From Unbelief to Disbelief

Photo by Daniel Seßler on Unsplash
Have you ever waited a long time for a blessing? Maybe it was marriage or children, maybe it was entrance into ministry, retirement, whatever you've been waiting for. What did you feel once you got it? In some ways, before you achieved it, it sort of seemed like life would just sorta stop once you got there. We wouldn't have put it that way while working towards it, but it does kinda feel that way, doesn't it? You achieved your goal! Now what? God still has more for you to do. It turns out that once you got married you didn't just ascend into heaven. Once you got your goal, you didn't find total security. You've gotten the blessing, but you still have to trust God. 

Well, this is the chapter that Abraham has been waiting for since chapter 12. Thousands of miles traveled, over two decades of waiting, two kidnappings of his wife, and two countries nearly destroyed because of it, here we are, the birth of Isaac! The promise is fulfilled! But life keeps going. The need to trust in God's working is more needed than ever. And if one thought that being asked to be patient was hard, oh just wait until we look at what is in store for Abraham in the next two chapters. 

Today, we are going to look at our two points: God provides His promises AND God protects His promises. 

God Provides His Promises

In our first section, we see the fulfillment of God's biggest promise so far, a son born to people far too old to have children. Notice how often the same words or concepts are repeated in these verses. "as he had said...as he had promised...at the time which God had spoken...as God had commanded him...God has made" this is a very God-focused fulfillment. This birth doesn't happen without God. There was nothing that Abraham and Sarah could have done to make this happen. Truly, they have kinda done everything to make this *not* happen. I mean, Abraham gave away the key to this promise, Sarah, at least two recorded times, and as we saw from the previous chapters, he had placed her in danger of that many other times. This is grace upon grace. 

To help sell the God centeredness of this even more, Moses reminds us why this had to be done by God. Abraham was 100 years old. Sarah disbelieved the promise the first time, laughing at the very thought. Because of that, God tells them to name the child "Isaac" which means "laughter." Now, every time she calls her son, she will be reminded of the fact that God does incredible things. He does things that take you from unbelief to disbelief. 

And aren't you glad He works that way? It's not up to us to be perfect or pull it off. It can be easy to beat on Abraham and Sarah for their lack of faith, but honestly, we can all point back to moments in our lives for weak faith, so to beat on them too much causes us to miss the point which is God works mercifully. Yes, Abraham and Sarah haven't been shining examples at this point of stellar faith, but neither am I! Aren't you glad that God doesn't need elites? He carries you along! 

And yet, we see them both obedient to what God says. They did, in fact, trust him, and they did, in fact, do what they were supposed to after he was born. But the hard part was yet ahead. 

God Protects His Promises 

As we head into the next section, we begin to see the family drama surface. Abraham has another son, doesn't he? Yes, they have been waiting for Isaac, but Abraham and Sarah aren't the only one's impacted by his arrival. Hagar and Ishmael enter the stage for the last substantive time. As one scholar put it, "Abraham is caught in the predicament that polygamists always experience: he ultimately must show preference for one child over another." (Matthews, 269).You'll notice as we go through here, the name "Ishmael" is never spoken by Abraham and Sarah. Sarah just calls him the son of a slave. 

The drama begins upon the celebration of Isaac's weaning, with Ishmael laughing or mocking Isaac. There is division in the commentaries whether this is laughing *at* or laughing *with* Issac. But in any event Sarah sees something that she doesn't like. There can only be one heir, and we need to be clear that it isn't going to be Ishmael. Scholars point out that the word that she uses here translated "cast out" has the connotation of "get rid of" and is the same word that is used of casting Adam and Eve out of the Garden (Matthews, 269). 

Now Abraham doesn't want to do this. Illegitimate or not, Ishmael *is* Abraham's son. And this is well before the time of homeless shelters or really any sort of easily accessible economic opportunity. It's not like Abraham can just drop her off at the Hilton. In the end, she is going to get a skin of water and a loaf of bread. 

We would start to criticize Abraham for listening to Sarah again, but God steps in and of all things, agrees with Sarah! Indeed, the plan is to have Isaac be the heir, but that doesn't mean that Ishmael gets nothing. God still has a promise for Ishmael, because he is Abraham's son. Abraham is going to have to release Ishmael to God's care. In some way, this is practicing for what God will ask him to do in the next chapter. There is going to be nothing to stand in the way of Isaac being the heir. 

