God’s promises are fulfilled through God’s provision...

This week, we have been looking at a story in the very first letter in the Bible, called the book of Genesis. Yesterday, we saw that Ishmael, who was the result of Abraham and Sarah’s impatient plans apart from God’s promises, responded to the birth of Isaac by attempting to abuse and hurt Isaac. And like any momma tiger, Sarah responded to the abuse of her son by Ishmael, by demanding that Abraham drive out this maid and her son.

However, this demand was not as simple as it seemed because Hagar was Abraham’s second wife. And now Abraham has a dilemma. Both Ishmael and Isaac are his children. Abraham’s response to Sarah’s demands was to be displeased with her and her demands. And in his dilemma and in his displeasure Abraham cries out to God for help. Today, we see God’s response to Abraham’s cries recorded for us in Genesis 21:12:

  But God said to Abraham, "Do not be distressed because of the lad and your maid; whatever Sarah tells you, listen to her, for through Isaac your descendants shall be named. "And of the son of the maid I will make a nation also, because he is your descendant."

God basically tells Abraham “Do not let Sarah’s demands be displeasing and grievous in your sight. Instead you need to listen to Sarah, because Sarah is right. Sarah is right because my promise to you will be fulfilled by my provision of Isaac as your son, not your provision of Ishmael by your plans. You see Abraham; my promises trump your plans. Abraham, don’t you remember our previous conversation? It is the descendants of Isaac that will become My chosen people and My very own possession. As for Ishmael, the child of your lack of patience in my promises, I already granted your prayer request. I already have promised you that from Ishmael will arise many descendants and a great nation. But make no mistake; my promises and my agreement with you were not about your plans with Ishmael. Instead my promise and agreement is with the son I have promised, which is Isaac”.  After being reminded of God’s promises concerning both Ishmael and Isaac, we see Abraham’s response in verse 14:

So Abraham rose early in the morning and took bread and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar, putting them on her shoulder, and gave her the boy, and sent her away. And she departed and wandered about in the wilderness of Beersheba.

Abraham responded to Sarah’s demands and God’s reminders by sending Hagar and Ishmael on their way the following morning. There was a problem however. And that problem was that Hagar did not possess a Garmin. Hagar did not have a map or GPS system. And Hagar did not have a clue what to do after being kicked out of Abraham’s house. I mean, she had lived the majority of her life as a house slave.

And as a result of her lack of a clue and lack of a map, Moses tells us that she and Ishmael wandered about in the wilderness of Beersheba. This little phrase literally means that Hagar and Ishmael wandered astray with no direction. They were totally lost and had no clue what to do.  And to make matters worse, they were wandering astray and lost in a dessert, which had little or no food or water. We see what happens next in verse 15:

 When the water in the skin was used up, she left the boy under one of the bushes. Then she went and sat down opposite him, about a bowshot away, for she said, "Do not let me see the boy die." And she sat opposite him, and lifted up her voice and wept.

Moses tells us that Hagar and Ishmael wandered around the dessert until they had exhausted all of their food and water. Desperate, distraught, and near death, Hagar tells her starving and drought stricken son to sit under a bush for shelter. Hagar then abandons him to travel a bowshot away.  Now a bowshot away would be a distance that was close enough that she could still see Ishmael but was a far enough distance away that she could not hear Ishmael suffering. After abandoning Ishmael, Hagar collapsed on the ground and wept as she prepared for death.

Now at this point, I want us to take a minute a place ourselves in this story as Hagar and Ishmael. Place yourselves in their shoes. What would you be thinking if you were Hagar and Ishmael? What would you be feeling? How would you respond? Would you have regrets? Do you think Hagar had regrets? “I really wish I would not have rubbed it in Sarah’s face when I became pregnant. I wish I would not have taunted her and made fun of her infertility.”

