Just Get Out of the Way
Text: Gen. 16:1-16
Introduction
1. Illustration: Some of us are like the preacher who was on a diet and prayed as he drove to work- "Now, Lord if it is your Will for me not to have any donuts this morning You make sure there are no parking places in front of the donut shop." And he later said, "I ate the donuts because there were two places right up front on only my 8th trip around the block." We need to make sure we don’t play the game of making God’s guidance fit what we want rather than seeing if what we want actually fits His plans.
2. Sometimes we think that God needs our help and that we have a better plan than He does. However, every time we get in the way we make a mess of things.
3. We need to realize that...
a. God Doesn't Need Our Help
b. God's Plans Always Work Out Better
c. God Sees What We Cannot
4. Read Genesis 16:1-16
Proposition: We need to learn to follow God and not expect Him to follow us.
Transition: One of the greatest lessons we need to learn is...
I. God Doesn't Need Our Help (1-3).
A. Perhaps I Can Have Children Through Her
1. One of the greatest detriments to experiencing the blessings of God is impatience.
a. We want what we want when we want it.
b. We live in an impatient society that wants immediate gratification.
c. We tap our feet and drum our fingers waiting on the microwave.
d. We complain when our fast food isn't!
e. We can do the same thing with God. If we don't get what we asked for immediately we try and fix it for God.
2. This was the case with Sarai and Abram. Our text begins with, "Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had not been able to bear children for him. But she had an Egyptian servant named Hagar."
a. Sarai was now 75 and was blaming God because she had no children.
b. In their culture a woman's main purpose was to bear children, and so being childless was a big issue that carried a stigma with it.
c. In fact, the common belief was that it was seen as a punishment from the Lord.
3. So Sarai becomes impatient with God's plan and comes up with one of her own. She tells Abram, “The LORD has prevented me from having children. Go and sleep with my servant. Perhaps I can have children through her.” And Abram agreed with Sarai’s proposal."
a. This seems like a strange option because our society does not consider it to be appropriate.
b. However, in the ancient world it was not only acceptable but even dictated by marriage contracts.
c. This practice continued even after the Israelites left Egypt in the time of Moses, and would have been familiar to the original audience (Walton, NIV Application Commentary: Genesis, 445-446).
d. Hagar was probably a slave that Sarai acquired while in Egypt.
e. She decided that through Hagar she could give Abram a son who would legally belong to Sarai.
f. Abram agreed, and his motive was probably good, but he was too influenced by his culture and tried to help God through worldly means (Horton, 131).
g. There is an interesting parallel here between this account and the one of the fall of Adam and Eve.
h. In both cases, the husband attempts to please his wife rather than doing the right thing. Living by faith would have taken them a different way (Ross, 319).
4. So Sarai and Abram, as a result of their impatience, put their plan to work as "Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian servant and gave her to Abram as a wife. (This happened ten years after Abram had settled in the land of Canaan.)"
a. Sometimes short cuts are a good thing, but other times they just get us lost.
b. Because of their impatience with the plan of God Sarai and Abram put in motion a plan that will cause them and the rest of the world trouble.
c. The son that will later be born to Hagar is the father of the Arab nation. Two nations came from Abram and they have always been at war with one another.
d. Sometimes our plans do noting but get in God's way, and we almost always live to regret it.
B. God's In Control
1. Illustration: A Pastor tells the story of Wilma, a member of his congregation.
Wilma had been a member of our church for many, many years. In her later years she needed the assistance of a cane to help in walking. As she was talking with me, she would make points by lightly tapping me on the chest or shoulder with the handle of her cane. One Sunday after our morning worship service, I was standing at the back of the sanctuary and Wilma hobbled up to me and said, "That was a pretty good sermon." In my true Christian piety I said, "Thank you Wilma, but it wasn’t me it was the Holy Spirit." Without batting an eye she tapped me in the middle of the chest with her cane and said, "Oh no, if it was the Holy Spirit it would have been a lot better than that."
2. The birth of Ishmael is proof that God doesn't need our help.
a. Galatians 4:29 (NLT)
But you are now being persecuted by those who want you to keep the law, just as Ishmael, the child born by human effort, persecuted Isaac, the child born by the power of the Spirit.
b. Trying to acquire the blessings of God through human means never works.
c. It will lead us to frustration, heartache, and trouble.
d. It can at times cause the blessings of God to take even longer.
e. It can make a short trip take forever.
3. To think that we can do something better than God is pride.
a. Leviticus 26:19-20 (NLT)
19 I will break your proud spirit by making the skies as unyielding as iron and the earth as hard as bronze.
20 All your work will be for nothing, for your land will yield no crops, and your trees will bear no fruit.
b. God will not put up with it.
c. God will not honor it.
d. You will find yourself working against God rather than with Him.
