Written by: Dave Pope - Saltmine Trust

Genesis 21 v 11-13
This troubled Abraham very much because Ishmael was also his son. But God said to Abraham, “Don’t be troubled about the boy and the slave woman. Do whatever Sarah tells you. The descendants I promised you will be from Isaac. I will also make the descendants of Ishmael into a great nation because he is your son, too.”

Notes
It’s one thing to sing Trust and Obey – it’s another issue to actually put it into practice! Abraham was greatly concerned by a personal dilemma that he faced, because according to the law codes that were current at that time, Ishmael – his son by a slave girl – was entitled to an inheritant share. Sarah, Abraham’s wife, was determined that Issac should be sole heir and Abraham had divided loyalties!

But God decreed that both Issac and Ismael would be blessed – and not to put too fine a point on it – Abraham needed to lay down his concerns and trust God to work His purpose out.

How easy it would be to criticise Abraham, but we all know that when it comes to affairs of the heart, and specifically family issues, we can so often struggle to find balance and peace. Perhaps a question of favouritism, or a particular affinity with one family member rather than another, or where natural bonding creates divided loyalties – we all need to recognise the importance of achieving a measure of fairness and balance.

And it’s worth sending a warning that age does not always bring maturity of judgement! Abraham was not in the first flush of youth when Sarah became pregnant! He was 100 years old when Issac was born!

All the more reason for us to listen carefully to what God says, even when we have a few miles on the clock! We must trust Him, even when we struggle emotionally with the challenge before us.

Genesis 21 v 14-16
Early the next morning Abraham took some food and a leather bag full of water. He gave them to Hagar and sent her away. Carrying these things and her son, Hagar went and wandered in the desert of Beersheba.
Later, when all the water was gone from the bag, Hagar put her son under a bush. Then she went away a short distance and sat down. She thought, “My son will die, and I cannot watch this happen.” She sat there and began to cry.

Notes
A close colleague, just the other day, shared with me what he termed as a “wilderness experience.” Brought up in a Christian family, he had studied, married and held down a rewarding career, but after several years, he was made redundant. Then his marriage collapsed, and spiritually speaking, he really had lost his way – even to the extent of blaming God for his afflictions and feelings of being ostracised and abandoned. His judgement of course was seriously flawed, but he described his current predicament as a “wilderness experience.”

I wonder if this is how Hagar felt, sent away by the father of her child with a little food and a small water container? Off she went into the desert of Beersheba. Not exactly maternity leave as we know it today, and it would certainly have had the Child Support Agency making a few phone calls!!

But this course of action was affirmed by God, although in the short term, the distress and sense of abandonment would have been horrendous, God had the situation under control. Hagar could not appreciate God’s sovereign purpose for understandable reasons, all her maternal instinct cried out in desperation as her water ran out and the baby became distressed.

When surrounded by pressure and aggravation, there is a sense in which God understands our frustrations, but longs for us to trust Him for the overview. If today the questions in your life are flying in the face of faith, ask God to grant you patience as He reveals His long term plan in the days that lie ahead. Don’t be too hard on yourself for feeling as you do ….. God made us with natural response and emotional mechanisms. He wants us to ask for His help in coping with ourselves and trusting Him for His ultimate purpose.

Genesis 21 v 17-21
God heard the boy crying, and God’s angel called to Hagar from heaven. He said, “What is wrong, Hagar? Don’t be afraid! God has heard the boy crying there. Help him up and take him by the hand. I will make his descendants into a great nation.”
Then God showed Hagar a well of water. So she went to the well and filled her bag with water and gave the boy a drink.
God was with the boy as he grew up. Ishmael lived in the desert and became an archer. He lived in the Desert of Paran, and his mother found a wife for him in Egypt.

Notes
Sometimes God takes us to the very brink of despair before He intervenes with holy and timely interference! Hagar had taken her son into the desert of Beersheba, where thirst and a sense of aloneness had taken control. A communication from the heavenlies brought a response in the earthlies and water was located to quench Ishmael’s thirst. Then the narrative moves on apace as we read of the fulfilment of God’s plan for this young man. He grew up, he lived in the desert, became an archer and he married a lady in Egypt.

