No microscope

How many of you actually enjoyed studying science in school? Science was definitely not one of my favorite subjects. I did fine in my classes, but I’ll tell you this much: I don’t remember a thing that I studied in those classes. Recently, my daughter was showing me some of her physics problems from her midterms, and I thought, “I think AI has a better shot of explaining this to her than I do.”

Despite the fact that I was never a science whiz, I do have a vague memory of having some kind of science kit in our house when I was a kid. I don’t remember much about it. I certainly didn't use it much. But it did include a microscope. Now microscopes are actually kind of cool because you can see things through them that you can’t see with the naked eye.

But while looking through a microscope can be fun, it’s not so much fun being the subject of a microscope. Usually, it’s famous people who are put under the microscope. The media is always looking for any little dirt they can get on people so they can expose it. But I think those of us who have undergone performance reviews at work also know what it’s like to be under the microscope.

Well, do you ever feel like you’re under God’s microscope? Pastor Fumi and John have talked the last couple of weeks about how many Christians have this feeling that everything they do has to be done in a “ちゃんと” way. That God expects no less than perfection from us. We can almost hear God saying to us: ”Do or do not. There is no try.”

But the truth is, that when God looks at us who have put our faith in him, he’s not putting us under a microscope. He’s not scrutinizing our every action. Rather, he looks at us through eyes of grace. And that’s what we’ll see in today’s passage. Because if there was someone who needed a lot of grace, it was Abraham. Let’s take a look at Genesis 16.

As we come into this chapter, it has now been 10 years since Abraham (who was still called Abram at this time), arrived in Canaan. And God had promised that he would make Abram into a great nation. But there was a problem, Abram still had no kids. And now he’s 85 years old and Sarai is 75. Now life spans were longer in those days, but in our terms, they were still both well past middle age.

We saw in the last chapter, Abram talking to God about this. He was complaining that because he had no son, his servant would end up being his heir. But God reassured him, “I will keep my promise to you.” And he made a covenant with Abram in which he essentially said, “May I be torn in two if I ever break my covenant with you.”

Now how much time had passed between chapters 15 and 16, we don’t know. But however long it was, it now seems that Sarai was fed up with waiting. Look at verse 1.

Abram’s wife, Sarai, had not borne any children for him, but she owned an Egyptian slave named Hagar. Sarai said to Abram, “Since the Lord has prevented me from bearing children, go to my slave; perhaps through her I can build a family.” And Abram agreed to what Sarai said. (Genesis 16:1-2)

I really wonder what was going through Sarai’s mind at this point. Was there any sense of bitterness on her part? A sense that the Lord had betrayed her? How did she see God in that moment? “God promised to give us a child. Why hasn’t he delivered?”

I think all of us have struggled with those kinds of feelings. We pray and pray for something that’s important to us, and yet nothing happens. Anybody relate? I do. What should have been Abram’s and Sarai’s first response to their struggles? Remember what we talked about a few weeks ago.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding; in all your ways know him, and he will make your paths straight. (Proverbs 3:5-6)

Abram’s and Sarai’s first response should have been to seek God and pour out their hearts to him. But instead of doing that, Sarai said, “Well, it seems God has prevented me from having kids. So Abram, just sleep with my slave and maybe through her I can build our family.”

Now in our day and culture, that’s an absolutely shocking suggestion. But in those days and in that culture, it was considered perfectly acceptable. A woman could give her slave to her husband as a secondary “wife” and if they had a child, it could be recognized as the first wife’s child. A pretty crazy cultural custom by our way of thinking, but that’s how it was in those days.

That said, it didn’t make it right in God’s eyes. And we quickly see that in the consequences of their decision. Look at verse 3.

So Abram’s wife, Sarai, took Hagar, her Egyptian slave, and gave her to her husband, Abram, as a wife for him. This happened after Abram had lived in the land of Canaan ten years. He slept with Hagar, and she became pregnant. When she saw that she was pregnant, her mistress became contemptible to her. Then Sarai said to Abram, “You are responsible for my suffering! I put my slave in your arms, and when she saw that she was pregnant, I became contemptible to her. May the Lord judge between me and you.” (3-5)

What’s happening here? As soon as Hagar got pregnant, she started looking down on Sarai. Why? It is possible that Hagar was hoping that she would be elevated to the status of primary wife now that she had given Abram a son. Like I said earlier, the usual custom was for Hagar’s baby to be recognized as Sarai’s. But another custom allowed for Hagar actually becoming Abram’s favored wife if that’s what he wanted. So it’s possible that Hagar was hoping to keep her child and become Abram’s primary wife. Sarai understandably got upset about that. But then she starts looking at Abram and saying, “This is all your fault.”

Now let’s be clear. Abram is not completely innocent in all this. Frankly, I don’t know what he was thinking when he went along with Sarai’s plan. God had solemnly sworn that he would give Abram heirs and yet he still went with Sarai’s plan. The only thing I can think of is that God didn’t specifically swear that he would give Abram a son through Sarai. But if Abram was really uncertain about what God’s promise meant, he again should have gone to God and asked. But he didn’t, and now he’s in this mess.

