Impatiently Waiting!

Opening Illustration

Families are like OPINIONS .. we all have them

Trouble starts when we start sharing them .. revealing our opinions which can be GOOD .. BAD .. OR .. UGLY

When we dig down past the “NICE” VENEER .. families have their GOOD .. BAD .. UGLY

Truth is some families have very strong bonds of care and love .. despite the BAD and UGLY in our family stories .. others are a disaster .. dysfunctional

God has created us for COMMUNITY .. RELATIONSHIP .. something we are valuing more and more perhaps in the covid19 world .. and FAMILY is very much a part of life .. very much part of our story. .. remembering that we live in a very BROKEN world

So it’s no surprise when we read so much of the INSTRUCTION in the Bible about how to relate to each other .. read PROVERBS .. or how to relate as HUSBANDS and WIVES .. as PARENTS to our children .. as CHILDREN to our parents. Then of course .. there is our CHURCH FAMILY as well .. and so much of the Bible is about how we relate to each other .. displaying the fruit of the spirit that will BUILD strong COMMUNITY

We are called on to TRUST GOD .. believing our HEAVENLY FATHER knows best ..

Today we continue to follow Abram .. the Father of faith for the Jews and the Arabs .. and we get to see something of his dysfunctional family as they fail to trust God and His promise

Bad Decisions ..... Chapter 16

Sarai gets a bit sick of waiting .. patience wears thin .. time is ticking and her body clock is winding down .. 16:1 Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian maidservant named Hagar; 2 so she said to Abram, “The LORD has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my maidservant; perhaps I can build a family through her.”

Sarai is Mrs Fixit .. in the ANE … the family was preserved by effectively taking a second wife (16:3) .. Abram thinks this is a great idea .. but .. Just .. hang on .. what did God say?

Yep .. God promised Abram a son from his OWN BODY ..your wife Sarah will bear you a son.. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.

You get a bit of a flash back to Adam and Eve .. Eve has this great idea ... “Take this fruit sweetie pie” … doesn’t think God can be trusted and takes issues into her own hands .. that was disastrous!

And remember Adam? .. yes dear!”

Did Abram miss that bit of the Bible? Does someone have to draw him a picture? What should Abram do?? Exactly what Adam should have done …

Sorry darling but you’re way out of line .. remember ..GOD HAS SAID .. and we will believe it ! We won’t take matters into our own hands .. I know it’s tough .. I want a baby as much as you do .. but lets KEEP BELIEVING THE PROMISE OF GOD

Well ..sadly.. Abram listens to Sarai

This a BAD IDEA .. Bad decision!

Abram goes in to Hagar .. she conceives .. and that’s enough to get the friction going between the two girls .. Hagar sees herself has having more importance and significance now that she is with child .. Sarai sees the contempt and mistreats Hagar and sends her away ...and blames Abram .v.5. It’s your fault!!

Hmm who’s idea was this?

Hagar .. is forced to run away into the desert where God’s messenger finds her and there’s a GENDER REVEAL party .. child will be called, Ishmael “God hears”... he will be a bit of a wild donkey and yet .. a gracious promise v.10 .. “I will so increase your descendants that they will be too numerous to count.”

Hagar is told to go back to her mistress .. and 9 months later Ishmael is born .. father of the Arabs .. wasn’t that a great idea?!

And .. as these next chapters unfold … you see all of Abram’s family with all it’s warts and messiness

Hagar is spiteful and tries to wreck her mistress’ life

Sarai is bitchy

Selfish Lot ends up in a whole lot of trouble .. he chooses the most immoral city on the planet and brings up his family there ... the very place that God will judge for its wickedness ...

Abram himself is looking a bit scuffy here too ... repeating the sins of Adam .. hardly the leader .. hardly the one who’s trustingand believing God’s PROMISES .. just standing aside as the household falls apart

He then argues with God with the destruction of Sodom .. whittles it down to 10 righteous people needed to save the city

And when you get to ch.20 here’s Abraham on the move again and bumps into Abimelech king of Gerar .. a bit of da juvu ..same lies as when he was in Egypt Ch.12 ... tells Sarah to say she is his sister to save his skin again! Sarah must have been one STUNNING octagenarian …

And yet .. there are ..

Good Outcomes .... Ch.17-18:15 & 21:1-7

Ch 17 .. God does 2 things

Abram “exalted father” becomes Abraham “father of many”

And … Sarai becomes Sarah “princess” mother of kings

God introduces the sign of the covenant as circumcision – 8th day every male to be circumcised .. or .. they will be “cut off from His people” v.14

Same deal .. REAL ESTATE NB v.8 The whole land of Canaan, where you are now an alien, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God.”

