GodSprings - February 08, 2016

He Deals With My Mess

But God said to him, “Do not be so distressed about the boy and your slave woman. Listen to whatever Sarah tells you, because it is 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.” Genesis 21:12-13 (NIV)

A young couple wanted to buy a home, but felt it to be too expensive for them. They prayed to God and put before Him two conditions. They told God, “If you want us to buy it, (a) have the contractor accept only half of what he’s asking for the down payment, and (b) have the bank approve our loan. Both events happened and they bought the home. They soon began to go into debt. The problem: what to do now, since God “directed” them to do this!

The scene in this chapter shifts dramatically from celebrating the birth and weaning of Isaac to watching Hagar and Ishmael come to the brink of death in the desert. Hagar and her son have always been a burden to Sarah, but now she’s had enough and urges Abraham to send the slave away. Abraham is deeply bothered at the thought of never seeing his son again. God intervenes, but not in the way we expect. He advises Abraham to obey his wife and send them off, that He will be the one caring for them now.

Hagar and her son make it only a short time into the desert before the situation turns dangerous. Waterless and exhausted, the mother resigns herself to watching her son die before she dies too. Thankfully, God intervenes once more. He finds her in the desert as He did before and provides for them. They are saved and Ishmael goes on to become the man God had promised.

What’s amazing is that God intervenes, not just once but twice. He tells Abraham what he should do and also works to save the mother and son duo in the desert for a second time. Of all the lessons hidden in this text, the one I keep coming back to is the reality that God does not run away from messes but on the contrary He enters them.

All the problems we face are brought about by the bad choices we make. Sarah should never have told Abraham to sleep with Hagar. Ishmael should never have picked on Isaac. Abraham shouldn’t have let the turmoil in his family reach this point. It was their shared faults. But God acted anyway.

So often we feel trapped by our own bad choices and rash decisions. Then, when we try to pray or ask for help, all we feel is a mountain of guilt. We’re the ones who got ourselves into this mess, so we should be the ones to get ourselves out. God doesn’t see it that way.

He sees our mess as His mess too and He is waiting for us to ask for help. That’s the God we serve and that’s the God waiting for you to ask for help. God doesn’t run away from messes. He runs toward them. If that had not been the case, there would have been no cross to bring us out from the miry clay.