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Today's Reading: Genesis 16-19

Scripture Refenced:

Genesis 16

1 Peter 3:10-12

! Corinthians 7: 18-19

This is a dwelling place

from a trusted Ministries.

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I'm Stephanie Cocks, and I am so proud

of you for sticking with this, or if

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you're new that you found us and are

committing to dwell with the Lord because

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we know that he longs to dwell with you,

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though I won't dive heavily into any of

the sensitive topics today, this portion

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of scripture does cover some things that

you may not want younger ears to hear.

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Today we're covering

Genesis 16 through 19.

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There are some truly important concepts

here, and I certainly don't want to

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glaze over them, but I also feel called

in this series to talk about things that

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your pastor probably wouldn't say from

the pulpit because he doesn't have the

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perspective of being a woman or a mother.

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I'll be reading all of chapter 16 over

you then I'll discuss some key verses

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and highlights and then you know by

now I'll close by praying over you.

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Chapter 16 begins.

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Now, Sarah Abram's wife

had born him no children.

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She had a female Egyptian servant

whose name was Hagar and Sarah said

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to Abram, behold now the Lord has

prevented me from bearing children.

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Go into my servant.

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It may be that I shall

obtain children by her.

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And Abram listened to the voice of Sarah.

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I, so after Abram had lived 10 years in

the land of Canaan, Sarah I, Abram's wife,

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took Hagar, the Egyptian, her servant, and

gave her to Abram, her husband as a wife.

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And he went into Hagar and she conceived.

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And when she saw that she had conceived,

she looked with contempt on her

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mistress and Sarah said to Abram,

may the wrong done to me be on you.

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I gave my servant to your embrace, and

when she saw that she had conceived,

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she looked on me with contempt.

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May the Lord judge between you and me, but

Abram said to Sarah, behold, your servant

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is in your power due to her as you please.

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Then Sarah dealt harshly with her.

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And she fled from her.

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The angel of the Lord found her by a

spring of water in the wilderness, the

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spring on the way to shore, and he said,

Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have

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you come from and where are you going?

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She said, I am fleeing from my Sarah.

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The angel of the Lord said to her, return

to your mistress and submit to her.

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The angel of the Lord also said

to her, I will surely multiply

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your offspring so that they

cannot be numbered for multitude.

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And the angel of the Lord

said to her, behold, you are

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pregnant and shall bear a son.

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You shall call his name Ishmael.

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Because the Lord has

listened to your affliction.

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He shall be a wild donkey of a man, his

hand against everyone, and everyone's

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hand against him, and he shall dwell.

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Over against all his kinsmen.

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So she called the name of

the Lord who spoke to her.

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You are a God of seeing

for she said, truly.

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Here I have seen him who looks after me.

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Therefore, the well was called bear Laroy.

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It lies between Kadesh and Barred.

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And Hagar bore Abram a son and

Abram called the name of his

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son, whom Hagar bore Ishmael.

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Abram was 86 years old when

Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.

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The idea that God sees us and hears

us is woven all throughout scripture.

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One of my favorite references is in one

Peter three verses 10 through 12, for

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whoever desires to love life and see

good days, let him keep his tongue from

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evil and his lips from speaking deceit.

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Let him turn away from evil and do good.

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Let him seek peace and pursue it.

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For the eyes of the Lord

are on the righteous.

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And his ears are open to their

prayer, but the face of the Lord

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is against those who do evil.

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In the last episode, we clearly saw

that Abram was not beyond reproach.

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And in today's reading, we see that Sarah

was certainly not without fault herself,

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although she was following a custom

that was regular during that time.

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We know it was certainly not following

God's ideal plan that was set forth

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in Genesis two of one man with one

woman after many years of the pain

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of infertility and waiting for this

promise to be fulfilled, she says,

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it may be that we're actually going

to obtain this child through Hagar.

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But as soon as Hagar conceives, she

looks with contempt upon their eye,

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and just in case you need

a little Webster update.

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Contempt is a feeling that a person

or thing is beneath consideration,

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so Hagar may have been

elevating herself above Sarah.

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She may have thought that this

entitled her to no longer serve Sarah.

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We don't really know.

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However, as someone who has experienced

so much mourning, sickness over the

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course of my pregnancies, that one of

my toddlers told someone once, baby and

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mommy's tummy make her sad in the garbage.

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When I read this, I do have to wonder,

were there also hormones at play?

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Was she feeling sick and nauseous?

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And this was something that

she didn't even ask for.

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I am sure as women, we can all

look back at times and think, oh

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my goodness, did I really do that?

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I mean, once I cried about soup, no

joke, and when the dust had settled and

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a few days had passed, I had no logical

explanation for what had happened, even

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though it felt so reasonable at the time.

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All I could do was apologize and when

I read passages of scripture like

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this, and I think about Sarah with the

pain of infertility and how difficult

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that would've been to all of a sudden

seeing another woman pregnant with

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your husband's child, even though you

desperately wanted him to have an heir

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and to see this promise fulfilled.