So with his wife screaming at him, he essentially washes his hands of the situation and in verse 6 tells her, “Do what you like with Hagar.” This despite the fact that Hagar’s now carrying his child. Sarai then abuses Hagar to the point where she runs away. In short, we have three very messed up people. If I had been God, I might have washed my hands of all of them. “Forget you guys. I’m going to work with some better people.” But amazingly, God doesn’t. And perhaps even more amazingly, he starts not with Abram or even Sarai. He starts with Hagar. Verse 7.

The angel of the Lord found her by a spring in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur. He said, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?”

She replied, “I’m running away from my mistress Sarai.”

The angel of the Lord said to her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her authority.”

The angel of the Lord said to her, “I will greatly multiply your offspring, and they will be too many to count…You have conceived and will have a son. You will name him Ishmael, for the Lord has heard your cry of affliction. This man will be like a wild donkey. His hand will be against everyone, and everyone’s hand will be against him; he will settle near all his relatives.” (Genesis 16:7-12)

It says here that the angel of the Lord appeared to Hagar. This is the first time we ever see this “angel of the Lord” in the Bible. The word “angel” simply means “messenger.” And so some Bible scholars think that this actually may have been Jesus appearing to Hagar, because he speaks as if he is God himself. I don’t know if it was Jesus or not, but there are some interesting things to note about what he said to her.

First, he calls her, “Hagar, slave of Sarai,” not “Hagar, wife of Abram.” In those simple words, he made clear to Hagar: “Your culture may see you as Abram’s wife. But Sarai is the one I recognize as the sole legitimate wife of Abram.”

But right after that, he asks, “Where have you come from and where are you going?” God knew the answers to those questions. But he probably asked them to get her to pour out her heart to him.

Sometimes people wonder, “What’s the point of prayer? God already knows my hurt. He already knows my needs. Why do I need to say it?” The answer is that God wants to engage with you. He wants you to open your heart to him. Now that said, he sometimes has hard words for us. He did for Hagar.

He told her, “Submit to Sarai. Give up your plans to usurp her position and submit to her.” Still, he reassured her. “I care about you, Hagar. I have heard your cries of affliction. Your son won’t have an easy life. He will have conflict with those around him. But to some degree, he’ll be free, just as a wild donkey in the desert wanders free. And through him you will have many descendants, too many to count.”

What was Hagar’s response?

So she named the Lord who spoke to her: “You are El-roi,” for she said, “In this place, have I actually seen the one who sees me?” (13)

If you have a paper or digital Bible, your footnotes will probably tell you that the words “El-Roi” mean “the God who sees me.” What was probably amazing to Hagar was not just that God saw her, but how he saw her. Not simply as a slave. And not just as someone who totally messed up. But as someone he cared deeply about. She went back, and I’m pretty sure she told Abram and Sarai everything God had told her. And perhaps the message that she gave them was the one they needed to hear. “God sees” and “God hears.” He sees us in our struggles and our pain. But not only does he see and hear, he cares. And he will keep his promises to us.

Abram and Sarai should have known that. When they were struggling because Sarai couldn’t have a child, they should have cried out to God. Instead, they did things that caused themselves a lot of hurt and regret. That said, it’s remarkable to me how God saw Abram and Sarai. How did he see them? We find the answer in Romans 4. Let’s take a look.

There’s a lot in this chapter that would probably take a whole other message in order to properly explain it all. But the main thing to notice today is that according to the apostle Paul, God saw Abraham as righteous.

And you might say, “Wait a minute. God saw Abraham as righteous? We just saw in today’s passage that he was far from righteous. How could God call him righteous?”

I think it’s because a right relationship with God starts with one simple decision: “God, I choose to trust you.” Pastor Fumi talked about that last week. That one decision is the start of our faith journey. What are we choosing to believe? “God is good. God loves me. And he knows and desires my best.” Now when we first start out, we probably don’t fully understand what those words mean. Abraham didn’t. I know I didn’t. But as we choose to trust him, first in the little decisions, and then in the bigger ones, we actually start to experience God’s goodness, love, and wisdom in our lives. And as we experience these things, we find ourselves trusting him in more and more areas of our lives. Now, we’re no longer just saying, “God, I trust you.” We’re living it. The result? Our lives become more and more pleasing to him.

That’s exactly the journey we see Abraham on. He’s learning to align his life with that one first decision to trust God. He’s stumbling on as he goes, but he keeps coming back to that one decision: “God, I trust you.” That’s why God can say, “You are righteous in my sight.” He sees the decision Abraham has made to trust him. And he knows where a life like that ends: a righteous life pleasing to God.

But there’s another reason that God can call Abraham righteous. He’s not “microscoping” Abraham’s journey. In other words, as he looks at this journey Abraham is on, he’s taking a 10,000-foot view of it. He sees where Abraham has come from. He sees where Abraham’s headed. And he’s not focusing so much on all the stumbles in between.

