Genesis 16
Book of Genesis • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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We have been studying Genesis and recently following Abram and his wife Sarai as God called them from a pagan nation and life to follow Him. As we follow Abram’s story we have seen times of strength and times of weakness. We have seen his faith and we have seen his faith fail. Today in Gen 16 we are going to continue to see the weakness of mankind, and the grace of God! We have already seen Abram’s pagan culture influence his understanding of God and we have watched God correct that. Today is another situation where Abram and Sarai’s pagan culture is going to flare up to a large sin and we will see God work His plan in spite of that sin.
1 Now Sarai Abram’s wife bare him no children: and she had an handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar. 2 And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, the Lord hath restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai.
Let’s take a moment and look into Sarai’s perspective. As we find in the next verse, it had been 10 years since God’s promise to make him a great nation. and after 10 years this promise still has not happened. Before we get too hard on Sarai, let’s put this in perspective. They did not have the scriptures to study who God is. Her entire past was devoted to pagan god’s. None of the pagan god’s could make a promise, let a lone keep it. Now this new, little known God makes a promise and so far, has not kept it. What might you be thinking? Might your weak faith begin to question what your heard and what the solution might be?
You see, God is at work in all of our lives and He has made certain promises to us. sometimes, what we expect to see, or the help we want, does not come when or how we think it should. Usually this causes us to start making our own plans. Many times this causes us to stop looking to God and take over. Most of the time, this leads to mistakes, sins or even disaster.
Look at verse 2, Sarai plainly points to God as the cause that the promise has not been fulfilled and she is right. God, up to this point, has caused her to not have a child. the reason… It was not God’s time. Sarai’s patience had worn out, now she decided to make her own plan. Going back to pagan ideas of using a servant to have a child for a baron wife. This practice was common amongst the people Abram came from although they had yet to do it after most likely 40+ years of being married. That being said, Abram heard the idea and went with it.
3 And Sarai Abram’s wife took Hagar her maid the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife. 4 And he went in unto Hagar, and she conceived: and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes.
They follow through with this plan and instantly the negative effects take place. Sarai is jealous of Hagar and begins to despise Hagar. Sarai was now filled with a dangerous bitterness and anger towards her servant. This Anger as we will read begins to blind Sarai as she allows this emotion to take control of her mind and actions. You see, the cause of her own sin had filled her heart with rage and blinded her to the truth.
5 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.
Look at Sarai’s response in comparison to reality.
Sarai says “my wrong be upon thee” does Abram have some part of sin in this, Yes, Does Sarai get to place all the blame on him and take no responsibility? No!
Sarai says “I was despised in her eyes” but what did God’s narrative say in verse 4? She despised her mistress. So she is not even admitting to the wrong heart she had after the sin was committed. Sarai is pushing all the blame from her actions on to all the people around her.
This is a common reality among all of us. Things don’t happen the way we expect, instead of waiting we jump and get ourselves into trouble. The trouble could be getting into debt, lying, stealing, or avoiding things that should be done. Then when the effects of our hast catch up to us, we blame all the people around us instead of owning the mistake and learning from it.
6 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.
Abram tells Sarai to take her maid back and do whatever she wants. Through this whole ordeal, Hagar is abused and used for the purposes of Sarai and Abram. Hagar was not given a choice in any of these things. You could almost ask why didn’t God fight for Hagar in all this? Why did God not just stop them from doing this? God is obviously trying to teach them to be patient and trust Him.
Sarai deals harshly with Hagar so Hagar runs away. Now let’s look to see how God shows up!
7 And the angel of the Lord found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur. 8 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. 9 And the angel of the Lord said unto her, Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hands. 10 And the angel of the Lord said unto her, I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude. 11 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. 12 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. 13 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? 14 Wherefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi; behold, it is between Kadesh and Bered. 15 And Hagar bare Abram a son: and Abram called his son’s name, which Hagar bare, Ishmael. 16 And Abram was fourscore and six years old, when Hagar bare Ishmael to Abram.
Notice, when God showed up the first place he went was not to Sarai or Abram, He went first to the one who was abused.
1. God first of all instructs her to obey her authority. God is not saying the abuse she endured was right, but He is telling her to go back and submit to that authority as she trusts Him. Doing what is right, is always God’s desire for you even if the people around you are not doing right. Other’s sins do not give you the right to sin.
2. The angel tells her that God will multiply her descendents just as He will Abrams. God extends blessing to Hagar in the midst of her oppression.
3. The Angel gives a prophecy that the descendants that come from her son will be wild and war with all other people.
This may sound like God is bringing judgement on Hagar but the words of God say that is not so, the end of vers 11 says God is multiplying her descendants because God has heard her affliction. This is a comfort and a blessing from God. the following verse about the descendants being wild and at war are not a judgement but simply a prophecy. nowhere does God say this is because of some sin.
God clearly allowed the sin and oppression of Hagar to take place and he uses this sin to teach Abram, Sarai, Hagar and the rest of the world who He is.
1. God is always watching. He was not unaware of what they were planning or what they did.
2. God is not unloving. God’s love for us is not changed because he allows us to sin, in fact God’s love is seen more because He helps us pick up the pieces after we sin. Sarai tried to blame God, Abram and Hagar for her part in the Sin, and yet, God is there to help her pick up the pieces after the sin is complete.
3. God expects us to do right no matter what the circumstances are. He asked Hagar to go back to a less than enjoyable situation, because it was the right thing to do.
People today are so focused on what they think “they deserve” that the fight leads them to abandon what is right in their own life. What we see in this passage is that we don’t deserve anything good! We deserve hell because we are all sinners. Hagar, up to this point, is not seen committing any voluntary sin. and yet God instructs her to return to this situation and just trust God. Abram and Sarai would have been much better off if they did that from the start. If they would have trusted God’s plan and timing and just waiting for Him, so much hardship, and even countless wars would have never happened if they would have just waited and trusted God.
Many of our problems would have never happened if we would just wait and trust God. If we stop thinking about “what we deserve” and remember God’s grace that we did not deserve.
Your current situations may not be from sin, maybe God just has you in a holding pattern while you learn to lean and trust Him. If this is you, please be patient, don’t react, wait for God. Look for God in your weakness and you will find Him! His strength will show up and carry you if we just lean into Him and trust!
Maybe your situation is because you did sin, that’s ok. Turn to God, trust Him to help you pick up those pieces! God is not waiting around the corner to crush you for your sin! God is waiting right next to you, desiring to help you put your life back together, but He will not force Himself on you, He is waiting for you to come back to Him!
No matter what your situation, God is watching. God is in control and God will help you, the way He knows is best!!!
