Do you like routine? How did you go with this mostly self-directed learning? Were you able to build a routine, or did you find each day a bit distracting, boring and repetitive?
Do you feel like most days, most weeks are all the same now? It is a big day if someone from the extended family comes over, or you have to go to south point for some new trackies.
Repetition
This week in Genesis 20 and 21 we see some repeated situations. We have Abraham giving his wife to a leader, we have Sarah and Hagar fighting resulting in Hagar leaving in the wilderness. It seems history is repeating itself again.It has now been 25 years since Abraham first heard the promises of God. We have seen how God has reminded his promises to Abraham a few times, but the bible does skip over the years of silence. The years of just waiting. Of farming, eating, making ends met. Of summers and winters, day in and day out.
Some say Genesis 20 didn’t really happen, that it is a retelling of the same story of Abram and Pharaoh from Genesis 12 with some of the names being mixed up. In Genesis 20, we see again Abraham being worried about his own life, so he gets Sarah to say she is his sister. Then a ruler, Abimelek (which is a title not a name, like Pharaoh[1]) takes Sarah into his household. But again, the Lord intervenes with a curse and Sarah gets to return back to Abraham.
Sounds the same right? People scold Abraham for doing this stupid thing again, and don’t get me wrong, it was a bad thing to do. Especially with last weeks promise of a child coming in a years’ time. Again, Abraham’s plan puts the promises of God were put in jeopardy. People think Abraham couldn’t have done this thing twice. Didn’t he learn his lesson?
But are you like that? Do you screw up, and you are rescued from a situation, then you say, “well I learned my lesson, I’ll never do that again”[2] and then you never do? I’d love to say I am like that, but that is not true. We all make silly mistakes time and time again. The Bible is more realistic than what our ideals would have us believe. We even learn that Abraham gets Sarah to say she is his sister everywhere they go (20:13). This deception was just normal practice for Abraham and Sarah[3] and maybe only twice in 25 years this plan didn’t work out.
And we may be scratching our head. Why does God use Abraham? God even gets Abraham pray for Abimelek so that the curse will be lifted. Abraham is the perpetrator but Abimelek still needs his protection. I hope that it is clear, after looking at Abraham’s life, that we see Abraham is a prophet by God’s appointment, not by human merit[4]. It is only by the grace of God that Abraham even knows God.
Promised fulfilled
Next, we finally have the promised fulfilled at the start of chapter 21, we read:Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what he had promised. Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him. Abraham gave the name Isaac to the son Sarah bore him. When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God commanded him. Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. (Gen 21:1-5)Finally, Abraham and Sarah have a son. It is clear in this passage that it was all God. We see that “the Lord was gracious to Sarah as he had said”, that this happened “at the very time God had promised”. And we see Abraham setting this child apart and following God’s instructions for circumcision. This is great, and we see this child which means laughter brings laughter. How would you feel if you were Abraham? Revealed? Finally blessed? Truly knowing that God does keep his word. No more waiting for a child. It is all over.
Sending away Hagar and Ishmael
But our story doesn’t end here. They don’t all live happily ever after. Again, the Bible is more realistic than our ideals would have us believe. When Isaac is about 3 years old, Abraham has a party to celebrate that this baby is now a child. Isaac’s stepbrother Ishmael who is a teenager mocks this child of laughter. It causes Sarah distress and so we have another repeat with Hagar leaving the family with her child and God visiting her in the desert of Beersheba.Abraham provided food and water for Hagar and Ishmael, but it was not enough. Their supplies ran out, and so Hagar leaves Ishmael to cry as she couldn’t stand hearing him sob and being so hopeless.
But the Lord hears Ishmael’s cry. Ishmael means the Lord hears. God promises that he too would become a great nation. This child is still a child of Abraham. God then allowed Hagar to see a well of water. God showed her some more water and gave her more provisions for their life. The boy grows up and married.
Even though Ishmael wasn’t the child of the promise, God still made promises to him. God loves the outsider; He loves those who have been sent outside the camp[5].
Everyday stuff and God’s promises
In the last story of chapter 21 we have Abimelek turning up again, this time to make peace with Abraham and they sign a deal over a well in Beersheba. This is kind of the first bit of land that Abraham claims belongs to him. It is still pretty ordinary stuff and strange that it is here. Peace and water. The ho-hum of life. Kinda not the heights of the start of the chapter when we see finally God’s promises being fulfilled.But sometimes that is all you need at the time[6]. Do you ever come back from a camp all pumped and excited and then life hits you? You still have to unpack the dishwasher, you have another week of waiting to see your friend. You have to live day in day out, doing the normal, doing the routine. Feeding the dog, waking up on time, packing your bag. You were all excited but it wears off in the repetitions of life. Where is God in all of this?
We have promises fulfilled in Christ. We know Jesus died to save us from sin, we have promises of the future resurrection where we will be raised with a new body that will never perish and Jesus will come back again and we can dwell with God forever. We have these, and yet we still have to set the table. We have to work out what Dad wants for his birthday, and there is nothing on TV again.
How do we connect these big promises of God with our everyday life? What we believe about the future will affect our behaviour today[7]. How we live in hope for God’s big promises to be fulfilled, will change how we live at home, in the mundane, while we wait. The Gospel changes everything.
Stand firm
The New Testament repeatedly tells us to stand firm. That is how we are to live now. We are to hold on to the promises of God and to “never tire of doing what is good” (2 Thess 3:13).James 5 tells us to:
Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains. You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near. Don’t grumble against one another, brothers and sisters, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door! (James 5:7-9)
1 Corinthians 15:58 says:
stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.Jesus said a few times (Mat 10:22, 24:13; Mark 13:13, Luke 21:19) that the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.
As we go about the repetitions of life, make sure you are actually living to the Lord. Your obedience to the Lord shows your love (1 John 2:5). Don’t fall back into ordinary habits, don’t deceive yourself and others. Preserve in your faith. It is easy on the mountain top to praise God when you feel like he is answering your prayers, but in the ordinary, the temptation to tell half-truths, the digging of wells, the making of peace, the bickering between friends and family. Remember that:
whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (Col 3:17)Stand firm, be patient and seek to do good.
Trust in God, He does keep His promises, but it can talk a lifetime to happen.
[1] Genesis 11:27-50:26 (The New American Commentary) - Kenneth A. Matthews, p. 251; Genesis (Tyndale Old Testament Commentary Series) - Derek Kidner, p. 138
[2] Faith of our Fathers – Dale Ralph Davis, p. 116
[3] Faith of our Fathers – Dale Ralph Davis, p. 114
[4] Faith of our Fathers – Dale Ralph Davis, p. 118
[5] I had Hebrews 13:12-14 in mind with this reference, but I think it was too subtle
[6] Faith of our Fathers – Dale Ralph Davis, p. 130
[7] Taken from a talk I gave previously in 1 Corinthians 15, which in turn was taken from someone else
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