Genesis 22:3-5

As I’ve been meditating on our story this week, foremost on my mind has been my sister, Jodi, and the former parent of my classroom, Beth, and the devastating loss they have just suffered in the deaths of their children. When Jodi received the news of Justin’s death, she was still trying to fathom the news of her cancer. When Beth learned of Briana’s death, it was coupled with the news that her son Ian was in critical condition. This is the kind of news that Job received when his servants ran in to tell him first that his oxen and donkeys were all carried off in an attack and the servants tending them were all killed but the one messenger. While the messenger was still speaking, another ran in with the dreadful news that fire came from the sky and burned up all of the sheep and those tending the sheep, except the one. The third wave came before Job could even catch his breath: a raiding party had taken away all of the camels and killed the servants, except this messenger. Finally, a messenger brought the tragic news that a “mighty wind” had destroyed the home where all of his children were having a party, and all of his children were dead!

We are dumbstruck by such calamity! The tornadoes that swept through the South this week, killing about 300 and devastating the region, particularly Tuscaloosa, and the tsunami that killed thousands and left millions homeless in Japan are disasters that defy comprehension. They are counter-balanced by the sweet news of new babies: Justin’s wife, Stephanie learning she is carrying her baby girl, my Emmy receiving our precious Penelope, and my dear friend, Lisa, just receiving her newly adopted Luke. Rays of sunshine and hope in the midst of horror. Even this morning, we all rejoice in images of the royal wedding of Prince William and his Kate, in between shots of the utter loss in Tuscaloosa!
What is truly amazing about the stories of Job and Abraham is their responses:

At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship and said:
   “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, 
   and naked I will depart.
The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; 
   may the name of the LORD be praised.”
 In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing. (Job 1:20-22)

Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.” (Gen 22:3-5)

Job worshiped God, and in today’s passage in Genesis 22, Abraham is on his way to worship. This is truly what the Bible calls the “sacrifice” of praise! Praise that costs! The differences between the two stories struck me. Job received all of this news in one fell swoop. It was instant disaster. Abraham, however, had to travel THREE days to Mt. Moriah, knowing what he was about to do. Which is worse? I don’t know. The agony of the wait must be excruciating. The parent who has watched their child suffer and slowly die of cancer suffers the same loss as the parent whose child is taken in an instant, but being stuck in that place between hope and resignation for an extended period has to be torture!

How are people able to get through this with their faith intact? How did Abraham make that journey up the mountain? Hebrews 11:17-19 tells us:

By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.


Abraham KNEW his God. He knew God’s character and was fully persuaded that God was able to raise from the dead, even though that had never happened in human history at this point. He remembered God’s promises. God had promised that Isaac would be the one from whom the promised generations would come. He did not know HOW or WHY, but he knew WHO!

We look at all going on around us - the losses, the illnesses, the bankcruptcies , and on and on, and we can become desolate in our spirits. Sin SUCKS big time!!! But we are people of HOPE and we KNOW whom we have believed in and are persuaded that He is able to keep that which we’ve committed unto Him! We know the end of the story.

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. (2 Cor 4:16-18)

Keep your head lifted and your eyes on Christ! We, too, can worship in the midst of pain!
A personal note: today is a day of praising in our home! Don is retiring today after more than 37 years at Mission Hospital! Hallelujah!! I’m so thankful to God for His faithfulness and to Don for his faithfulness to provide for his family all of these years. It’s a good day!

 

Genesis 22:1-2

Have you ever noticed that in order to learn some lessons, we need a hands-on experience? Many things we can easily learn from a book or a lecture, but there are some harder lessons that are best learned hands-on or through role play. Yesterday my class was getting a hands-on science lesson in our science lab from Mr. Fogg, the science guy who visits our school. He was teaching them about weathering, erosion, and deposition. After drawing the process in cartoon fashion on the wipeboard and chanting with them, he took them outside and had them act it out. Wouldn’t you know it was the one day all year when I did NOT bring my camera with me to the lab! It was hysterical to watch them all get into a tightly-packed group as they acted out a large rock. When Mr. Fogg called out, “Weathering,” they had to separate and twirl apart, singing in a high-pitched voice, “Erosion.” Then, when he called out “Deposition,” they had to drop wherever they were. They repeated the scene several times, with different outcomes on the deposition. I thought, as I watched them, “They will never forget this!” Which is a good thing, because state testing starts in a week, and science is covered in 5th grade! :)

So, I was reminded as I was reviewing my notes from Beth Moore on this portion of scripture, that this story of Abraham’s test is an “acting out” of the gospel, which Abraham would NEVER forget! In this scene, Abraham plays the role of God the Father, and Isaac the role of Jesus, God’s only Son. Galatians 3:6-9, below, shows how this was the telling of the gospel in the Old Testament. It preceded the giving of the Law, and the concept that righteousness comes by faith in the substitutionary death of Christ, not by our own works of the Law. This has consistently been God’s plan of salvation from the Old to the New Testament. God wanted Abraham to get this and to pass this test!

