This story of Abraham, Sarah and Hagar has its beginning
in Genesis 12 with the first blessing God gives Abram, “I will make you into a great nation, and I will
bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I
will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all
peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”
This blessing creates a great nation, promises protection for Abraham, and a pledge
that all the nations will be blessed through Abraham. This is not a stream of
blessings God is pouring out here, this is a raging torrent of blessings
pouring out from heaven to earth that will impact creation and all people for
the rest of history.
But the story takes a tragic turn. Abraham and
Sarah have tried to force God’s blessings on their terms and in their time.
They turned to the customs of their culture and time to make God’s blessing of
a son happen more quickly, they use an Egyptian slave girl by the name of Hagar
to bear Abraham a son, a son that will belong to Abraham and Sarah. That part
of their plan works, but here it comes back to haunt them. It creates anger,
turmoil and brokenness. At one-point Hagar, while still pregnant, runs away and
God meets her and gives her a blessing that her
descendants will also be too numerous to count, an echo of the blessing
given to Abraham. But there’s a catch, she has to return to Sarah and submit to
her.
Now everything comes to a crisis as Sarah’s baby Isaac
turns 3 years old
and weaned, able to eat solid food. Ishmael is now about 17 years old and sees
that he has completely lost his place in Abraham’s family and he mocks Isaac.
Sarah’s mother protection instincts kick in big time and she goes to Abraham to
demand that he throw Hagar and her son out, that he gets rid of them so that
Ishmael can never be a threat to Isaac’s place in the family. Blessings have been
twisted into curses due a lack of faith and trust in God way of working out his
blessing. The slave girl and her son are now thrown away. Hagar was used and is
now being disposed of when she’s no longer useful. Using people always leads to
hurt and brokenness instead of leading to blessing.
Abraham’s heart is hurting, Ishmael is his oldest son and Abraham knows
that Ishmael is being punished for his failure to trust God’s way of doing
things. How is this going to work out, where’s God’s blessing, his compassion in
this? God comes to Abraham and says, “Do not be so
distressed about the boy and your slave woman. Listen to whatever Sarah tells
you, because it’s through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned. I will
make the son of the slave into a nation also, because he is your offspring.”
This sounds so harsh, even though there are two blessings here, the original
blessing to Abraham in Genesis 12 is going to be worked out through Isaac,
while the blessing first promised to Hagar the slave woman is given again and
will be worked out through Ishmael. It feels harsh because God doesn’t even
call Hagar by name, only referring to her as Abraham’s slave woman. Blessings
don’t always come with roses and champagne, they often are worked out through
hard work, deep faith, and through difficult times, especially when we try to
force God’s hand and do things our way.
Hagar and Ishmael head out into the Desert of
Beersheba. They run out of water, a death sentence in the desert, and Hagar places
Ishmael in the shade of a bush and moves away because she can’t stand watching
her son die. Ishmael means, “God hears,” and God
does hear Ishmael and Hagar’s cries. God comes and reminds Hagar of the
blessing, the promise he had made that Ishmael would become a great nation and
then he opens Hagar’s eyes so she sees a well of water, a blessing that saves
their lives. God doesn’t abandon Ishmael, he stays with the boy as he grows up
in the desert, becoming an archer, an interesting detail that makes this story
more real, connecting us on a heart level with this rejected boy whom God never
abandons. But Ishmael’s blessing from God comes through hard work and in
difficult circumstances. While this is going on, a local king, Abimelek and Phicol the commander of his forces said to
Abraham, “God is with you in everything you do.” Blessings can come from
unexpected people, even people who don’t accept God as their God, here’s a
blessing from non-followers of God who recognize that God is blessing Abraham,
even though the blessings may be hard for Abraham to see right now.
We’ve been talking about blessings, but what is a
blessing? According to Barbara
Taylor Bradford, blessings are good, true
and beautiful words that offer divine help and favour. Hear the good, true
and beautiful words in the blessing of Numbers 6, “The
Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be
gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.” These
are words of protection and encouragement, but these are also words of
challenge. When the Lord’s face shines on us, we hear an echo to Jesus’ call to
let our light shine in the world around us, when we hear the words grace we are
reminded of how Jesus shows us the greatest grace, becomes the greatest
blessing for the world in taking our brokenness and sin to the cross to make us
right before God, to bring us soul healing and relationship healing, healing
that Abraham desired with Ishmael and Hagar but wasn’t able to achieve. This
healing is only possible through the coming of Jesus and his death on the cross
which brings forgiveness and healing into the brokenness in our world when we
embrace Jesus as our Lord and Saviour instead of depending on our own strength
and wisdom.
Blessings speak healing and grace into peoples’
lives and situations and grace calls us to live lives of gratitude and
reconciliation, lives that bring healing and hope, lives that honour others. Blessings
give strength to the person being blessed as God’s presence is spoken into
their lives, God’s strength and promises are given, hope and love are passed on
through the blessing and through the relationship that is reinforced in the
blessing.
When the Lord turns his face towards us, he sees us and
this is a dangerous thing because when we’re seen, the Lord sees all of us, the
places where we are allowing the Spirit to shape us more into the image of
Jesus, and the places in our hearts and lives that we’re trying to keep from
him, the places of shame and brokenness. The Lord sees brokenness and hurt, he
moves to restore and heal through Jesus and the cross. God’s healing and
blessings through Jesus and the Holy Spirit helps us give up the false
blessings the world offers.
God loves you for who you are, but he also
loves you too much to allow you to stay the same as you are today, he has
greater things in mind for you, his plan is for you to become more and more like
Jesus. This is a big part of why he pours blessings out on you. John in his first letter reminds us, “Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be
has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be
like him, for we shall see him as he is. All who have this hope in him purify
themselves, just as he is pure.” Paul is big on this call to be like
Jesus, in Ephesians 5 he writes, “Follow God’s example,
therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of
love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering
and sacrifice to God,” and he calls us to
imitate him as he imitates Jesus.
Blessings reveal a generous God, a God who engages
with his people and creation, a God who expects his blessing to change and
shape his people and the world we live in. this is because blessings are
active, not passive, they’re roaring rivers pouring into our lives from the
Lord, not ponds. Blessings are not meant to keep for ourselves and deepening
our own ponds, but they’re like the roaring river meant to flow out from us
into the world around us, blessing others with Jesus’ presence and love and
forgiveness.
Blessings protect and challenge us, calling us to
trust in God and Jesus and to obedience to Jesus’ ways as we work to imitate
him in every area of our lives. As you embrace the Lord’s blessings you will
find hope and healing, restoration and peace, a peace that flows out from you
into the lives and people around you.
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