Saturday, January 10, 2009

Day 10 Part 1 The God who provides/sees

Gen 21 The events leading up to Isaacs sacrifice, look briefly like this..
Sarah becomes pregnant, has Isaac, a few years later she sends Hagar and Ismael away to the desert. Hagar is met by angel of God in the desert, Abraham meets with Abimelech the Philistine ruler and ensures that a well he built earlier is returned to him.

What was Abraham thinking about? Why did he think about an old well? Why was it important?
I think that Gen 21v11 shows us why Abraham was in the desert "at that time" (v22). He was distressed about Ismael and it was he who sent them on their way to the desert.
I get the sense that there are two stories happening simultaneously.

Track 1 Abraham meets Abimelech the Philistine ruler about the well. He pays dearly for the rights of the well to be returned to him. It had to be marked that "I dug this well" v 30. It could be that Abraham had a need to provide at least water for Ismael and Hagar in the desert and also to preserve a memory for Ismael that Abraham, his father, had not forgotten him.

Track 2 Here we have Hagar and Ismael, (which means God Hears) in the desert and Hager is met by an angel of God. He tells Hagar that God has heard the boy sobbing. It was God who told Hagar to name the unborn child "Ismael" all those years previously. I wonder if she had an "ah ah" moment when the pun of the word "Ismael"dawned on her! sometimes God's preparation for us isn't obvious until we truly understand that God was not taken unawares by situations or events.
Hagar's eyes are opened and she sees the well of water.

Whether it was the precise well that Abraham and Abimelech agreed on in a similar timeframe or not, is really immaterial, and we are not told that it was. But it sure makes a good story worth repeating.

Now to part 2....

2 comments:

  1. And she said, Let me not see the death of the child. And she sat over against him, and she lifted up her voice, and wept. And God heard the voice of the lad (Gen 21:16-17(
    So evidently, Ishmael was praying also unto God as he was lying there under that shrub.
    and the angel of God called unto Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her, What ails you, Hagar (Gen21:17?(
    How many times has God called out of heaven and say, "What ails you?" you know.
    fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is. Arise and lift up the lad, and hold him in your hand; and I will make him a great nation. And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went, and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad a drink. And God was with the lad; and he grew, and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer. And he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran: and his mother took him a wife out of the land of Egypt (Gen 21:17-21
    God’s ways are not our way must fit here, Sometimes it sure seems unfair, the decision that Sarah and Abraham by choosing to take things into their own hand’s and what they did with this servant woman sure made for such a mess we are still dealing with today.
    And so Ishmael became the father of the Arabs. And so actually, the Arabs and the Israelis are linked together through Abraham. And yet, there is to this day that bitterness and animosity that exists between the two, between the Arabs and the Israelites.
    And it came to pass at that time, that Abimelech and Phichol the chief captain of his host spake unto Abraham, saying, God is with you in all that you're doing: Now therefore swear unto me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me, nor with my son, nor with my son's son: but according to the kindness that I have done unto thee, thou shalt do unto me, and to the land wherein thou hast sojourned. And Abraham said, I will swear (Gen 21:22-24)(
    Abraham must have felt like us when we have blown it for sure. It truly had to be a sad time for him, sometimes in our earlier christian lives because we have not yet experienced so much of the truth of His word we make mistakes we have to deal with now. A sad time for me is when I gave up on God and trusted in my own common sense and I am living with the fruits now through the choices my children made.When a parent gives up our children are not guided and directed into Godly path's One married a non believer, one married a Jehova witness. One the Lord is the center of his life now and its good. The Lord is still working on my youngest who is not a practicing Jehova witness, but also not a believer. I pray my consequences will stop in this generation.
    Now Abimelech recognized that the hand of
    God's blessing and prosperity was upon Abraham. And he began to be a little fearful. What's the future hold? What about my grandkids, you know? This guy is continually blessed of God and gets great. Maybe they'll, you know, he'll wipe us out. And so he wanted sort of a treaty with Abraham that he would treat them well. Diana

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  2. Shirley shared something important the other day, that our adult children also can avail the same grace offered to us and overcome the mistakes of the parents. Diana, let go of the guilt, you have a second opportunity by speaking into your grand children's lives. Holding onto the past will undermine that good God wants to plant through you today. I am reminded of Jonah 2:8 "those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that would be theirs". Siobhan

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