12:2–3; 13:14–17; 15:2–5)God made some promises and one of those promises involved Sarai and Abraham having a child, and this child would be a blessing to the whole earth!

          And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir. Gen 15:4 

          What a promise! I don’t know if it excited them or scared them! Abraham was 85 years old and it had been a full ten years since the Lord’s last promise of an heir. So instead of just waiting for the Lord to work in his own time; Sarai took it upon herself to help God out! She thinks; well we know its God’s will for us to have an heir, a son, so it probably doesn’t matter how the son comes into the world. Sarai stopped being the wire and wanted to be the source of the power and decide when and where and whom would bring in their son!

          She even had some other woman in mind, her Egyptian maid named Hagar.

          This sounds great doesn’t it? They have God’s promise as their goal. They just want God’s will done in their lives. They have this all thought out, they have all the pieces they need to this puzzle, so why does God just stamp it with his approval and go on to weightier matters?

          You want to know why the Lord doesn’t approve of their plans? Because He’s God and they aren’t. As God, he can do whatever he wants, whenever he wants, with what ever he wants to do it with. He doesn’t need anybodies’ approval, he doesn’t ask questions before he acts; that just comes with the role of being God, they source, the power, the enabling.

I. The Sad Mistake (vers. 1-3)

          The temptation came originally from Sarah. Waiting had evidently took a toll upon her, and this action was the result. Yet we must not overlook the fact that Abraham yielded even though the first suggestion came from his wife.

          It had not yet been clearly revealed that Sarah was to be the mother of the promised seed, and probably this led to her im­patience. Hagar, as bond-slave, was her mistress's personal property, "a living chattel," and any child of the bond-slave would necessarily belong to the mistress, not the mother.

          There was evident faith in God's promise in this proposal of Sarah's. She fully believed that Abraham was to have the seed promised by God. We can therefore understand that her suggestion means a very genuine piece of self-denial.  The words of Samuel come to mind, “Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice…”1Sa 15:22 

          What a sacrifice Sarah must have thought she was making to see God’s promise come into being.

          This surrogate mothering practice was a com­mon one, and Sarah was but the creature of her age in urging it on Abraham.

          Nevertheless, though Sarah's motive was good, genuine, and involved self-sacrifice in her eyes, the proposal was wrong in itself, and, at the same time, wrong in its method of obtaining the end sought. It was wrong against God, Whose word had been given and Whose time should have been waited. It was wrong against Abraham, leading him out of the pathway of patient waiting for God's will. It was wrong against Hagar, and did not recognize her individuality and rights in the matter. It was wrong against Sarah herself, robbing her of a high privilege as well as leading to disobedience.

          II. The Sorrowful Results (vers. 4-6).

          The outcome of Abra­ham's yielding was soon seen in the effects which came upon all.

A. The results for them.

          1. The first effect was pride (ver. 4).

           Hagar's insolence was per­fectly natural, and her reproach of her mistress, even though in­solent, quite inevitable. Human nature is always human nature, and this reproach stung Sarah's pride to the quick, with the re­sults that are well known.

          2. The next result was jealousy (ver. 5).

          Now Sarah blames Abra­ham, a somewhat curious and very unfair attitude. "My wrong be upon thee." This may be interpreted, "My injury belongs to thee as well," or, "May the injury to me return to thee!" It is a little surprising that Sarah's quick womanly perception did not forewarn her of these results of pride and jealousy.

          3. Then followed misery (ver. 6).

          This came upon Abraham with real force. He was, of course, powerless in the matter. As Hagar was her mistress's absolute property. He could not interfere, and was compelled to accept the inevitable, and say that Sarah must do "as it pleased" her.

          4. And not least was the injustice (ver. 6). This came upon Hagar with whom Sarah "dealt hardly." Hagar found herself once more a slave, and this time with personal maltreatment such as she had never experienced before.

          It is easy for us to see as we read the story how inevitable these results were. Would that we ourselves realized beforehand all such inevitableness!

B. The results for the Jews of today.

          Have you ever wondered why there is so much fighting in the Holy land with the Jews? Have you ever wondered why the Jews are hated by the Muslims? Basically put, the descendants of Ishmael (son of Hagar and Abraham) think and feel that they should have the Holy land seeing that Ishmael was the first born son of Abraham. We know from reading the bible that God rejected Ishmael as His physical seed on the earth and accepted the seed of Isaac. In Israel today there is one of the most scared holy places to Muslims in the world, it is called the dome of the rock! In side it, is thought to be the very rock that Abraham tried to offer up Issca on in Gen 22. If you asked any true Muslim they will tell you that the Jews have been rejected of God and don’t deserve nothing, and that we Christians are a cult, and that they are the true children of Abraham and of Allah.   

          Do you understand all the grief that the Jews have suffered was because of Abraham and Hagar? We think terrorism is bad to us; they have lived with terrorism way longer than we have. Everything they do is criticized by the rest of the world. One day the world will try to rid themselves of the Jews all together.

          III. The Special Interposition (vers. 7-12).

          What a picture of real life is found in this chapter! Man is seen blundering, sinning, and suffering, and then God intervenes with His overruling provi­dence, wisdom, and grace.

          We see the blessed truth of Divine interest in human troubles (ver. 7). "The angel found her." God had not overlooked what had taken place, and now He interposes in order to bring about the best possible results after the error and sin of His children. How often God has had to do this for His children since that day!

          We observe, too, the Divine call for perfect submission (vers. 8, 9). The questions "whence" and "whither" recall Hagar to her position, and the slave woman tells the simple truth about her flight. The Divine command is that she should return and submit herself. It will be noticed that the marriage is not for an instant acknowledged by heaven. Sarah is still Hagar's mistress. This call for submission was the first step towards blessing in Hagar's life. The same is true today. If we have made mistakes which have led us into sin, the primary condition of restoration is complete submission to the will of God, whatever that may involve.

Closing:

          Why do we stop being the wire and start to be the power? Because we are human just like Abraham and Sarah was. They grew impatient just as we do at times. We think that God has forgotten all about us and our lives and we despair and we want to make things happen!

          Not everything legal at this time is an approved method for God’s will to work through. Having a surrogate mother at that time was just a part of life then, nothing illegal about it. Yet, God chose not to use that way to bring in Issca.

          “For whatsoever is not of faith is sin” (Rom. 14:23). Be sure that your plans and procedures can pass the test of faith. People may agree with you, and the law may defend you; but if God cannot bless you, don’t do it! Let God accomplish His will in His way and in His time.

“But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound” (Rom. 5:20). This does not mean that God winks at sin or that abundant sinning is the key to abundant grace (6:1–7). Rather, it means that God’s grace is greater than man’s sin and can accomplish God’s best even when men do their worst.

          God has promises that he wants fulfilled in your life; yet he wants to bring them to pass! He wants the glory and the credit, he wants to be the power in your life. He wants us to be the wire, just there in a useable state!