So also Abraham “believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” Understand, then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham. Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.” So those who rely on faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.


Now, let’s go back and look at how God called Abraham to this test. Yesterday I said we don’t want to over-spiritualize this passage, as if this was an easy thing for this spiritual giant. This was NOT a slam-dunk for Abraham. Nothing in his entire life would compare with this test. But, as Beth Moore says in her study of this, “When God is up to something hard, He’s up to something HUGE.” The ripple effects from this will be HUGE - and it was NOT about Abraham - it was ALL about God. God is going to teach Abraham something here about Himself that Abraham needed to know experientially, and He drives the point home right away:

Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!”
“Here I am,” he replied.
Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.” (Gen. 22:1-2)

When God calls, Abraham shows no hesitation. “Whatever you want, God, I’m here to do it!” He’s ready to submit! Then God shows him how great the cost will be. Beth Moore points out that God starts with a wide-angle approach, then zeros in with intensity on the cost. “Take your son, your ONLY son, whom you LOVE - ISAAC!” Remember that Isaac is the son of promise, and therefore the chosen one. Abraham and Sarah, having waited so long for this promised son, treasured him as their most precious gift. God had given them this gift, and now he was asking Abraham to give it back! Like all of us, we are happy to give our children to God - in theory. We KNOW in our heads that they belong to HIM, but our hearts want to keep them and control all that happens to them. If God called them to move away or sent them on a mission, it would be painful to release them, and we would surely agonize over it. But here, God is calling Abraham to literally lay Isaac on the altar and sacrifice him.

God tells Abraham to “go to” Mt. Moriah. In Genesis 12:1 God had also told him to “go to” a land away from all he knew. In fact, Beth Moore points out that this verse in Genesis 12 follows that same zooming in effect: Abraham is told to leave his country, his people, and, even more difficult, his father’s household. Just as Abraham obeyed then (Gen 12:4 says “So Abram left as the LORD had told him”), he obeys immediately in this chapter: “Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey.” (Gen 22:3) I imagine he had not slept a wink the night before! Do you think he told Sarah??? I doubt it!

Tomorrow we’ll look at this journey to Mt. Moriah!

Have a great morning!
 

Genesis 22:1

Good morning, all! We are going to be parking in Genesis 22 for a while, because it is such an important chapter, with so much to teach! Many of us have heard this story for years - it brings back images of a Sunday School flannel board story. I can only imagine that for most children it’s a perplexing, even frightening story, because it’s perplexing for adults. Why does God ask Abraham to sacrifice Isaac? Why does he take him all the way to the point of raising the knife over his beloved son? What was going through Isaac’s mind as it all unfolded?

Let’s get started by just looking at the first verse:

Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!”
   
“Here I am,” he replied.

Now, I’m already wondering about why God would test Abraham? Was it to prove something to God?? Of course not! God knew beforehand exactly what Abraham would do, so why did He bother to “test” him? The tests that come our way are not to prove anything to God, but to US! God was proving Abraham’s faith to Abraham, himself, and to all who would learn of this story. Just like the testing of Job, this was a test with a purpose. God had a plan for Abraham, and an end result in mind. When Job, a man lauded as righteous by God, lost EVERYTHING and EVERYONE dear to him, he finally came to the place where he could say, “My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you.” (Job 42:5)

Our tests will prove to us not only what God can do, but what we will hold to. As Beth Moore says, “Some things need to be learned on a field trip, not in the classroom.” The hardest test a parent can face is the loss of a child. Watching my dear sister, Jodi, go through this has been so painful. None of us can imagine what it must be like. Years ago I was told something profound by a woman I knew, who had lost a toddler. Our Bible study group was trying to imagine such an ordeal, and she said to us, “God doesn’t give you grace to go through something in your imagination. He gives you the grace when you need it.” WOW! I’m seeing His grace poured out on my sister. Even though she is in tremendous pain, God is giving her just what she needs to get through each day, one minute at a time.

