AFFLICTION, FAITH, AND PROMISES
In the 15th chapter of Genesis, God speaks to a childless man named Abram, to tell him that he would not only have a child, but have offspring as numerous as the stars.[1] And when God speaks, it’s a promise. Abram, husband of Sarai, believed God—and it was counted to him as righteousness. But later, doubt crept in to Abram and Sarai’s hearts, and they decided to take matters into their own hands. Sarai tells her own husband to sleep with Hagar, her female servant, in order for them to have a child. Abram does so, and Hagar conceives. When Hagar realizes she’s pregnant, she (understandably) looks at Sarai as dishonorable. This infuriates Sarai, and Abram encourages his wife to take her anger out on her servant however she pleases. Sarai deals harshly with Hagar until she flees into the wilderness.[2]
At this point in the story, Abram and Sarai have done almost everything wrong. They doubted God’s promise to them and tried to force it to happen their own way, they abused an Egyptian girl who had been sold into slavery, considered her child to be theirs, punished her for their own mistake, and broke their marital fidelity with adultery. So they’re in time out, we’ll come back to them later.
After being sold as a slave, abused, beaten, and forcibly impregnated by someone else’s husband, Hagar finds herself in the wilderness fleeing this harsh mistreatment. She had no say in the way her life had gone up until this point, all of this was inflicted upon her due to the choices of others. It is there that chapter 16 takes a sudden and unexpected turn, and a breath of life sweeps into this mess. The angel of the Lord finds her by a spring of water, the first appearance of the angel of the Lord in scripture, and He turns her wilderness into a place of promise. He speaks to her, and at first His instructions seem confusing: “Return to Sarai and submit to her.” But then, He makes His vow to her: “I will surely multiply your offspring so that they cannot be numbered for multitude.”[3] Sound familiar? God made one of the same promises to Hagar that He had just made to Abram in the chapter prior. And now these two unlikely people would share a child. “Behold, Hagar, you are pregnant and shall bear a son. You shall call His name Ishmael, because the Lord has listened to your affliction.”[4] God literally told Hagar to name her son “God hears,” to seal the promise that He had listened to her cries. And what do we know about God’s heart for the afflicted and oppressed?
The LORD reigns forever, executing judgment from his throne. He will judge the world with justice and rule the nations with fairness. The LORD is a shelter for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble. Those who know your name trust in you, for you, O LORD, do not abandon those who search for you.[5]
The LORD executes righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed.[6]
Joyful are those who have the God of Israel as their helper, whose hope is in the LORD their God. He made heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them. He keeps every promise forever. He gives justice to the oppressed and food to the hungry. The LORD frees the prisoners.[7]
Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay,” says the Lord.[8]
Hagar responds to the Lord—not with doubt of His character, not with bitterness for what she’s suffered, not with rebellion toward God because His people mistreated her—but with worship. She immediately calls Him “the God who sees, for truly I have seen Him who looks after me.”[9] Hagar never felt entitled to good circumstances. She was dealt a heavy hand, and yet she chose to believe in the Lord’s goodness toward her. Imagine the risk she would have been taking to return to Sarai and Abram after the way she left… but she was so changed by her encounter with God in the wilderness and so confident in His promises to her, that she did as He commanded and returned. When Abram was 86 years old, Hagar had his son, Ishmael.
Thirteen years later, God revisits the subject of the original promise that was made to Abram and Sarai. He reiterates that He will do the impossible, but not the way they thought. They must wait in faith again. Bear in mind, God isn’t blind to the catastrophic decisions Abram and Sarai made to try to control their circumstances and obtain their promise. It is offensive that God could be so gracious as to keep His promises to us when we do everything wrong. Abram and Sarai had one thing going for them: God’s faithfulness never depended on their ability to do anything right.
The Lord reminds Abram of all that He had said, and renames him Abraham, meaning “father of multitudes.” He also renames Sarai to Sarah, and tells Abraham, “I will bless her, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall become nations, kings of people shall come from her.” And what does Abraham do? He laughs. Out of mocking disbelief, he again assumes that Ishmael is the answer. God, of course unfazed by his incredulity, clarifies yet again that this son of promise would be born to Sarah.[10] Not for the last time though, because soon after, He appears to Abraham and Sarah near their tent. Once again, God tells them that Sarah will have a child, this time giving them a time at which it’ll happen.[11] (At this point, Abraham is 99 years old and Sarah is 89... Not exactly the parenting timeline you dream up when you get married.) And how does Sarah respond? She laughs. She even mocks her husband’s ability to please her at his age, fully doubting that she could conceive. Again unfazed by their disbelief and disrespect, God asks them, “Is anything too hard for the Lord?”[12] You see, God knew far before any of this happened who their son would be, and He named him Isaac, meaning “God’s laughter.” It’s no coincidence that both of Isaac’s parents laughed in mockery at God who told them what would come, but God responded with the laughter of joy and complete confidence. Sure enough, Isaac was born to Sarah, just as God had said. What a beautiful scandal, that God would use such broken and messy people to paint a foolproof picture of His unfailing power.
God fulfilled every promise He made, both to Abraham and Sarah and to Hagar and Ishmael.[13] Through their failure and trial and injustice and doubt, God and His word to them remained the same. Both of these parties experienced extreme examples of things not going according to their plan nor their desires, and they had to learn to trust. But the very names of their children are prophetic evidence of who God would be to them forever—His word never comes back void.
Autumn Crew is the Managing Editor of FAI Publishing. She lives in the Middle East and serves a number of disciple-making initiatives. She can be reached at autumncrew@faimission.org.
[1] Genesis 15:1-6
[2] Genesis 16:1-6
[3] Genesis 16:7-10
[4] Genesis 16:11
[5] Psalm 9:7-10
[6] Psalm 103:6
[7] Psalm 146:5-7
[8] Romans 12:19
[9] Genesis 16:13
[10] Genesis 17:1-21
[11] Genesis 18:9-10
[12] Genesis 18:11-15
[13] See Genesis 21