ReadingThru

Today’s Reading: Genesis 16-18

Much happens during these 3 chapters.

Eleven years pass since God’s first promise of parenthood and still Abram and Sarai have no child, no son, no heir. Sarai’s barren womb is now 75 years old (and ticking) and eleven years of frustration and discouragement take their toll on her. So, Sarai convinces Abram that since eleven years have gone by without a visible answer to the promise, there must be another way (Gen 16:2). Abram agrees to Sarai’s ill-conceived (pun fully intended) plan to conceive a child through her handmaid, Hagar. God never even hinted that the promised child would come through anyone other than Sarai. Rather than trusting that God will come through on His promises, in the face of eleven years of apparent silence from God, they try and make His promise happen using human wisdom and schemes. Thus, Ishmael, a child created by the strong arm of the flesh is birthed, rather than a child of the promise. That which is birthed of flesh will always be flesh and that which is born of the Spirit will always be spirit (John 3:6). Unfortunately, the consequences of this trusting in themselves and lacking faith in God by Sarai and Abram can still be felt today (Gen 16:12). One need only be a casual reader of international news to become familiar with the massive amount of conflicts between Jews/Christians and the followers of Islam, throughout the world. The Middle East is rife with babies strapped with bombs, children toting automatic weapons, anti-Semitic indoctrination, hatred, and hostility. There continues to be a massive murderous campaign against Christians (to the tune of over 3,000 deaths per week) being headed up primarily by the sons of Ishmael (Muslims). Just as Adam and Eve’s rebellion released sin and the devil into this world for all future generations to deal with, Abram and Sarai’s lack of faith affects us all negatively through the descendants of Ishmael. This should sober me and you to realize the consequences of sin are far-reaching and sometimes not readily evident to the naked eye of the one sinning. God doesn’t need our “help” to fulfill His promises. All He asks is that we trust Him.

I love the fact that God looks at the heart of man rather than the outward appearance. No one will ever mistake me for Hollywood material. Man looks at the outward and sees what only the naked eye can see, but God knows all, sees all, and foresees all. While man’s natural inclination is to look at the past or the present condition of another man and judge him by what he sees, God digs a far bit deeper and sees what’s in the heart of a man. He loves to bring glory to His name by choosing the foolish to confound the wise, or choosing the weak to shame the strong (1 Cor 1:27-28). Ever been picked last for kickball, baseball, basketball or the math team? Ever felt like a no-good, slacker, sinner of a man/woman? Ever been rejected by those you long to be accepted by most? Sounds like you’re prime material in the hands of an Almighty God! Amazingly, God changes the name of Abram (meaning “the exalted father”) to Abraham (father of a multitude) before Abram and Sarai see their first child come out of her womb. God sees the far-distant, eternal truth about Abram and calls him a name that describes him far more accurately in the light of eternity, than Abram can see in himself, in his limited human perspective. God is always perfect, always the wisest, always seeing what I cannot, and so it makes perfect sense for me to agree with Him, when He graciously describes me in quite favorable terms, even when they don’t seem to jive with what my naked eye and imperfect, human, finite wisdom perceives or feels.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 17th, 2008 at 12:01 am and is filed under Genesis. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.