Today’s reading shows us how human frailty can really mess up a good plan. However, it also shows how when we make wrong choices, God can still work things out in the end. That can give us hope, but we should certainly not look to it as an excuse to live recklessly. As the story unfolds, it is really a comedy of errors building on itself.
First of all, we have Sarai who must be frustrated. Abram has told her that God has promised to make him the father of many, yet Sarai has been unable to conceive. For couples today with fertility issues, I know there is pain and sadness when not able to conceive. But imagine the guilt knowing your husband has been promised great things from God and not being able to help with fulfillment. It’s easy for us to say, it wasn’t “God’s timing.” For Sarai, she felt desperate.
So Sarai devised a plan for Abram to take her servant, Hagar as his wife, too. Sarai couldn’t wait on God. She didn’t have strong enough faith. That was her weakness. Sometimes we have a hard time with that, too. We often rush into things without being sure it’s what God wants for us. But what about Abram? Shouldn’t he have said no to Sarai? After all, God had spoken to him. If Abram was supposed to marry someone else or be intimate with a servant, wouldn’t that have been part of the message from God?
Well, Abram stumbled by agreeing to Sarai’s plan to be intimate with Hagar. In fact, he seemed almost eager. Anxious to please whom? Abram should have known better. God promised. But he also had to live with Sarai, and perhaps she was strong-willed. Perhaps Abram felt like he was honoring her by dishonoring her. But there again, these are details, and the culture of the day probably included multiple wives.
Then it was Hagar’s turn. She got pregnant and then used that against Sarai. Can you imagine how Sarai felt? Even though she had given Hagar to Abram willingly, when it came down to it, she didn’t like what she had done. Now, Hagar was flaunting her success over Sarai. Talk about salt in the wound. And to top it off, when Sarai told Abram about it, he washed his hands of the problem and told her to deal with it.
Because of Sarai’s inflamed anger with both Hagar and her husband, she lashed out at Hagar, sending Hagar into the wilderness. I’m not sure what Hagar thought she was going to do there, but she cried out and God heard her cries. Hagar was comforted and told to go back to her master and work it out. Hagar was also told her son with Abram was to be called Ishmael (meaning God hears). From the sounds of it, Ishmael would be a wild child.
Sarai rushed God’s timing. She didn’t know any better. She didn’t trust God enough. Abram let his human sexual desires cloud his judgment and his faithfulness to God. Hagar was just the pawn used in this story of how we can get off track but if we allow God to fix things he will. We are not puppets going through life without choices. But we do have to realize that not all choices end up being the right ones.
Let’s pray. Lord, forgive me when I rush things and fail to wait for you. Your timing is always perfect. The trials I have faced in my life have always had a significant lesson involved. None of us like to be tested and sometimes I have felt totally abandoned. But the teacher will remain silent during a test, I must remember this. Use this time to refresh me and renew me as I wait for you to move. I am waiting for clarity on a couple opportunities to serve. Is this what you want for me, God? I want to be obedient and wait for your timing. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