One of my favourite hymns is “Great is Your Faithfulness, O God my Father” which goes on to state “There is no shadow of turning with you.” A wonderful hymn to sing with other worshippers ….. but how easy is it to praise God with such words when you’re surrounded by gloom, despair and perceivably on your own? I suspect an honest response would be to fall silent.

Yet here is one of the distinctives of our faith, endorsed by Scripture time and time again – that God loves us enough to take us even to the extremities of our physical, spiritual and emotional endurance before He steps in to bring peace, healing and a sense of guidance and fulfilment. He will never test us further than our capacity of endurance, and in times of challenge, He calls us to draw on His reserves and not ours.

“All I have needed, your hand has provided” – another line from that same hymn. Suddenly it seems to take on more meaning!

And for those of you struggling in the weakness of faith even today, may your experience and encouragement come from an unchanging God who remains forever faithful – even when He may seem to be a million miles away.

Genesis 21 v 22-26
Then Abimelech came with Phicol, the commander of his army, and said to Abraham, “God is with you in everything you do. So make a promise to me here before God that you will be fair with me and my children and my descendants. Be kind to me and to this land where you have lived as a stranger—as kind as I have been to you.”
And Abraham said, “I promise.” Then Abraham complained to Abimelech about Abimelech’s servants who had seized a well of water.
But Abimelech said, “I don’t know who did this. You never told me about this before today.”

Notes
Striking bargains can be fraught with danger. I’ve always believed that we cannot bargain with God. There will always be exceptions to a rule – but they will always be an exception! Trying to manipulate God to work in a certain way on our behalf doesn’t really ring true for me. “Lord if you will grant me success in my driving test, I will drive all the old ladies to church next Sunday” …. I don’t think so!

But an agreement, based on loyalty and heartfelt thanks to God for His goodness, mercy and faithfulness seems different. Abraham had history with Abimalech, out of a misunderstanding with Sarah, but under God’s direction, it all sorted itself out and the basis was laid for a mutually beneficial arrangement …. Abraham continued to live in foreign territory with the blessing of Abimalech, and Abimalech enjoyed Abraham’s favour. Of course, agreements frequently get tested, this happened very quickly when some of Abimalech’s servants seized one of the wells supplying fresh water.

The success of any agreement depends upon the maturity of both parties. The age in which we live is characterised by fractured relationships – particularly at the domestic level, where the incidence of divorce is rising rapidly. It seems easier to walk away than “hang in.” Working through challenges is not a priority; walking away from commitment captures the spirit of the day. How easy it would have been for Abraham and Abimalech to have fallen out over the “well” issue even before the ink on the agreement was dry!

“Lord give me discernment to trust the right people and the patience to persevere” is an appropriate prayer in these times …. even for those of you perhaps contemplating deeper relationships or even business agreements. The Bible sets an exciting precedent!

Genesis 21 v 27-34
Then Abraham gave Abimelech some sheep and cattle, and they made an agreement. Abraham also put seven female lambs in front of Abimelech.
Abimelech asked Abraham, “Why did you put these seven female lambs by themselves?”
Abraham answered, “Accept these lambs from me to prove that you believe I dug this well.”
So that place was called Beersheba because they made a promise to each other there.
After Abraham and Abimelech made the agreement at Beersheba, Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, went back to the land of the Philistines.
Abraham planted a tamarisk tree at Beersheba and prayed to the LORD, the God who lives forever. And Abraham lived as a stranger in the land of the Philistines for a long time.

Notes 
During a visit to Israel, I was challenged by the fact that God never laid down a distinctive marker to delineate special territory. No one can earmark with absolute certainty, the actual place where Jesus was crucified, and as much as the Christian Garden Tomb site has attracted thousands of visitors, there can be no exclusive claim to its authenticity of being resurrection territory. It is my belief that God has deliberated drawn a veil across these intimate places, to prevent us falling into the trap of worshipping a site rather than a Saviour.

But there can be something special about recognising a place and using it as a “reminder.” Israel oozes with the essence of Christ for obvious reasons ….. and to visit places where Jesus walked is a great encouragement to faith as long as one keeps a right perspective.