4. We need to learn to be patient as we wait for the promises of God.
a. Colossians 3:12 (NLT)
Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.
b. Patience: a state of emotional calm in the face of provocation or misfortune and without complaint or irritation (Louw and Nidda, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Symantic Domains).
c. We are to be calm as we wait for God's promises.
d. We must do so without complaining or whining.
e. The blessings of God will come in God's timing not ours.
Transition: We will find that...
II. God's Plans Always Work Out Better (4-12).
A. She Began to Treat Sarai With Contempt
1. It doesn't take long for us to see that that doing things are way is a disaster waiting to happen.
2. As soon as Abram took her as his wife he "had sexual relations with Hagar, and she became pregnant. But when Hagar knew she was pregnant, she began to treat her mistress, Sarai, with contempt."
a. Even though Hagar was a slave, when she became Abram's wife and became pregnant she became proud and began to look down on Sarai.
b. By her attitude and words she started making Sarai's life difficult (Horton, 131).
c. Hagar's pride came from the idea that God had blessed her not Sarai, and that Abram was now dependent upon her since she carried his heir in her womb (Walton, 447).
d. The word "contempt" has the primary meaning "to be light or slight" (Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament). It implies that she treated her as though she were nothing.
3. Then we see the blame game begin as Sarai says to Abram, “This is all your fault! I put my servant into your arms, but now that she’s pregnant she treats me with contempt. The LORD will show who’s wrong—you or me!Abram replied, “Look, she is your servant, so deal with her as you see fit.” Then Sarai treated Hagar so harshly that she finally ran away."
a. Although Sarai was the one who came up with the idea, she blamed Abram for the situation.
b. He was responsible as the head of the household to be the leader of the family and to deal with this injustice.
c. So Sarai called on God to be the judge between her and Abram.
d. However, instead of dealing with the situation, he told Sarai to do as she saw fit.
e. Putting the situation in Sarai's hands was only asking for more trouble. Since she had felt disrespected, she naturally would act vindictively towards the woman she now saw as her rival
f. As a result, Sarai went to the other extreme and began to humiliate and mistreat Hagar. This was too much for Hagar to deal with so she left (Horton, 131).
g. The point of this turn of events is that God was not going to allow this human solution to be how his promise would be fulfilled.
h. God regularly shows that will not trade social custom for His provision (Ross, 320).
4. As Hagar runs away from Sarai and the bad situation she's in, "The angel of the LORD found Hagar beside a spring of water in the wilderness, along the road to Shur."
a. She ends up "along the road to Shur."
b. Shur is located in the northern region of the Sinai peninsula.
c. An east-west route runs through the region that connects Egypt to the King's Highway in the Transjordan.
d. The word itself means "wall" in Hebrew, and it is possible that it refers to the well-known Egyptian line of fortresses in the region (Walton, 448).
e. It was there that the text tells us "The Angel of the Lord" finds her.
f. Whenever you see the phrase "The Angel of the Lord" in the OT it is a reference to a pre-incarnate manifestation of Jesus.
g. In other words, it is a physical manifestation of Jesus before he became man.
h. He found Hagar beside a spring of water along the road to Shur.
5. It was there the Angel of the Lord asks her, “'Hagar, Sarai’s servant, where have you come from, and where are you going?' 'I’m running away from my mistress, Sarai,' she replied."
a. He addresses her as Sarai's servant and asked her where she was from and where she was going.
b. However, since she was running away she only answered the first question because she really had no idea where she was going.
c. It is interesting that the Angel knew her identity, her position as a slave, and the fact that Sarai was her mistress.
d. It is an indication that the Lord is in control of this whole situation (Hamilton, 452).
6. Just to show how the Lord can take control of a bad situation and turn it around, the Angel tells her, “Return to your mistress, and submit to her authority.” Then he added, “I will give you more descendants than you can count.”
a. The Angel of the Lord told her to go back to Sarai and submit to her.
b. Though she was Abram's wife, she was still Sarai's servant.
c. But the Angel promised her that her descendants would be many (more than you can count).
d. Notice that the Angel of the Lord spoke in the first person as God and not merely as a messenger of God (Horton, 133).
e. She does not question or refute the Lord's direction.
f. Even though her future was uncertain she doesn't question the Lord. She had no indication that Sarai would be any better to her. Yet she goes anyway (Hamilton, 452).
7. Furthermore, "the angel also said, “You are now pregnant and will give birth to a son. You are to name him Ishmael (which means ‘God hears’), for the LORD has heard your cry of distress. This son of yours will be a wild man, as untamed as a wild donkey! He will raise his fist against everyone, and everyone will be against him. Yes, he will live in open hostility against all his relatives.”
a. As a part of the promise, the Lord tells her that she will have a son and she is to name him Ishmael.
b. The name means "God hears." God had heard her and responded to her mistreatment.
c. He recognized that this was unjust and he hates injustice no matter whose to blame.
d. The Lord prophesied that Ishmael would wonder in the desert like a wild donkey, and that he would be in constant conflict with others, even his own relatives.
e. It implies that he would have great courage, but would also be an aggressor who was full of hostility (Horton, 133).