Do you think Ishmael had regrets? “It probably wasn’t a good idea to attempt to hurt Isaac at the party. Not a good idea. That did not work out well for me”.  You see, Ishmael’s selfishness and rebellion had now placed him and his mother in a position where they were staring death in the face. Both Hagar and Ishmael’s plans and performance had failed miserably.

Fortunately for them, however, God’s promises trump our plans and our performance. And while Ishmael probably was not aware of God’s promises concerning him, God was fully aware. And we see God respond to Hagar and Ishmael’s performance and His promises in verse 17:

 God heard the lad crying; and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, "What is the matter with you, Hagar? Do not fear, for God has heard the voice of the lad where he is. "Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him by the hand, for I will make a great nation of him." Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water; and she went and filled the skin with water and gave the lad a drink.

God, fully aware of what was happening, has an angel call out to Hagar from Heaven with a simple question: "What is the matter with you, Hagar?” The angel literally asks Hagar “Hagar what ails you?” The angel however, does not wait for Hagar to answer and instead says to Hagar do not fear. You see, while Hagar was afraid, the angel wanted her to understand that she had no reason to fear.

The angel then provides Hagar the reason why she is not to fear: “for the Lord has heard the voice of the lad where he is”. The angel then commands Hagar to lift up the lad and hold him by the hand. Now I don’t know about you, but that phrase seems a little strange to me. I mean Ishmael is eighteen years old. So is the angel telling Hagar to pick him up and then hold his hand like he is three? What is so interesting is that this phrase, in the language that this letter was originally written in, conveys the sense of picking up and holding someone in order to provide protection over.

The angel is saying to Hagar “Don’t abandon your boy; instead fulfill your responsibility as a mother to protect your boy. You need to protect your boy because God has plans and has made a promise concerning your boy. God has promised that your boy and his descendants will become a great nation”. God then follows His promise to Ishmael by providing water for Hagar and Ishmael. God opens her eyes to the reality of a well of water. Hagar responds to God’s promises and provision by giving water to Ishmael. Moses then closes this story in verses 20-21:

 God was with the lad, and he grew; and he lived in the wilderness and became an archer. He lived in the wilderness of Paran, and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

Moses tells us that God followed His promises to Ishmael and His provision for Ishmael with His presence in Ishmael’s life. Ishmael continued to grow and mature. And part of that growth and maturity involved his ability to develop the skills and talents to survive in the wilderness. Ishmael created a life for himself and his mother in the wilderness of Paran which is located in what is now northeastern Saudi Arabia. And Hagar, like a good single mother, took to heart God’s command to protect and provide for Ishmael by finding a wife for Ishmael from Egypt, which was her home country. In a few weeks, we will see Ishmael and Isaac meet again.

In the meantime, it is in this story that we see God reveal to us a timeless truth in that God’s promises are fulfilled through God’s provision. Just as it was for Abraham and Sarah; just as it was for Hagar and Ishmael; just as it has been for humanity throughout history; God’s promises are fulfilled through God’s provision. Throughout the pages of the Bible and throughout human history, we see God follow up His promises by proving the resources and means to fulfill His promises.

Where we tend to get into trouble, however, is when we attempt to provide the resources in an attempt to fulfill a promise that God has not made to us.  Just like Abraham and Sarah, where we tend to get into trouble, is when we attempt to provoke God’s promises with our plans and our provisions. Just like Ishmael, where we tend to get into trouble, is when we respond to God’s promises with selfishness and rebellion instead of faithful obedience and trust.

But the timeless reality is that God’s promises are not fulfilled through our plans. And God’s promises are not fulfilled through our provision. Instead, God’s plans are fulfilled through God’s provision.

So here is the question for us to consider: Are you trying to provide the resources for a promise that God has not promised you? Are you attempting to provoke God’s promises with your plans and your provisions? Are you trying to help out God, otherwise known as manipulation, when it comes to His promises? Are you responding to God’s promises with selfishness and rebellion? Or are you responding to God’s promises with faithful obedience and trust?