a Women -
Can you imagine what it might be like to do everything you can to become pregnant and still be barren? And what if your husband came to you and said, “God told me I would father many nations through my own son, my own flesh and blood.” How would you feel if you had grown old, and everything you were told did not unfold? This is what happened Sarai after God had told Abram he would give birth to a son. Sarai grew desperate, and did not believe Him. “Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar; so she said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her. and Abram agreed to what Sarai said.” Genesis 16:1-3 This sad story reminds me of Adam and Eve. Eve did the same thing. She was deceived into believing that her own thoughts were good, even after God told Adam don’t eat from this tree. So Eve took a bite, and gave some to her husband who was standing right there, next to her. Adam and Abram have so much in common - they both received a word from God, and then chose not to believe in Him. Both men fell into the enemy’s hands, by submitting to their wife instead of listening to God. “So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife.” Genesis 16:3 This verse totally makes me sick - on so many levels - for so many reasons! First, how in the world could a man and woman of God - take another human, make them a slave and bind them into captivity? This is not the ways of God! Second, the idea of a person using their power to make another human have sex with them is absolutely stomach-turning! In my mind - rape is the epitome of sin! The scripture says, “So Abram slept with Hagar, and she conceived.” Poor Hagar! Today, in the world of women having the right to abort, especially after rape - I would imagine that Hagar might have chosen to put an end to her pregnancy. If nothing else, she probably would have taken Plan B. Either way, even though she was raped - abortion is murder because the scripture says a soul begins when a child is conceived in the mother’s womb. Oh, Poor Hagar! I can't even imagine how difficult it was for her! The scripture says, “When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress.” The queen of servants was now on Sarai’s shit list, and Hagar now hated the one who gave her away to her husband. Then Sarai said to Abram, “You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my slave in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the Lord judge between you and me.” Genesis 16:4-5 And here we are back to the blame game! Just like in the Garden with Adam and Eve! “Your slave is in your hands,” Abram said. “Do with her whatever you think best.” Then Sarai mistreated Hagar; so she fled from her.” Genesis 16:6 Isn’t it amazing how humans can kill the dream? God gave his Word to Abram to give him a son - but because he did not wait on God’s timing - he sinned so shamelessly! It’s hard to believe the Lord keeps His Word even after humanity messes everything up! The scripture says, “The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. And he said, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?” “I’m running away from my mistress Sarai,” she answered. Then the angel of the Lord told her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her.” The angel added, “I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count.” The angel of the Lord also said to her: “You are now pregnant and you will give birth to a son. You shall name him Ishmael, for the Lord has heard of your misery. He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers.” She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.” That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi; it is still there, between Kadesh and Bered. So Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son she had borne. Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael.” Genesis 16:7-16 It’s amazing how the angel communicated both God's grace and God's wrath. Kindness and mercy and blessings were gifted to both Hagar and her son. Ishmael means “God listens” and he was granted descendants too numerous to count. The problem is Ishmael was not the promised son of God. He was not the son who God talked about when He declared His word to Abram. The angel of the Lord told Hagar the truth, even though as his mother, it had to hurt. The angel said Ishmael would be “a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers.” Later you will see, that Ishmael had 12 sons - just like Jacob, Isaac's son. who God renamed Israel after wrestling with the angel of the Lord. Ishmael operates in the parallel realm. He is the embodiment of God’s Word, turned upside down. If only Sarai and Abram took God at His Word... Today, there would be no Islamic nation trying to dominate Israel.
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