B. God's Plan
1. Illustration: A.W. Tozer says that people who are crucified with Christ have three distinct marks: 1) They are facing only one direction, 2) They can never turn back, and 3) They no longer have plans of their own.
2. God's plans are always better than ours because He knows things we do not.
a. Isaiah 55:8-9 (NLT)
8 “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the LORD. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.
9 For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.
b. God's plans are superior to ours because He is superior.
c. God's thoughts are superior because they are based on the fact that God is all-knowing.
d. God's ways are higher because He knows things that will happen before they happen.
3. God's plans are always better than ours because His wisdom is superior.
a. 1 Corinthians 1:25 (NLT)
This foolish plan of God is wiser than the wisest of human plans, and God’s weakness is stronger than the greatest of human strength.
b. God's plans are better because they are based on His wisdom.
c. God's plans are better because we are fallen creatures.
d. Our plans are foolish in comparison to His plans.
4. Since God's plans are better than ours we should follow them.
a. Psalm 40:5 (NLT)
O LORD my God, you have performed many wonders for us. Your plans for us are too numerous to list. You have no equal. If I tried to recite all your wonderful deeds, I would never come to the end of them.
b. God's plans will always work; our plans will always fail.
c. God's plans will bring blessings; our plans will bring a curse.
d. God's plans will produce fruit; our plans will produce weeds!
Transition: God's plans have vision.
III. God Sees What We Cannot (13-16).
A. You Are the God Who Sees Me
1. Hagar shows her gratitude to the Lord for watching out for her.
2. The text says, "Thereafter, Hagar used another name to refer to the LORD, who had spoken to her. She said, “You are the God who sees me.” She also said, “Have I truly seen the One who sees me? So that well was named Beer-lahai-roi (which means “well of the Living One who sees me”). It can still be found between Kadesh and Bered."
a. Hagar uses another name to refer to the Lord. The name she uses in Hebrew is El-roi, which means "the God who sees."
b. She does this because of the Lord's concern, care, and looking after her.
c. What she says next can actually be translated "I have seen the back of the one who sees me."
d. She then names the well there after her experience there. The well was still there in Moses day hundreds of years later (Horton, 133).
e. She is more fascinated by the origin of the revelation than she is the content of the revelation.
f. Notice that in verse 14 her emphasis is on God not herself. In the v. 13 she talks about seeing him, but now her focus is on the fact that he sees her.
g. The point is that God is now looking out for her (Hamilton, 455-456).
3. The chapter concludes with "So Hagar gave Abram a son, and Abram named him Ishmael. Abram was eighty-six years old when Ishmael was born."
a. By the time Ishmael was born Abram was 86 years old.
b. Hagar obviously tells him about her experience at the well and of the prophecy given to her because he names the boy Ishmael (Horton, 135).
c. There are two things we should notice here.
d. First, Hagar's name is mentioned and Abram's name is mentioned, but Sarai is not. God protects Hagar and her son in response to Hagar's obedience.
e. If Sarai had been a negative factor in this story she certainly would have been mentioned.
f. God takes care of those who obey him. Second, Abram names Ishmael, and therefore, is fully recognized as his son (Hamilton, 457-458).
B. God's Vision
1. Illustration: Rick Warren gives the simplest definition of vision when he said, "Vision is the ability to see the opportunities within your current circumstances."
2. Scripture is clear; we are spiritually blind!
a. Revelation 3:17 (NLT)
You say, ‘I am rich. I have everything I want. I don’t need a thing!’ And you don’t realize that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.
b. We cannot see because of our sin.
c. We cannot see because of our pride.
d. We cannot see because of our stubbornness.
3. We need God to open our eyes.
a. Isaiah 35:5 (NLT)
And when he comes, he will open the eyes of the blind and unplug the ears of the deaf.
b. We need God to open our eyes to His plan.
c. We need God to open our eyes to His thoughts.
d. We need God to open our eyes to our limitations.
4. Without God's vision we are lost.
a. Proverbs 29:18 (NLT)
When people do not accept divine guidance, they run wild. But whoever obeys the law is joyful.
b. If we do not follow where he leads us we are in trouble.
c. If we do not follow where he leads us we will be miserable.
d. However, if we follow the leading of the Holy Spirit we will be blessed.
Conclusion
1. We need to realize that...
a. God Doesn't Need Our Help
b. God's Plans Always Work Out Better
c. God Sees What We Cannot
2. Are you following God?
3. Are you trying to do things your way?