Beth Moore points out that when it comes to our submission to God, we generally will give Him most of what we love, but not what we love most. “God, you can have everything I own, but please don’t touch my children!” Right? “Bless them. God, don’t let them go through any suffering.” I get that prayer - and I think it is RIGHT that we should pray for blessing on them. But the greatest blessing will ALWAYS be God’s plan - which may, and probably will include trials and tribulations. There’s that great promise of Jesus in John 16:33: In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.

What we don’t want to do here, with this passage is spiritualize away the reality of the trial. It was a REAL event, which would have created REAL anguish for Abraham. I’m anxious to see all that God has for us in this passage!
 

Genesis 21:22-34

This morning’s passage pictures an ordinary, seemingly random encounter, showing extraordinary things about both God and Abraham.

At that time Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his forces said to Abraham, “God is with you in everything you do. Now swear to me here before God that you will not deal falsely with me or my children or my descendants. Show to me and the country where you now reside as a foreigner the same kindness I have shown to you.” (Gen 21:22-23)

I find this story amazing! As you may recall from chapter 20, the previous encounter that these two men had included Abraham deceiving Abimelech about Sarah being his sister. The encounter in today’s passage takes place at least three years later (Sarah has given birth to Isaac, who has been weaned at this time), and shows us Abraham getting an opportunity for a “do-over!” Abimelech has apparently been watching this God-follower (probably with skepticism), and has seen that there is something unique about Abraham and his God. “God is with you in everything you do,” he acknowledges. Remember that, before leaving Abimelech the last time, Abraham prayed for Abimelech, “and God healed Abimelech, his wife and his slave girls, so they could have children again...” (Gen. 20:17) So Abimelech has been paying attention. How gracious of God to give Abraham another opportunity here to do the right thing with Abimelech - and not just to vindicate Abraham, but to glorify His own name for the benefit of Abimelech.

So Abimelech asks Abraham to show him “the same kindness I have shown you.” Beth Moore points out that the word used for kindness here is significant. Hesed is the Hebrew word which indicates a special “expression of love, favor, or kindness based on a covenant relationship.” It includes the quality of loyalty - the kind God demonstrates in His character, as mentioned in 2 Timothy 2:12, where Paul says, “if we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot disown himself.” Abimelech is asking Abraham to be true to his God’s character!

Abraham jumps at this chance at a “do-over” with Abimelech and swears his intention to be true to his word with him. Then, to be completely open with Abimelech, he brings up a situation that needs attention - there’s a problem with a well. Abimelech’s men have taken one of his wells. Now, a well is life to a community in the desert, so this was no small matter. We see the two men come to agreement quickly, and Abraham seals the deal with seven ewes as a testimony that the well does, indeed, belong to Abraham.

I don’t know about you, but I find such hope in this little passage! How I need some “do-overs” with some difficult people in my life - an opportunity to show that God does, indeed, live in me - to prove my testimony of a changed life! Abraham commemorates this occasion by planting a tamarask tree and calling on “the Eternal God.” Beth Moore wonders if this tree-planting isn’t a way for Abraham to plant something that will be “a memorial that would remain long after he was gone.” Does he want to have a memorial to his changed life that honors his Eternal God? I like that thought. Don’t you want others to be able to say to you, “God is with you in everything you do?” If Abimelech could see that in a man who purposely deceived him, then there is hope for us! May God continue to work in us so that others can see His character!

Have a great morning!

Genesis 21:14-20

Early the next morning Abraham took some food and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar. He set them on her shoulders and then sent her off with the boy. She went on her way and wandered in the Desert of Beersheba. (Gen 21:14)

Just one verse describes this farewell! So much is not said. Did Abraham watch them going on their way as long as he could, or was it too painful? Why did he send the two of them with just “some food and a skin of water,” when he could have sent them with an entire caravan of supplies? What was the conversation at breakfast that morning between Sarah and Abraham? Frankly, I love that there are so many things known only to God. There are so many parts of our lives that are just between Him and us. They aren’t meant for public knowledge. And that must be the case here...

