Discarded Mistakes

Change Abounds

This is a story of discard. On this day of Father’s Day, let us take a closer look at what happens. Sarah was desperate to give her husband something that she was unable to do. It is amazing how far we will go to make something happen. In this early history of our people it was very important that there be a son to pass on the inheritance, and to carry on the name. Sarah desperately wants to fulfil this obligation so she plans to fill this journey through her slave. The story today begins as their son Isaac is growing. The child is weaned. This is a very important moment in a father’s life; watching his son growing up. Notice they had a feast.

Genesis 21:9–10 (NRSV)

9 But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, playing with her son Isaac. 10 So she said to Abraham, “Cast out this slave woman with her son; for the son of this slave woman shall not inherit along with my son Isaac.” Now I want you to consider that the very purpose of bring her slave girl together with her husband was to give him an heir. But now with her own son, she rejects the gift that was previously given. Now the story about their sons and their playing is said to go deeper than just playing. As Sarah watches the two boys play, she notices Ishmael mocking her son Isaac. In this moment Sarah realizes that she cannot stand for this son Ishmael to torment her true son. The bond and relationship built between a mother and her child is amazing and yet how quickly Sarah turns from the gift of an heir. But Abraham, Genesis 21:11–12 (NRSV)

11 The matter was very distressing to Abraham on account of his son. 12 But God said to Abraham, “Do not be distressed because of the boy and because of your slave woman; whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for it is through Isaac that offspring shall be named for you. Perhaps to Sarah, the slave boy is a reminder of a mistake made by a desperate woman.

What God tells Abraham is really that He can love all people even those who were brought into this world with false pretenses. This thing that happened between Sarah, Abraham, and the slave girl was humanity trying to do for God, or instead of God, as though God needed her help. When she realizes that God was able she immediately regrets her decision. The boy becomes a constant reminder of a wrong that she did. Genesis 21:13 (NRSV)

13 As for the son of the slave woman, I will make a nation of him also, because he is your offspring.” God does what God does. He takes our mistakes and makes them great, or as you have heard, God takes a bad and makes it a good. Genesis 21:14 (NRSV)

14 So Abraham rose early in the morning, and took bread and a skin of water, and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, along with the child, and sent her away. And she departed, and wandered about in the wilderness of Beer-sheba. In the next few verses we hear how Hagar traveled until her supplies ran out and then sat down opposite of her boy and waited to die. Some important things to note here are sustainability. Hagar did not realize the promise of God until she had used up all that had been given to her. Why?

God needs us to know that it is He who supplies our needs. Perhaps if Abraham’s provisions had never ran out Hagar might never have needed God’s provisions. How should we apply this message today to our daily lives? 1. Have you been seriously relying on the provisions of God? Or are you self-sufficient? I want to challenge you to find a case throughout the Bible where God called upon the self-sufficient. 2. What was the well she drank from? Genesis 21:19 (NRSV)

19 Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. She went, and filled the skin with water, and gave the boy a drink. Genesis 21:20–21 (NRSV)

20 God was with the boy, and he grew up; he lived in the wilderness, and became an expert with the bow. 21 He lived in the wilderness of Paran; and his mother got a wife for him from the land of Egypt. 3. What is important