We see this in Romans 4. Paul starts with Genesis 15 where Abraham puts his trust in God and God declares him righteous. Abraham is somewhere between 75-85 years old at that point. Paul then jumps ahead a couple of chapters to Genesis 17. And look at what God says about Abraham’s faith at age 99. Verse 18.

[Abraham] believed, hoping against hope, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what had been spoken: So will your descendants be. He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body to be already dead (since he was about a hundred years old) and also the deadness of Sarah’s womb. He did not waver in unbelief at God’s promise but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, because he was fully convinced that what God had promised, he was also able to do. Therefore, it was credited to him for righteousness. (Romans 4:18-22)

Those are pretty strong words. At age 99, Abraham is still strongly believing that God will keep his promise. Paul tells us Abraham is unwavering in that belief. He is fully convinced that God will do what he promised. But what about chapter 16 where Abraham was wavering all over the place? It’s gone from the records. God’s not putting a microscope to Abraham’s life. He’s looking at the overall picture. And the overall picture was Abraham trusted him. He’s not counting Abraham’s lack of faith and sin in Genesis 16 against him. Because the overall pattern of his life was one of trust. You could sum up God’s attitude toward Abraham in a psalm Paul quoted. Look at Romans 4:7-8.

Blessed are those whose lawless acts are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the person the Lord will never charge with sin. (Romans 4:7-8)

That’s how God saw Abraham. And that’s how he sees us. How do we know, though, that Abraham is not simply a special case? After all, maybe God showed him special favor that he doesn’t show us. We can know because of what Paul tells us in verses 23-25.

Now it was credited to him was not written for Abraham alone, but also for us. It will be credited to us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification. (23-25)

You see, there’s one more reason God could call Abraham and us righteous. God doesn’t simply say, "Oh, your sin is no big deal. Your lack of faith is no big deal. I forgive you.” Rather, Jesus took the penalty for our sin and our faithlessness on the cross. He paid the price for our failings. And God’s raising Jesus from the dead was his proof to us that he accepted Jesus’ payment.

So what does this mean for all of us? I don’t know about you, but I tend to put my life under the microscope. I can’t tell you how many times I look at things I do, things I say, and go, “Man, how could you have been so stupid? Why did you do that?”

Or I look at myself, and say, “Why do I still struggle with this? I know better.” One thing I often struggle with is this constant need to feel approval from others. And tightly bound together with that is this need to compare myself with others. And I know it’s stupid. God loves me. God accepts me. I’m his child. So why waste my time seeking approval from others when God already approves of me? Why waste time comparing myself with others, when God has already accepted me? But there it is. I still struggle with these things. Are there areas in your life where you ask yourself, “Why do I still struggle with this?”

Others of you get discouraged because you feel you don’t measure up as a Christian. You can’t seem to do what “good Christians” do. I heard that some of you who are in Blaze decided to take up Pastor John’s 30-day challenge. That’s awesome! But I can almost guarantee some of you have already messed up. You skipped a day. Or two. Or three. And some of you may have already said, “Forget it. I can’t do it. I’m just not a good enough Christian.” Others of you never even attempted it because you were afraid you couldn’t do it “ちゃんと.” You thought that there was no way you could do it for 30 straight days.

But here’s the thing: God isn’t looking at you through a microscope. Yes, God sees your sins and flaws. God sees all the areas where you fail. But he’s not constantly looking through his microscope to pick at them. He looks at you through eyes of grace, just like he did with Abraham and Sarah.

More, just as he expunged Abraham’s and Sarah’s record of all their sins and failings, he expunges yours. “Blessed is the person whose sins are covered by the blood of Jesus. Blessed are those whom God will never ever charge with sin.” If you have put your faith in Jesus, you are that blessed person. So stop beating yourself up for all your sins and failings. Because God doesn’t.

Instead, do what Abraham did. Just keep taking steps forward with God. For some of you that step might be baptism. Don’t worry about whether you can “ちゃんと” live the Christian life or not. All you need to do is start with this base: “God, you’re good. God, I believe you love me. And I believe you know and desire my best. You proved that to me by sending your Son to die for me. So I will follow you.”

For others of you, your step might be taking up that 30-day challenge John gave us. If you don’t know what that is, then please watch his message from a couple weeks ago on Youtube. And give it a try.

For others of you, it may be confronting that sin in your life that you’ve kind of given up trying to deal with because you’ve failed so many times. The sin in which you’re saying, “That’s just the way I am,” and yet you know in your heart God is saying, “That’s gotta change. It’s hurting you and the people around you. So let’s work together on it.”

Whatever your next step is, though, always remember: no microscope. As God showed grace to Abraham and worked with him through all his sins and failings, he’ll do so with you. And he says to you, “In my eyes, you are righteous.” Because he sees not just where you are, but where you will be as you put your trust in him.