God Never Fails to Keep His Word
God Never Fails to Keep His Word
Genesis 21:1-34
Many
years of disappointment had followed the lives of Abraham and Sarah.
The time had long gone when they expected to be able to have children.
They were simply going on, in at least this part of their lives, based
on faith. The substance of their hope was their confidence that God
would do what he had promised that he would do.
Both
Abraham and Sarah had at different times laughed at the thought of
having a child, the baby was named Isaac, which means laughter. Think
of the joy they had when Isaac was born. Think of the strength they had
when they realized that their confidence in God was justified. What
kind of lessons can we see from this event in the lives of Abraham and
Sarah?
God often sends the
greatest joy during the darkest hour. We will always have pessimists
with us. Take the year 1809, proclaimed by historians as the darkest
time in the history of mankind. Napoleon was devastating Europe.
Freedom and social progress seemed to be doomed. Then we take a look at
some of the babies that were born that very year; Abraham Lincoln;
Alfred, Lord Tennyson; Edgar Allen Poe; Oliver Wendell Holmes; Cyrus
Hall McCormick; just to name a few. The year, even though the
devastation taking place was horrible, was not a total loss.
Things
had been looking dark for Abraham and Sarah, but Isaac changed all
that. Sarah was amazed by what happened. She and Abraham no doubt
spent many nights during her pregnancy wondering what the birth would be
like, what she would go through, or if she would even get through the
birth. Fear had to have been at least a small part of their daily
life. Now they had a miraculous event that had to be celebrated with
great joy.
Abraham shows us the
sober and thoughtful joy that most fathers show. We guys are often
afraid to let our emotions out. We try to keep them to ourselves. That
is what Abraham was doing, but you know that deep down inside, he had
to be turning cartwheels. Maybe he couldn’t do them physically, but you
know that his spirit was jumping for joy.
Sarah,
though, was unable to keep her emotions in. Her feelings were too
great for words and once again, she had to laugh. She knew that
everyone that they knew had to be as happy for her as she was.
Sarah’s
greatest triumph, though, was the fact that she showed faith in a
Creator who was able to carry out his promises. She had hope and trust
in God who she did not believe would fail her. This is the same type of
hope and trust that every great and effective child of God has had
through the centuries. Our faith exists not because we understand
things completely, but because we trust the Revealer of these things
implicitly.
Even the best faith
falters from time to time. Sarah still had hard feelings against Hagar
and Ishmael. One day she was pushed to her breaking point. To borrow a
phrase from Popeye, “She had all she could stand, cause she couldn’t
stand no more.” She ran Hagar and Ishmael off once again. This time God
did not intervene and send Hagar back this time, so maybe it was time
that they split their company. This shows us that no matter how strong
our faith is one day, just down the line we will face tough decisions
that we need to rely on God to help us with.
God
had the entire world in mind in the birth of Isaac. When Hagar and
Ishmael seemed to be at their lowest, God took care of them. He not
only saved their lives, but also promised that he would be the father of
a great nation. Though God blessed Abraham in a significant way, he
did not forget Hagar and Ishmael.
News
of the good graces that God had bestowed on Abraham reached as far as
Abimelech, and he decided it was time to make peace. We can see a great
lesson here. When we conduct ourselves properly and receive God’s
approval and blessing, the non-religious world wants us to be their
ally. Abimelech did not recognize everything involved in Abraham’s life
and did not understand all that Abraham had received from God, but he
seemed to be aware that Abraham was doing something right and it was
paying off for him in a number of ways. He reminded Abraham of showing
him kindness and asked for Abraham to show him kindness in return.
After some discussion and negotiating, they agreed on terms and planted a
tree.
God’s redemptive program
was starting to take shape. The heir had been born and the competition
had been removed. The neighbors recognized the place of Abraham in the
land, and he bore witness to the unique God that he served. The God
that would one day send the redeemer to the world. Nothing can stop
God’s progress. Wise people find out where God is going and align
themselves with him.
The God we serve never fails. He has no credibility gap. We can trust
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