And so when Abraham planted a tree to mark the place of promise with Abimalech, almost as if there was a silent witness to the oath that had been made, he then prayed to the Lord. We don’t know the substance of his prayer, but I wouldn’t be surprised is he asked that the tree would serve as a reminder of God’s goodness and faithfulness while he lived in a foreign land …. a symbol of God’s grace and stimulus for praise.

Worship can be greatly enriched if we use symbols and prompts to remind us of the character of God, but can be greatly devalued if we fall into the trap of giving our attention to the symbol rather than to the Saviour we serve. The wine and bread of our communion service are symbolic and serve simply as a reminder to worship the one whose body was broken and whose blood was shed.

Acts 11 v 1-3
The apostles and the believers in Judea heard that some who were not Jewish had accepted God’s teaching too. But when Peter came to Jerusalem, some Jewish believers argued with him. They said, “You went into the homes of people who are not circumcised and ate with them!”

Notes
I’m reminded of that old saying – 

“To dwell above with saints we love – O that will be glory 
To dwell below with saints we know – well that’s another story!

However, this could be misconstrued as totally devaluing the importance of what had happened in Caesarea and Antioch as recorded here in this passage. Having fellowship with Gentiles was a new experience for Jewish Christians. They’d always looked on Gentiles as being pagans, and traditionally insisted that a Gentile had to become a Jew before being accepted. But now, under the new covenant, Jew and Gentiles were united by faith in Christ, and Peter found himself in hot water when some Jewish stalwarts find out that he had enjoyed Gentile hospitality!

Peter had nothing to worry about as he was following on from what God had commanded him to do, but he would need the patience of a predecessor, namely Job, to cope with helping folk understand that salvation encouraged communication between “law and grace.”

Who said that the Bible is more up to date than tomorrow’s newspaper? Today we must be careful that we do not misjudge people because they do not fit into our frame of reference. My early ministry found my having good contact with “Hells Angels,” and even when members of one “Chapter” became Christians, it was difficult introducing them into a Church fellowship because they still wore their leathers! They struggled to survive surrounded by ecclesiastical strait jackets!!

God looks on the heart, and I sense we may all have a few surprises in Heaven. Let’s work hard at not being judgmental, at recognising that culture must not be confused with issues of faith, and that God’s grace is for all who turn to Him in repentance and faith, irrespective of colour, code or creed.

Acts 11 v 4-10
So Peter explained the whole story to them. He said, “I was in the city of Joppa, and while I was praying, I had a vision. I saw something that looked like a big sheet being lowered from heaven by its four corners. It came very close to me. I looked inside it and saw animals, wild beasts, reptiles, and birds. I heard a voice say to me, ‘Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.’ But I said, ‘No, Lord! I have never eaten anything that is unholy or unclean.’ But the voice from heaven spoke again, ‘God has made these things clean, so don’t call them unholy.’ This happened three times. Then the whole thing was taken back to heaven.

Notes
Dealing with issues of the past can be a huge challenge. Many of us have struggles in this respect, and memories from childhood can create seasons of uncertainty, doubt and turmoil.

Peter’s roots were in Orthodox Judaism. Although his faith in Christ was immovable, some of his past and his learned behaviour patterns quickly emerged, when he was in a situation where his traditional upbringing prompted him to ask questions about relationships and contact with seemingly “unclean” things. He explains his commitment to reaching the none Jewish population by explaining a vision that God had given to him when he was in Joppa. It is to Peter’s honour that as a result, his critics closed their mouths and trusted his judgement.

We must not underestimate the challenge of the journey that Peter had travelled to get to this place …. And perhaps some of us can identify very strongly with his experience. It is so easy to be convinced that we have a monopoly on faith, and that those who do not use the same hymn book or subscribe to our understanding of one aspect of theology, fall short of God’s grace.

Spiritual maturity provides the climate where wisdom prevails. And as we walk closer to the Lord, He reminds us that His grace and love are far deeper and wider than we dare imagine. We naturally have our own comfort zones and preferences within our faith territory, but this should never encourage us to be judgmental and disparaging of other, who expressions of genuine faith don’t match our preferred criteria. May God increasingly grant us discernment to know when to open our mouths and when to keep them closed, but always to speak love and encouragement even when we do not fully understand.


word-on-the-web uses the Scripture text taken from the Youth Bible, New Century Version (Anglicised Edition) copyright 1993 by Word Publishing Milton Keynes