“She went on her way and wandered in the Desert...” This indicates an aimless wandering, most likely in complete depression. Eventually, the water runs out:

When the water in the skin was gone, she put the boy under one of the bushes. Then she went off and sat down about a bowshot away, for she thought, “I cannot watch the boy die.” And as she sat there, she began to sob. (vs. 15-16)

Remember that Ishmael is a teenager here. He must have been completely weakened a she leaves him under a bush and moves away. I cannot begin to imagine the pain she felt as she let him to die there. She had been able to tend to all of his needs up until this point, but here is a situation in which she is helpless. It makes me think of the saying, “Until Jesus is all you have, you don’t realize He’s all you need.” At the lowest point of her life, when she could not even utter a prayer - only sob with deep moaning, God heard her. In fact, over her loud sobbing, God hear the cries of Ishmael:

God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What is the matter, Hagar? Do not be afraid; God has heard the boy crying as he lies there. Lift the boy up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.”


Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. So she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink. (vs. 17-19)

I like what Beth Moore points out here: “Sometimes God brings a woman to a well, and other times He brings a well to a woman.” God heard this Egyptian handmaiden and the cries of her son, and He provided. That’s our Jehovah-Jireh - the God who provides! God had promised Ishmael would become a great nation, and He never breaks His promises: God was with the boy as he grew up. He lived in the desert and became an archer. (vs. 20)

This chapter of Genesis to this point has been full of the highs and lows of life (mostly lows). From the long-awaited birth of Isaac, the son of promise, to the scene of discord and confrontation at the weaning celebration, to today’s story of the banishment of Hagar and Ishmael. Our sovereign God is there to meet every situation.

Yesterday, before heading to Easter services, I quickly checked my school e-mail, and there was an e-mail that was another example of these mixes of celebration with great sorrow. One of the moms in my class had written to tell me that their newest granddaughter had finally been born - such joy! And in the next sentence she informed me that the older sister and brother of one of the boys in my last year’s class (a different family) had been in a car accident on their way home from college for Easter break. The girl had been killed on impact, and the brother was still in the hospital in critical condition. My heart just broke! This is such a dear family, and now they, too, have been visited by such tragedy! I can only imagine the deep sobs of pain this mother is crying. So, as I sat at Easter service, I couldn’t help but tear up while thanking God for the promise of the resurrection, where our hope is secure. May God hear this family’s cries and provide the comfort and grace and strength they will need. Pray today for the Blackwelder family!

Genesis 21:8-13

In today’s passage, most appropriately on Good Friday, we see the long reach of the consequences of sin.


The child grew and was weaned, and on the day Isaac was weaned Abraham held a great feast. But Sarah saw that the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham was mocking, and she said to Abraham, “Get rid of that slave woman and her son, for that woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac.”


The matter distressed Abraham greatly because it concerned his son. But God said to him, “Do not be so distressed about the boy and your slave woman. Listen to whatever Sarah tells you, because it is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned. I will make the son of the slave into a nation also, because he is your offspring.” (Gen 21:8-13)

We’ve moved ahead here to the time when Isaac must have been between three and four years of age. What a precious age! I think of my grandchildren at this age (Lucy’s 3 1/2), and there is nothing sweeter! They still have the soft cheeks and hands that you love to kiss! It’s the day of Isaac’s weaning party, and the proud papa is throwing a grand feast in his honor. In the corner stands a sullen, pimply-faced teenager, Ishmael, the half-brother, who is about 17 at this point. And this wonderful family celebration quickly turns sour! Beth Moore writes, “Have you ever noticed how family celebrations filled with high expectations have an uncanny way of bringing out less-than-desirable family dynamics? I think it is safe to say that by the end of this merry day, no one had a good time.”

We’re told in verse 8 that Ishmael was mocking Isaac. This is not innocent, brotherly teasing. In fact, Ishmael was probably ticked off seeing Isaac, who was going to be the heir of Abraham, getting all of this attention. So he laughs with scorn. Truly he is mocking the promise of God here. You can imagine how Sarah’s hackles went up and her claws came out! There must have been some bitterness in Sarah’s heart that had been fomenting all of these years as she saw lived out before her eyes each day the result of her trying to help God along. And the sight of Ishmael picking on her boy was the last straw. “That slave woman and her son” have to go! Sarah can’t even bring herself to say their names!

Did you see that Hagar is referred to as Hagar the Egyptian in verse 9? This would indicate that, even though Hagar was visited by God and lived in a faith-filled home, she had not made it her own faith, but had clung to the culture and beliefs of Egypt. In the same way, by mocking Isaac, the son of promise, Ishmael was indicating the same lack of faith. And there is not room in one household for faith and disbelief.

