Slices
Prepare
To a large extent, childhood experiences make us who we are. What makes you more – or less – grateful about your childhood?
Bible passage
The birth of Isaac
21 Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what he had promised. 2 Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him. 3 Abraham gave the name Isaac to the son Sarah bore him. 4 When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God commanded him. 5 Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.
6 Sarah said, ‘God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.’ 7 And she added, ‘Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.’
Hagar and Ishmael sent away
8 The child grew and was weaned, and on the day Isaac was weaned Abraham held a great feast. 9 But Sarah saw that the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham was mocking, 10 and she said to Abraham, ‘Get rid of that slave woman and her son, for that woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac.’
11 The matter distressed Abraham greatly because it concerned his son. 12 But God said to him, ‘Do not be so distressed about the boy and your slave woman. Listen to whatever Sarah tells you, because it is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned. 13 I will make the son of the slave into a nation also, because he is your offspring.’
14 Early the next morning Abraham took some food and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar. He set them on her shoulders and then sent her off with the boy. She went on her way and wandered in the Desert of Beersheba.
15 When the water in the skin was gone, she put the boy under one of the bushes. 16 Then she went off and sat down about a bow-shot away, for she thought, ‘I cannot watch the boy die.’ And as she sat there, she began to sob.
17 God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, ‘What is the matter, Hagar? Do not be afraid; God has heard the boy crying as he lies there. 18 Lift the boy up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.’
19 Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. So she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink.
20 God was with the boy as he grew up. He lived in the desert and became an archer. 21 While he was living in the Desert of Paran, his mother got a wife for him from Egypt.
Explore
Abraham’s family was to become what we would now call a blended family. His son, Ishmael, was 14 when his half-brother, Isaac, was born. You’ll remember Sarah’s insistence that Abraham should father a child by her slave, Hagar (Genesis 16) and the ensuing bitterness between the two women. Isaac’s birth meant that Sarah could now call herself a mother while Abraham now had a legitimate son and heir whom he circumcised, as had now become the custom in Abraham’s family (17:23–27).
Motherhood for Sarah may have brought her great joy (vs 6,7), but it did not diminish her resentment towards Hagar and Ishmael (v 10). Can you sense Abraham’s dilemma? How can he keep everyone happy? God’s solution appears to be cruel to Hagar, accompanied by a second-best blessing (v 13). This was all because Sarah, along with Abraham, had failed to trust God to fulfil his promise of a son to those who were ‘as good as dead’ (Hebrews 11:11,12). This was the outcome. But God had not deserted Hagar, nor her son. The first part of verse 20 makes this beautifully clear. God’s solution was full of promise.
Respond
All actions have consequences which may not be immediately apparent. Becoming a parent obviously changes everything. Broken family relationships and pain from the past can resurface. Pray for parents (experienced or new) to be able to trust God in the challenges of parenting.
Deeper Bible study
Worship the Lord for his perfect timing in keeping his promises. He is never too early, or too late.
How often have you received a promise from the Lord and expected that promise to be fulfilled at best within days – or at worst, weeks? Abraham and Sarah had to wait 25 years.1 In the intervening years, from receiving to delivery of the promise, they decided to give God a helping hand. Maybe they could not believe that decades into Sarah’s post-menopause they would have a child. Or maybe they thought that God would forget, or even run out of time. They did not have our privilege of the biblical accounts of God fulfilling his promises.
Abraham and Sarah’s wait in terms of biblical history was a very short time. The wait for the coming of God’s promised redeemer2 was thousands of years until the time when Jesus Christ, God’s Son and Saviour of the world, appeared onto the pages of human history to redeem mankind to adoptive sonship and inheritance. Today, you and I are covenant heirs of that great promise.3 God always keeps his promises.
Have you been tempted to give God a helping hand because his promise has not yet been fulfilled? When you run ahead and interfere with God’s plans you can give birth to an Ishmael.4 ‘Ishmaels’ have a tendency to remind you that you did not wait for God.5 They can be upsetting because they remind you of your lack of faith, as with Sarah.6 In fact, you can end up wishing that the ‘Ishmael’ had never been born.7 Unfortunately, you cannot turn the clock back, go back in time and undo your impatience. You may have to live with the consequences of your impetuosity. Thank God that he is kind and patient, allowing you to mature in faith so that you can learn how to wait on him to fulfil his promises.
Lord, help my faith to mature so that I can trust you for all things at all times, especially in the times of delay.
1 Gen 12:4; 15:4,5; 21:5 2 See Isa 59:20 3 Gal 4:4,5 4 Gen 16:2 5 Gen 16:5 6 Gen 16:4 7 Gen 16:5
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: Judges 9,10; Proverbs 5,6
Pray for Scripture Union
Pray for those working on developing resources to help leaders open the Bible with the 95. Ask for insight and the ability to build bridges into the lives of children and young people who have no Christian background.
