"All In" Day 3

Good Afternoon Readers!

Is anyone else missing the sun today? Its been raining all day! I don't like the rain because it makes me feel like being lazy. Anyway, I thought I would go ahead and blog for today before my hair appointment this afternoon. Pastor Erik and I are getting ready for Grace Christian Center's 30th Anniversary Banquet tonight. Pastor Erik is practicing a song that he will be singing. He has a really bad cold and is having a difficult time. Bless his heart! I pray that he will make it through the song tonight without his voice cracking. I told him that if it does crack he should try to play it off like he is crying or something. LOL. He didn't like that idea!

So are you enjoying studying God's word? I hope some of you are reading along with me and applying the stories to your own life. I learned last night at "The Truth Project" small group that the bible is a collection of stories that is all part of God's big story. We are a part of the big story too and it is important to know the history of God's story to know where humanity has come from and where we are going according to God's master plan.

Let's look at another part of God's story today. I want us to skip ahead a couple of chapters in Genesis today and read Genesis Chapter 16. Before you take a moment to read it on your own remember what God has just promised to Abram. God told Abram that he would inherit the land and that his descendants would be as numerous as the dust of the Earth. What is the problem with that promise? Who does Abram have in his life right now? Well, he has his wife Sarai, his livestock, his servants, his nephew Lot just left, and that's it! No children! And remember when Abram left Haran he was 75 years old! Abram still has no children! How can he have so many descendants if he has no children? Hmmm...thats a problem!

Now take a moment to read Genesis Chapter 16 on your own. Then I will comment on it.

Done?

Great!

Genesis Chapter 16:1-2
Ok, so I'm not the only one that sees a problem with God's promise. Here we see that Sarai herself was anxious about not having any children. Sarai told Abram in verse 2 that she believes the Lord has restrained her from having children. Wait a minute! So Sarai thinks that God promised he would give Abram more descendants than dust on the Earth and yet would choose to not give Abram's wife children? Does that make sense? Wow! It kind of reminds me of the situations that we face in our lives today. So many times I want what I want when I want it. I know that God has a plan for me and that he wants to give me a hope and a future and yet I always want to take my destiny into my own hands. I tend to want to take control and make things happen right now! Ever feel like that? Ever want something right now and not want to wait for it? Yes, I know you have. We all have. The worst part is that Sarai was so anxious for children and had so little faith in God and his timing that she acutally gave her husband her servant to sleep with! I don't know about you, but I would have to be at the absolute end of my rope to do something as desperate as giving my husband over to another woman. Let's see what happens now.

Genesis Chapter 16:3-4
Sarai gives Abram her servant Hagar to have a baby with. Hagar conceives a child and then Sarai begins to hate Hagar. Hmmm...How many of you are shocked by that? I'm not! Sarai clearly sinned here when she chose not to trust God and his promises. She caused her husband and another woman to sin because of her impatience and I can guarantee that this will lead to heartache for all involved.

Genesis Chapter 16:5
Check out what Sarai says to her husband Abram here. I had to read it a few times and say it out loud until I really fully understood it. Try that now.
Did you get it?
Here Sarai is going to her husband and saying that Hagar hates her! But in the previous verse we read that Sarai hated Hagar because she was able to conceive a child. That is so typical. Sarai told her husband to have a child with this woman, then becomes jealous when the woman actually conceives the child, then shifts the blame of the hatred she feels onto Hagar instead. Wow! Poor Sarai she is in way over her head here. Her desperation led her into some major heartache.

Genesis Chapter 16:6
Abram told Sarai to do whatever she wanted to Hagar and it says here that Sarai dealt harshly with Hagar. I wonder what that means. In my imagination I am picturing Sarai beating Hagar up, calling her all kinds of names, and forcing her to leave. I wonder what really happened. In any event, Hagar ran away.

Genesis Chapter 16:7-16
An Angel of the Lord found Hagar after she had fled from Sarai and told Hagar to go back to Sarai. The Angel promised that Hagar would have a son named Ishmael and that he would have many descendants. The Angel also revealed that there would be hostility between Ishmael's descendants and Isaac's. The important thing to realize here is that God did not allow Abram's mistake to defeat the plan he already had for him. God did not want Hagar to be outcast and have her child alone because of Sarai's mistake. God encouraged Hagar to return to Abram's house and reassured Hagar that he had a plan for her son. I love how loving God is!

Think about this: God promised Abram some amazing things. Abram got to the promised land, had hardship and left. When he got to Egypt he lied to get what he needed and then disaster happened. When Abram got back to the promise land he redevoted himself to God by calling on him. Now Abram doesn't want to wait for the descendants that God promised him so he sleeps with his wife's maid. Then his wife hates the maid because she is jealous and deals harshly with her. More mistakes from Abram and Sarai. More heatache. But God intervenes again! God is still going to fulfill his promise!

And God will do the same thing for us. No matter how many times we make mistakes, sin, act hastily because we have no patience, God is still there waiting to bless us. Still willing to take the aftermath of our mistakes and make them something beautiful for his glory. What a loving God we serve!

Take a few moments to pray over this realization. Give Him your mistakes and your heart today. Cry out for his promises and they will surely be fulfilled.

Until tomorrow...God bless!