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You must be in fellowship prior to your Bible study, so that the spiritual information you receive can become a source, of blessing to your soul and produce spiritual growth. Daily Bible Study
Lesson # Genesis 16:1-3 Study Material - Genesis 16:1-3 You must be in fellowship prior to your Bible study, so that the spiritual information you receive can become a source of blessing to your soul and produce spiritual growth. Gen. 16:1-3 1 Now Sarai, Abram's wife had borne him no children, and she had an Egyptian maid whose name was Hagar. 2 So Sarai said to Abram, 'Now behold, the LORD has prevented me from bearing children. Please go in to my maid; perhaps I shall obtain children through her.' And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. 3 And after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Abram's wife Sarai took Hagar the Egyptian, her maid, and gave her to her husband Abram as his wife. The Hagar affair is the subject of this chapter. Abram is now 85 years old, and will be 86 when Ishmael is born. Abram was 75 when he entered into the land. Only 10 years have gone by and Abram has seen quite a lot of history. He traveled down through the land, was confronted with a famine. He took off to Egypt and pimped his wife off to the Pharaoh, was discovered and kicked out in a manner of speaking. He has had a falling out with Lot who took off to the Valley of Sodom. He witnessed the invasion of the kings of the east and without hesitation went after them to rescue Lot and all who had been taken captive. He was thanked by Melchizedek, a king priest to whom Abram knew of and bowed down to, but too, Melchizedek knew of Abram as well and the promises that Abram had received from God. Abram has had a conversation with God, and therein received assurances and additional promises from God that he, Abram, would have a son and many descendants. So many descendants that they would be beyond counting. Abram spoke directly with God. Now all this in the short space of 10 years. But Sarai was without child. Actually it reads, 'Sarai had borne him no children...', implying that it was Sarai's fault that Abram had no offspring. Also, Sarai states that it is the Lord that has prevented her from having children. So here we have Abram stewing about having no heir. Look at all of his servants and hired help! They had kids running all over the place. For heavens sakes, Abram had 318 adult men under his employ at the time of the war with the kings, and which was probably just a couple of years ago. No doubt there were more kids in the camp now. A regular population explosion of sorts. But none for Abram. Abram has no children, yet God has promised him a son, an heir to the land in which they live, and even more land beyond the horizon. Abram has had direct contact with God. Abram has received the direct promise from God. Abram has just received the victory of a lifetime in the recent war. Remember his friends - Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre? And remember what their names stood for (from chapter 14)? Abram had friends knowledgeable in Bible doctrine. They all had their little Bible study group. And no doubt they made comments to Abram to stop fretting about the child issue. If God promised it, then it would happen. Just go in there and have some fun with your wife, you know - practice makes perfect. You can probably imagine the jokes. But Abram was not in a joking mood. This was serious to him and he blamed Sarai. He had not son so it 'must' be her fault. Remind you of anyone? Adam maybe? 'She made me eat the apple.' Sarai was blaming God. God was preventing this. But then it was God who made the promise. And know this, that it was Sarai who was Abram's wife and no one else. Did they pray about it? No. Did they inquire of God? No. Instead they come up with this plan. Take the maid of Sarai who was Hagar and have a baby with her. So Abram, brave little Abram, the one who pursued the kings and rescued many peoples in the face of overwhelming odds, now is cowering to this suggestion of his wife. 'Well if I have too. If you think it would be ok!!!' Sure, just go in there and fool around with my maid. And of course you know that it will take several attempts to be sure that it will work. Right. When we think of ourselves, when we desire something and get away from our Bible study, then it is very easy to justify nearly anything. We can blame others for our failures, or for not having those things that we think that we should have. It is all 'your' fault. And this is the first thing we do when we get frustrated, and angry in life. We blame someone else. And we find excuses. If we hadn't moved from Ur. If only we hadn't moved from Haran. That is where the parents are right now. If you, note the emphasis on the 'you'. If 'you' hadn't tried to fool Pharaoh. Then we wouldn't be in this fix that we are in today. If only we hadn't done something in the past. Oops! I mean, if 'you' hadn't done something in the past. And the list of excuses continues. It is easy to blame and complain when things are not going fast enough for us in our life. So now Sarai comes up with a plan. Take the maid girl and have your son. It's ok!! I won't mind!! Abram should have stood by his doctrine and waited on God. His son must be legitimate and Sarai was his wife, therefore his son should come through her. God does not promote cute little plans like the one proposed by Sarai. But they were both probably fighting with each other, probably frustrated, and definitely unhappy. They were primed and ready for failure. Abram has been here for 10 years. This problem of frustration did not happen overnight, but Abram had it on his mind for quite some time. Sarai was well aware of it as well. So beware. If you have little problems in life, do not ponder on them, otherwise they will grow up out of proportion and cause you great suffering. Think the problems through, apply Bile doctrine to them, and move on with your life. If God wishes something for you, then it will happen. If he does not wish something for you, then all the fretting and wishing in the world will not make it happen. Stick with your Bible study and let God guide your life. You will have fewer headaches, and be a lot happier. 
Now is the time to post a prayer. End Of Lesson Study to show thyself approved (mature) unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing (studying/discerning), the Word of truth. |
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