The next day, Abraham gives Hagar just a little bit of food and water for the journey and sends her on the way. One scholar noticed that the Hebrew saves giving Ishmael to her for the very end, almost drawing out the emotional weight of waiting until the very end to hand over Ishmael (Matthews, 272). This is obviously very difficult but, as one commentator points out: "Abraham learns that (due to his own mistake, 16:4) the divine purpose at times can be an unpleasant task" (Matthews, 273). Abraham would never have to be in this heartbreaking position had he not decided what he did back in chapter 16. 

It is amazing how often sin can have multiple consequences. We thought that the problems that Abraham would suffer were confined to chapter 16 with sending Hagar away that time. But this wouldn't end with a fight between Hagar and Sarah for who was going to be the wife. Now it is going all the way to who is going to be the son. 

The consequences also descend onto Hagar and Ishmael, the true victims in this. Around 14 years ago, she thought herself to be the queen, but now she finds herself wandering around in the desert with a loaf of bread and a skin of water which quickly run out. 

You just never know how long sin's consequences can last. I heard one story of a couple that worked through infidelity in their marriage. Many years later, one spouse developed dementia, and all they could remember was the sin not the reconciliation. I can't imagine what that must have been like to watch a sin resurface like that. 

Sin is awful, but God is good. He begins to make good on His promise at the darkest part of Hagar's experience. The water is gone, the bread is crumbs, and Hagar assumes the end is upon them. In an absolutely heartbreaking scene, Hagar assumes her son is about to die, so she leaves him under a bush with the idea that at least she won't have to watch her son die. And it is here that God hears. God heard the cries and responded. He shows her a place where she can have water. From there, God fulfilled his promise to Ishmael, too. He got married, and became a great nation, just as God said He would.  
 
Now God comes through here, but what happens when it looks like from our perspective that He doesn't. Not every desert child is rescued. Why? What about when God doesn't seem to protect His promises? 

The answer to this question is not emotionally satisfying, but it doesn't have to be in order to be true. These are the questions you need to wrestle with now to be prepared when tragedy strikes. 

The key to answering this question is the larger perspective, particularly the vastness of future time. Here is Isaac. In the course of his lifetime he has two sons, and that's about it. Even in Genesis, the story of Isaac is remarkably short. He only gets like three chapters, considering that we have been banging the drum on this kid for the last ten, it seems kinda anti climatic. 

But the reason why he is important is Who he ultimately produces, Jesus Christ. In that sense, he was very important, but in and of himself, he doesn't seem all that consequential. There is no way for Isaac or Ishmael for that matter to see that this is the plan, but if they could, playing a large part in bringing the Savior into the world would be an honor. 

We never know where we are on God's timeline. Any individual tragedy that we have in our lives is truly impossible to know *exactly* why we are going through what we are. The key is not knowing why but knowing Whom. We will see that play out in greater detail in chapter 22, when Abraham has to be willing to let another son go, this time having to hold the knife itself. 

I'm sure the disciples thought that all hope was lost when Jesus was on the cross. Imagine their joy to find that it was exactly that tragedy that saved them and the rest of the elect! 

So what do we take away from this passage? 
Learn to trust God not His blessings. It's a very subtle shift, and sometimes it seems as though I am asking you to be a wet blanket. "We got a massive inheritance!" "Well, you still can't relax because after all, God could just take it away!" That's not the attitude that I want you to have. 

I want you to have the same attitude that Elon Musk has when he finds out he made another hundred million dollars: "Oh, that's nice." Appreciate the blessing, but know that you are already provided for. Celebrate from a place of already-at-rest. Let the blessings find you sleeping in your Father's arms. 

You know, the funny thing about ultra billionaires is what they do once their survival is guaranteed. They will never have to worry about where their next meal is coming from ever again. They couldn't spend all of their money if they tried. They seem to either start looking horizontally, beyond themselves, wondering how they can help, or they start looking vertically wondering if they can find something beyond all of us. 

I'm actually not surprised that billionaires get into rockets. Who wouldn't want to see if God is up there? Of if He isn't, than what might be? 

The fun thing for you all, is you can skip all the work that it took for those guys to get to that point! Becoming a billionaire the likes of Musk or Bezos requires a great deal of continual work. Anyone who says being a billionaire is easy has never looked at Musk 120 hour a week schedule. 

But you can skip that. God provides for your survival. He keeps His promises to you to never leave you So you can now look horizontally to see how you can help others. No, you can't donate billions of dollars to change the world, but you can change the world for a elderly person in need of a visit at the senior center. 

Most importantly, you can, and should, look vertically, and unlike the billionaires mentioned so far, you do know what is out there. And you can spend that time not in rocket design meetings, but worshiping the God that they are so desperately looking for. 

Spend time in worship of that God, and you, too, will go from unbelief to disbelief.