And RELATIVES v.6 I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you.

AND .. this is a laugh … the waiting will stop … Abraham 100 yrs old .. Sarah 90 yrs old .. they will have a child .. a son .. no guess work .. his name is to be Isaac

Sarah has a quick look at her anatomy .. thinks about the wrinkles and the osteo

And has a giggle .. how does that nappy thing go again? .. that’s pretty hard to believe .. could I have that pleasure ... or is this a cruel joke

Surprisingly … Sarah didn’t know that divine hearing is pretty good .. “Why did Sarah laugh?”

Oops! .. see the point v.14 Is anything too hard for the LORD? I will return to you at the appointed time next year and Sarah will have a son.”

There’s a STRONG PATTERN in the Bible .. barren women having babies !!

Yep .. this baby is born because of God’s power .. and that will be blatantly obvious .. this is God’s special promise .. the start of God’s own people and everyone is going to know .. NOTHING IS TOO HARD FOR GOD .. mission POSSIBLE

Flick over to Ch.21:1ff Now the LORD was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did for Sarah what he had promised. 2Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him. 3Abraham gave the name Isaac to the son Sarah bore him.

Note the stresses ..God is … GRACIOUS

Abraham is off and running .. the “Father of Many” is out of the blocks … Abraham aged 100 yrs … he who’s descendants will be like the sand on the sea-shore .. the stars in the sky … and he has … 1 and a ½ sons

Application

This family of Abraham gets a lotta things wrong BUT .. they experience something in common .. Gods GRACE

Even when they are stupid ... weak .. deliberately nasty .. unfaithful .. same mistakes over and over .. laugh at God ... lie to God .. what does God do?? .. He shows them His GRACE ... He doesn’t wash His hands of them

This is a special family .. God chooses them for this SPECIAL RESCUE .. a SALVATION for the world .. but when you get to meet these characters you see that their lives as as messed up as ours .. God chooses them and tells us about them .. the GOOD .. the BAD ... and the UGLY

Why is this family in the Bible? Well for one thing .. it shows that when we take matters into our own hands it doesn’t work .. disaster and complication on top of another .. go against God’s way and we end up in strife ... own agenda leads to disaster

The best of us .. Abraham included .. are no more than forgiven sinners .. it’s not that they were good and therefore God had no other choice but to love them .. NO .. He loved them because He loved them .. they are His children .. have we got that ?

And ... God shows that HE IS THE ONLY HOPE .. His GRACE ALONE will save the day .. and grace is UNDESERVED

Did Sarah deserve a child after all she put Hagar and Abraham through?

Lot deserve to be rescued from Sodom?

Abraham deserve to be the Father of the nations? of course not

BUT .. they will learn .. or are learning .. that the ONLY hope was God and HIS solutions .. and so they trusted God .. imperfectly .. weakly .. sporadically .. they trusted a gracious rescuing God .... not a model family except for one thing .. despite the flaws ... and bloopers … ABRAHAM TRUSTED GOD .. he sang some off notes .. but you recognised the tune .. In Ch.22 we’ll see the depth of this faith

Are you prepared to wait for .. and accept God’s answers to your cries for a spouse .. a Christian spouse .. or for children ..

If only we could naturally see that God’s movement towards us is GRACE .. the gracious provision of His Son .. a women who is impregnated by the Holy Sprit … God’s everlasting covenant with Abe finds ULTIMATE FULFILMENT .. no guess work .. His name is Jesus for He will save His people from their sins

Our God is LONG SUFFERING but not SOFT

Friends we need to see that God’s heart is moved by grace … He doesn’t treat us as our sins deserve (Ps.103) .. He is patient … He forgives … He picks you up … if you are in Christ He will keep at that task of making you more like Him … it will take some pruning .. but know that He loves His children … He calls us heirs … He calls you the apple of His eye

And as God has dealt with us us lets be those sort of people with others

Conclusion

Well a great answer to the sceptics here … anything too hard for God? No

What He’s promised He’ll do … keep looking for those promises in the Bible and cling to them Will not the Judge of all the earth do right ….. i.e. be GRACIOUS?”

Will God fail you in any way ? No .. Keep trusting .. even in these tough times remember that Jesus has gone to prepare a place for us .. he’ll be back .. PROMISE!