Genesis
chapter 21 is full of symbolism and speaks of God’s nature. It
begins, “Now
the Lord was gracious to Sarah as He has said, and the Lord did for
Sarah what He had promised. Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to
Abraham in his old age“.
Even though 25 years had passed since the promise was first made, we
are told, the boy was born, “the
very time God had promised“.
Abraham was 100 years old when he circumcised Isaac, and Sarah
pronounces, “God
has brought me laughter and everyone who hears about this will laugh
with me“.
God turns her skepticism into joy.
Next,
we see the contrast between Isaac and Ishmael, the son of God’s
promise and the son born from of the works of man’s plan. What great
symbolism for the struggle we face between accepting God’s grace and
working through our own efforts to achieve a right standing with God.
When we begin to trust our actions to make us righteous rather than
our Savior we end up legalists that cannot enjoy the grace of God.
Since we can not be good enough on our own, the legalist continues to
fall short, but also point out everyone else’s failure. Contrast
that to the one who accepts salvation is by faith alone, this one
cannot help but share his thankfulness by sharing God’s love with
others. Notice how severely God deals with Ishmael, “Get
rid of that slave women and her son“.
Abraham sends Hagar and Ishmael off into the desert with little more
than the water she can carry. This is how we need to deal with our
struggles with the flesh! We get the sense that Abraham wants to
keep Ishmael around a his back-up plan, but God does not want us to
have anything else to fall back to. Abraham is assured by God, “I
will make the son of the maidservant into a nation also because he is
your offspring“.
Notice, God’s protection is because of Abraham. When God gives us
authority over others, He extends to them a degree of spiritual
covering (Be careful who you submit to). We are told that “God
heard the boy (Ishmael) crying”
and He brought Hagar to a well. We are also told, “God
was with the boy as he grew up. He lived in the desert and became an
archer“.
The son’s of Ishmael have been sniping at the son’s of Abraham ever
since.
As
the chapter closes, we read that Abimelech says to Abraham, “God
is with you in everything you do“.
Isn’t it interesting that Abimelech is watching and can see that God
is with Abraham. That should be our goal when dealing with
neighbors, co-workers and friends- that they would know that we honor
God in all that we do. How great it feels when people acknowledge
God is with us! Abimelech makes a peace treaty with Abraham.
Abraham seals the deal with seven lambs from his flock as an
acceptance that Abraham dug the well at Beersheba. We are told,
“Abraham
lived in the land of the Philistines for a long time“.
When we walk in God’s grace it is a comfortable place that we want
to stay for a long time. If you are struggling with trying keeping
all of God’s law, give grace a try. Galatians 4:30 says, “We
are not sons of the slave women, but sons of the free women“.