9 And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, which she had born unto Abraham, mocking.
10 Wherefore she said unto Abraham, Cast out this bondwoman and her son: for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac.
11 And the thing was very grievous in Abraham's sight because of his son.
12 And God said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman; in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called.
13 And also of the son of the bondwoman will I make a nation, because he is thy seed.
Ishmael was making fun and mocking Isaac on his day of celebration. Maybe, because he was the first born, he thought he was better than Isaac. Or, maybe he was just jealous and insecure about his relation with his father. Or, maybe it was learned behavior, copying what his mother did. The reason is not given in the Bible.
The important thing is that Sarah saw him, and heard him, and it made her angry.
So much so, that she demanded that Hagar, the Egyptian servant, and her son, Ishmael both be cast out from the tribe, swearing defiantly that he should not have any part of the inheritance that Abraham leaves his children.
This distressed Abraham, because Ishmael, like Isaac, was his son. He loved his son, no matter what, and no matter who his mother was. He was his blood, just as Isaac was. But, Hagar was not his wife, or the love of his life. In fact, he was so grieved by this, he turned to God in prayer.
We could all learn from this.
When our problems overwhelm us, and we are unsure what to do about it, the first thing we should do is go to God in prayer.
God told Abraham to lift up his head, and not grieve over Ishmael. He told him to do what Sarah has said, because Ishmael was not the seed of His promise. HOWEVER, because Ishmael was Abraham's son, he still obtained the blessing of being so, and God would make him a great nation because of it.
There was no need to grieve.
Ishmael was a good intention, but not the right answer to Abraham's problem, previously. Isaac was the answer.
Sometimes we make decisions with good intentions that are not the correct answer to our problems. This does not stop those intentions from being blessed by God to grow - and whether they will become a problem in the future, or not, depends on the over-all plan of God.
As we shall see, Ishmael DID become a great nation, and the sibling rivalry is present even today between Israel and the Arab nations around it. Ishmael's descendants are the founders of modern day Islam. It is, then, understandable why the Muslims hate the Jews.
Jesus has made a way for even the descendants of Ishmael to come into God's Kingdom, if only they would get to know and follow Jesus. It is not for us to hate them, but to pray for them, and to forgive them, and to teach them lovingly about their Christian heritage, and invite them to once again be part of the family that Abraham was forced to have to banish, though he did not want to.
We must praise God that today, many of them have chosen to come back into the family willingly and with their whole heart. Dr Michael Youseff is one such Christian who has converted from Islam, and his ministry has made waves and converted many more as a result.
No comments:
Post a Comment