Hagar

Hagar

Genesis 16:1”Now Sarai, Abram's wife had borne him no children, and she had an Egyptian maid whose name was Hagar.”

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The following five points are covered in this entire sermon:

1) Hasty moves

2) Bad choices

3) Deception

4) Deception in heart

5) 10 years of wait

As I opened to read Genesis chapter 16, I got stuck with the above verse, it is such an eerie moment in the life of Abram and Sarah which we all can relate to, but our future depends on how we handle such situations, if not we are ruined. Are you listening? Their spirits were upbeat when they left for the land of Canaan, because the promises of God were high: “I will make your name great”, (Genesis 12:1); however, when we arrive at chapter 15, we see the fact that he was ‘childless’ started haunting Abram and now in this chapter Sarai also grieved.

Hasty moves: Challenge and spiritual maturity is to know how to submit ourselves to go through the tough and long journey rather than take short cut. Short cut may look easy, quick, cool and very captivating but let me warn you that the repercussions of your wrong move will affect generations to come.

Easy and ready availability of something doesn’t mean that God is in it with you, when Jonah got ready to go against God, he saw a ship just ready to leave and he hoped into it only to be later swallowed by a fish, so don’t just jump into conclusions. Sarai here saw Hagar right in front of her, she didn’t have to search anywhere, this girl was right there ready at the beck and call of Sarah night and day.

Look at what she did next, verse 2 says, “Sarai said to Abram, "Now behold, the LORD has prevented me from bearing children. Please go in to my maid; perhaps I will obtain children through her." And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.” Look friend, how Sarai was deceived, she said, “the Lord prevented me from bearing children.” This is against the promise of God given to Abraham in chapter 15:4” but one who will come forth from your own body, he shall be your heir” , she was making her own conclusions. Sarai didn’t have to use any force on Abram, he was ready in his mind to do the ‘easy’ thing so he accepted the idea instantly. God knows what is hidden in the deep crevices of our heart, the Bible says:Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?

After ten years of walk with God and having an encounter with God, when God promised Abram, read in chapter 15:4"This man will not be your heir; but one who will come forth from your own body, he shall be your heir"; yet, Abram erred. James 1:14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.

Overall, both of them have allowed their circumstances to deceive them and therefore they manipulate on their own to have a baby.

Key points to hit upon: Impatience and anxiety leads to catastrophic decisions that will sabotage your life. Sarai did not consult God about Hagar, Abraham readily fell prey to Sarai’s plan like Adam. Chaos is the result of such crazy decisions! Patiently wait on God and take godly decisions.

Part 2

How to handle long waits:

Genesis 16:3”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 above scripture clearly reveals that the ten years of agonizing waiting period had driven Abram and Sarai to take messy decisions. I would like to give you a warning here, you cannot push God to take decisions and also you cannot rush to take your own decisions, anybody hearing me? Caveat! The waiting period is indispensable because it is now you learn how to take care of your blessing when it finally arrives. It also molds you and shapes you into a good vessel to hold the blessing and not allow it to leak. You cannot escape God’s processing period!

We started our free school for the poor in Hyderabad, Abide School in the year 2011, but we had to wait for four years to put a board in front of our building and call it school because we had to wait for permit and then recognition from the Government. We had to wait in the lobby of Government offices without any time frame, eat our lunch in our car, public parks, get reams and reams of documents ready, patiently control ourselves when they are rude to us, we could not abandon our project and start another ministry – waiting period is your training ground. Rectify your life and get in line with God’s word, God promised in Deuteronomy 28:1” Now it shall be, if you diligently obey the LORD your God, being careful to do all His commandments which I command you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth.” We received our Government Recognition for our school, which is a free English medium school in the year 2015, all we could do was to weep and thank God. No short cut friend.