Good morning and happy Taco Tuesday. I saw a funny t-shirt the other day that said “Live every day like it’s Taco Tuesday” funny stuff. Me and the kids out in Maui would always joke about the food in Heaven. You know stuff like, “they’ll be nothing but nachos, tacos and ice cream in Heaven” kinda stuff. But if you recall our study of Revelation, there is a very good indication we will all be vegetarians in Heaven. Adam and Eve were vegetarians in the garden and in fact, all people were vegetarians before the flood ended and God gave Noah the authority to eat the meat of animals. In Revelation we are told about the tree of life which bears a different fruit each month. So sometimes I really wonder about tacos in Heaven. Will they only be vegetarian tacos? But I guess the real question is, “will there be taco shells in Heaven?” Ha, there’s a great title for a kid’s book!
This morning we arrive at Genesis 16 and a very odd chapter in God’s Word indeed. A chapter that deals with faith, lack of faith, rejections of God’s plan and acceptance of God’s plan. We have three people involved in this chapter and they all three react very differently to God’s plan and will for their lives. You know, when you think about it, isn’t that a great definition of life? “We are merely reacting imperfectly to God’s perfect plan for our lives.”
You see the plan is already laid out for our lives and it’s exactly as God has it planned…just for us. So the plan is present, it’s perfect, and it’s God’s. But how do we react to it? Do we like it? Most times if we're honest, no, we don't like it all. Do we even acknowledge that there is a plan? Most not as they randomly roam through life never even acknowledging God. But what happens when we deny the plan or stray from it as we experience moments of little or no faith in God? My friends, as Harold Hill in the great musical, "The Music Man" says, when that happens, “you got trouble with a capital T!”
God has been revealing to me that all stories in His Word have base common denominators. The story might take you on a rabbit trail but at the end of the trail there is a lesson from God and it usually revolves around one central theme. Today’s lesson takes us the long way around but when we get to the finish line, we see Faith. Belief in God. Belief in God’s perfect plan for our lives. Belief that He is in charge, not us, and what we want is not the central focus in our lives. Yet that’s what we all struggle with every single day as we walk this Earth. How do we handle what we want versus what God’s plan for us is.
In our story this morning we start out with this very topic, faith, or lack thereof. When we don’t feel like God is giving us what we want, we try to get it ourselves. Abraham and Sarai are around 80 and they haven’t had any kids. In our day I would say that is a definitive answer from God, but Sarai is having none of it. Now I’ve seen women get the baby bug. They want a baby and they want it bad. But I’ve never seen an 8o year old woman get the baby bug, but apparently Sarai does. She wants a baby and God won’t give her one, (or she thinks.) So what does she do? What so many of us do daily when not getting what we want from God. We cook up our own plan. She tells Abraham to go sleep with their servant Hagar and that “it may be that I may obtain children by her.” (Gen 16:2b) I think it’s funny here that the word “may” is used twice. You see Sarai didn’t know for sure. This was a gamble. She was so desperate to get what she wanted, she was willing to gamble on it. (using other people!)
The first thing you need to thoroughly understand about this story is that this was very common practice in this day and this culture. The continuation of the family name and the ability to have kids to help you sustain daily life was very important. This was not Sarai coming up with some crazy sexual perversion, this would have been very common place in the day. The point of the story is that neither Sarai NOR Abraham, as far as we’re told in God’s Word, ever up to this point asked God for a kid. The sin in this story is lack of faith and lack of trust in God’s plan. The sin here is taking the reins and getting what you think you need out of life when you think you need it.
So, Hagar the servant conceives from Abraham and then boy howdy, the sparks start to fly. Always remember that God is a God of harmony and where there is a lack of harmony, there is a lack of God. Because of this situation the two women go at it…big time. Hagar treats Sarai with contempt because she can have Abraham’s kid, but Sarai can’t. Ouch. So, since Sarai is the boss of her, she starts treating Hagar like trash, abusing her as a servant. This causes Hagar to run away where the Lord approaches her at a well and counsels to her.
What a mess.
You know this story stirs me personally this morning as Margie and I have never had kids. A lot of people might see this as some kind of a loss or a lack, but we see it only as God’s plan for us. Who are we to question God’s plan? It does bring up a sensitive topic today that we have seen presented to us and we have seen numerous friends seek diligently. We hotly debate abortion today (as we should) because God gives life and we should not take it away. But what about the opposite? What about bringing a life into the world that might not be a part of God’s plan? We have medical avenues open to us today that somewhat easily allow any individual to physically bring forth a child into this world through egg farming, sperm donation, in vitro and hosting. Man and wife, check, they can have a child. Gay couple, check, they can also have a kid. Single woman that doesn’t see the need for marriage, check, she can have a kid too. Any person with cash in hand, check, they can have a baby. You see science and technology has allowed us to enter a period of being allowed to satisfy our need to create life. Life is a gift from God, should we be able to usher it because we greatly desire it or think we need it?
Margie and I never really considered any of these options because we didn’t feel like it was our right. We’ve had many friends that had the baby bug and they just would not be denied. Their need to have their own child trumped everything else. That’s what we see in our study this morning. It’s not about kids, or finally being a mom or a dad, it’s about resting firmly in the faith of God’s plan for your life. Sarai wanted a baby and she took things into her own hands. She got a son through Hagar and Abraham, but at great costs. Great costs to her, to Abraham, to Hagar, and to the child. His name was to be Ishmael and the Lord declares:
“He shall be a wild donkey of a man, his hand against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen.” (Gen 16:12)
If she had only known. If she had only known that God had plans for her to have her own son a few years later. And through this son, Isaac, God already had plans to establish an everlasting covenant to all his offspring. (Gen 17:8)
You see, when we take the plan for our lives into our own hands, we deny the perfect plan that God has in store for us. By doing this we alter what the plan was meant to be. A life can’t be two things at the same time. It can be your way, or it can be God’s way, but it can’t be both. Today, as you approach the day, pray this:
Heavenly Father, I give you this day. It’s your day for me and you have a perfect plan for me. I will not always understand your plan, but I will rest in Faith. Faith in knowing that you love me, care for me and provide for me in the absolute best way possible. I need not doubt, fear or be troubled, for you are with me, you walk with me and you cradle me in your loving arms. Lord, help me to keep my mind on things above as I walk down here. This place is not my home, but my citizenship is in Heaven with you. I long for the day that I can walk with you in Heaven, but as for today, I will listen for your voice, I will seek your face and I will walk the path you have made for me. Amen.
God bless you journey with the Lord today.
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