Now, think of Abraham’s dilemma and pain. Ishmael, now a young man, had been his joy and companion for years. Beth Moore points out that Ishmael probably had many of his father’s features and mannerisms. Even though the Bible only gives us a few words to describe this scene,”greatly distressed” doesn’t adequately convey what Abraham was feeling. So, our gracious God reminds Abraham, that even in what looks like tumult and chaos, God is sovereignly at work carrying out His plan: I will make the son of the slave into a nation also, because he is your offspring. (vs. 13) 


God is still in charge, and telling Abraham, “Trust me!” This is a perfect Romans 8:28 moment! Beth Moore brings in Ephesisan 1:11 here, and I’m adding vs. 12, because it explains the “why”:

In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory.


God will work everything (that includes your circumstances and mine) out according to His plan and for His glory (not ours). Hagar and Ishmael will be driven out of this household, but Ishmael will gain a nation. What an emotional scene! And all of it traces its source back to that decision of Sarah and Abraham to take matters into their own hands to provide an heir. Don’t we all struggle with consequences from our past? Let’s remember today, on Good Friday, that Jesus bore even those sins on the cross. When He said , “It is finished,” he meant it. The payment for all of our sins, even for Sarah’s and Abraham’s, has been completely paid and is no longer counted against us. And it cost God His Son. This scene in Genesis makes me want to cry, and so does the thought of what Christ had to pay because of the things I have done and continue to do! LORD, help me remember to trust you and to let you have YOUR way in my life!

Thankful for the joy of Easter that follows the sorrow!

Genesis 21:1-7

Nothing seems to take longer than the nine months women wait to deliver a baby! But add to that the decades of barrenness that Sarah suffered, and the 25 years between God’s promise of a son and the actual birth, and you have a VERY long wait! If Abraham was to become the father of the faithful, he would need to exercise his faith, and surely God gave both Abraham and Sarah plenty of exercise! But in the exact time intended, in God’s perfect timing, Isaac was born, just as God had promised.

Now the LORD was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did for Sarah what he had promised. Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him. Abraham gave the name Isaac to the son Sarah bore him. When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God commanded him. Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.
Sarah said, “God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.” And she added, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.” (Gen 21:1-7)

It’s hard to imagine what Sarah must have felt (and the Bible doesn’t give us a whole lot of specifics here), but I’m grateful to Beth Moore, who, in her study, The Patriarchs, spends time making us think about this as women. First she speculates on the relationship between Abraham and Sarah and the tender moment they would have had in conceiving this child at their ages. That alone would have been a cause for laughter! Beth points out what a special thing it is when couples, who have been married forever, can maintain their passion for each other - even if the physical passion wanes of necessity. Don and I have been married almost 39 years, and I can tell you that I love him much more now than I did on August 28, 1971! However, we both laugh at the fact that we are just NOT the same as we used to be!!! :)

Then, Beth asks her readers to think about how Sarah may have first discovered that she was indeed pregnant, since Sarah was long past menopause. She must have been fairly far along, although I’m guessing she was probably counting the months after the three visitors had shown up at their tent and the LORD had told her that it would happen a year from that time. Do you think she had morning sickness? Did she worry over those first few months that she might lose the baby? Did she realize what that first kick was? I can imagine her laying on her bed at night, as she advanced in her pregnancy, watching her tummy moving back and forth. There must have been plenty of laughter between her and Abraham as they enjoyed what all of their family and friends had experienced many years ahead of them. Then, when Isaac was finally born, think about the tears mixed with laughter. What a time of rejoicing, not only for them, but for everyone who loved them.

At my school we’ve had several gals who have struggled with infertility. Some finally got pregnant through in vitro fertilization, and others suffered through years of attempts to no avail. Finally, one dear teacher, who had been at so many baby showers for others with genuine joy for her co-workers, decided to adopt. I will never forget the day she announced to us that she and her husband had been chosen by a young gal to adopt her baby. Tears flowed and shouts of joy and praise to God erupted. I’m imagining that kind of celebration for dear Sarah and Abraham! It’s that same joy that I’m experiencing as I see Emmy and Nathan holding our dear little Penelope now! God is so very good!

There are many times in our walk with God that we experience trials and even deep sorrow. But there are also so many times when we experience great jump-up-and-down-shout-out-loud-hilarious joy!!! I’m thanking God for this special passage of joy in His Word today! Finally, Sarah and Abraham had their Isaac!! Hallalujah, indeed!

Love to you all!