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And then you have Hagar and who knows what

she was desiring in this situation, I

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like to think about the real people that

were behind these words and what they

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may have been experiencing because then

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when we see God intervene and interact

with them, it really tells us a lot

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about how merciful and compassionate

our God is As an Egyptian servant,

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Hagar wouldn't have had a lot of social

standing, but she's the first one in

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scripture to meet the angel of the Lord.

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many believe that this is

a pre-incarnate Christ.

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That means that this is Jesus before he

came to earth, and he made some of these

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special appearances to people that phrase,

the angel of the Lord never appears

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after Jesus enters in the New Testament.

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Maybe he could just kept

saying, put me in coach.

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I think about all these times in scripture

that the Lord has appeared to women

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or showed special treatment of favor

on them, him, it's just so tender.

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He calls her by name.

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He knows exactly who she is.

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But then he asks her these thoughtful

questions, as the Lord so often does

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to get to the heart of his people.

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And that's a wonderful model for us

as parents, that even a discipline

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that we can ask questions to get

to the heart of our children.

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Which reminds me of the full circle

from a trusted with a child's heart

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The angel of the Lord explains how

he's going to bless this child, and

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there are amazing promises here.

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But I also don't think I would want

the Lord telling me that my child's

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going to be a wild donkey of a man

and that there's going to be so

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much fighting from him and at him.

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But that's what the Lord tells her, and

she responds, you are a God of seeing.

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And when he gave the promise about

Ishmael, he said, it is because the

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Lord has listened to your affliction,

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and Ishmael actually means God hears.

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She will always have a reason to remember

how God met her in a moment of weakness.

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this identity of God as a God that

sees and hears as been so important

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for me, understanding my value as

a mother, that all of these hidden

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things that I do each day, that the

Lord of the universe sees them all.

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And that I can be faithful in the

tiny things of serving my family,

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knowing that he is glorified by them

and he cares about all of the details

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and the acts that I do unto him

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In the opening of chapter 17 it

says Abram was 99 years old when

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God appears to him and he gives

more detail about the covenant,

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He tells Abram that the child of the

Covenant will be from Sarah and that

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he'll be changing Abram's name to

Abraham and Sarah's name to Sarah.

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thank you.

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That's gonna roll off the tongue.

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So much easier for us he also

reveals that the sign of the

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covenant will be circumcision.

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It's still unconditional, but this is a

sign of the covenant to show their faith.

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Eighth, and just in case you're

curious in the New Testament, Paul

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tells us in one Corinthians seven that

you are to live as you were called.

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If you became a believer when you were

circumcised, great, But if you weren't

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circumcised, then don't get circumcised.

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I find it interesting that Abram laughs

at the Lord when he says, shall a child be

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born to a man who's a hundred years old?

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It doesn't really seem to be an

issue, but later when Sarah laughs,

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God definitely calls her out.

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And whenever I read that of God

saying, oh, but you did laugh.

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I think, oh snap, she's busted.

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And in 1813, when God says to

Abram, why did Sarah laugh is

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anything too hard for the Lord?

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This is the exact same phrase

in the original language.

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That when Mary, the mother of

Jesus, said to the angel, how

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can this be since I'm a virgin?

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The angel responded to her, that

nothing will be too hard for the Lord.

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It's so beautiful throughout

scripture, God making a way in the

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most impossible of circumstances.

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In chapter 18,

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we see a truly inspiring

exchange between God and Abraham

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they get all the way down to

the Lord agreeing that even if

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there's only 10 righteous people,

Sodom, he will not destroy it.

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Abraham is a man of faith and he comes

before the Lord with these bold requests,

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and the Lord does not become angry.

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at his persistence to

intervene on behalf of others.

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In chapter 19, we see

truly despicable behavior.

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As I mentioned earlier, when we veer from

God's design that we saw in Genesis two.

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There are consequences.

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It's deplorable to me to think that lot

would offer his daughters hospitality

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was so highly valued in this culture.

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Still it's shocking that he wouldn't

feel the need to protect his own.

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It is also shocking what his daughters do,

but it does tell us the origin story of

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the Moabites and the Ammonites, which we

will continue to see throughout Scripture.

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Let's pray.

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Lord, I thank you for

every mother listening.

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I'm thinking in particular of moms that

are pregnant and trying to endure as

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they're doing the incredibly important

work of being fruitful and multiplying.

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I pray you would give them the strength

to do what they need to do each day.

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I ask for all of us that we would be

faithful in our role to intercede on

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behalf of others, that we would be so

grateful for the mercy and compassion

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that we've received, that we would

long for others to receive it as well.

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We praise you that nothing is too hard

for you, and we ask that we would pray

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gr great prayers of faith and that

our children would be quick to come

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to you in prayer, surrender to your

plans and your will for their lives.

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Just as you spoke to Hagar with

a particular plan for her child,

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we know that our children's days

are already written in your book.

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May we come alongside you in that.

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And give us a clear vision

for what you have for them.

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I pray we would not stand in the way,

but that we would help your plans

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come to pass and I pray that our

children's character would mean more

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to us than their accomplishments.

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Thank you that you are the

God who sees and hears us.

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In the name of Jesus we pray, amen.