There was an important business executive who boarded the New Orleans to Washington train. He had a very important business meeting and he needed to be awakened in order to get off the train in Atlanta about five o'clock in the morning. Since he was a heavy sleeper, he found a porter and told him, "I want you to wake me up so that I can get off the train at five o'clock in the morning. Now I'm a heavy sleeper," he said. "It doesn't matter how much I fret and fuss and fume or what I do to you -- I have to get off the train in Atlanta. If you have to remove me bodily, you get me off this train in Atlanta."
Well, the next morning he woke up about 9 o'clock, having slept all night and having missed Atlanta, and found that he was speeding toward Washington. He found the porter and really poured it on with all sorts of abusive language, almost attacking the poor guy bodily. After he left, someone said to the porter, "How could you stand there and take that kind of talk from that man?" The porter said, "That ain't nothin'! You should've heard that guy I put off in Atlanta!"
Too often we fail to get off at the right station and end up heading to where we don’t want to go.
We all fail at times. When we make mistakes, it’s so easy for us to beat ourselves up. Whether we say something we shouldn’t have said, or we drop the ball at work, or we run back to an old addiction, our sins and failures can completely crush our confidence. When that happens, how do we pull ourselves out of the dugout and get our heads back into the game of life? Today, we’re talking about still having confidence when we fail. Let’s take some advice from the life of Abram. Today, we will be using Genesis 16 & 17. PRAYER
If we were all honest, I think we would admit that waiting on the Lord isn't easy. Sarai was now 75 years old, and she was still barren. From a human perspective, there was no reason to think that she could have a child at her age. But she knew God's promises to Abram depended on the conception of a child in her womb, or did they? Maybe God could fulfill his promises to Abram some other way.
Genesis 16:1-5 – “Abram’s wife, Sarai, had not borne any children for him, but she owned an Egyptian slave named Hagar. 2 Sarai said to Abram, “Since the Lord has prevented me from bearing children, go to my slave; perhaps through her I can build a family.” And Abram agreed to what Sarai said. 3 So Abram’s wife, Sarai, took Hagar, her Egyptian slave, and gave her to her husband, Abram, as a wife for him. This happened after Abram had lived in the land of Canaan ten years.
4 He slept with Hagar, and she became pregnant. When she saw that she was pregnant, her mistress became contemptible to her. 5 Then Sarai said to Abram, “You are responsible for my suffering! I put my slave in your arms, and when she saw that she was pregnant, I became contemptible to her. May the Lord judge between me and you.”
This account out of Abram's life is one about failure and of trying to get ahead of God. Abram’s failure in this particular account involved three separate individuals:
-Sarai. It had been 10 years since God had promised that Sarai would bear Abram a son. At this point, her patience had run out. God had said Abram would be the father of a great nation, but He hadn't yet specify who the mother would be. So, Sarai reasoned she would “step out of the way”, so the promise could be fulfilled. Besides, since Hagar was Sarai's servant, Hagar's children could be considered Sarai's children.
-Then there is Abram. Even if we think Sarai made a poor judgment call, let's don't put all the blame on her. After all, Abram went along with the plan. He could have said no, but Sarai's reason apparently made perfect sense to Abram.
-Hagar. Hagar was an Egyptian maid servant, likely acquired during Abram and Sarai's brief visit in Egypt. Because of her position as a servant, Hagar had no choice but to go along with the plan. As a result, she got pregnant.
As I said, waiting on the Lord is not easy. But we have to learn to trust God to accomplish his plans in His way. God had communicated his plan to Abram, but it still hadn't happened. So, Sarai & Abram created their own plan. At first, the plan seemed to be working, but then the situation got ugly.
As Hagar's stomach grew with her baby, her confidence also increased as she interacted with Sarai. In the Mesopotamian culture of that day, a maid servant or a second wife who provided an heir could be deemed equal with the first wife. She could be given her freedom, gain an inheritance, or both. This passage only refers to Hagar's contempt for Sarai, but Hagar could have been using this situation as an opportunity to advance.
Sarai took Hagar's behavior as both disrespectful and threatening. The tension and animosity between the two women escalated to the point that Sarai flew off the handle at Abram. In verse 5, she says, “You are responsible for my suffering.” It's as if Sarai forgot her role in all this, and she called on God to judge between the two of them.
Abram again complied with Sarai and left the matter in her hands to correct. He says in verse 6, “Here, your slave is in your power.” That was to remind Sarai that she was still the wife and had the primary role. But then Abram added, “Do whatever you want with her.” Unfortunately, Sarai abused her position and treated Hagar so horribly that she left.
Let me ask you, has there been a time in your life when you tried to take matters into your own hands? We talked last Sunday about us thinking that we need to help God fix our sin problem. But what we really need to do is to trust God when he promises something. It was D. L. Moody that said, “God never made a promise that was too good to be true.”
Genesis 17:1-2 – “When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him, saying, “I am God Almighty. Live in my presence and be blameless. 2 I will set up my covenant between me and you, and I will multiply you greatly.”
13 years passed between Genesis 16 and 17. Now God came to Abram again with a word of reassurance. God hadn't forgotten His promise. At this point, Abram may have assumed Ishmael, the son born to him through Hagar, was the child of God's promise. God was about to make it clear that Abram would have another son, the son of the promise.
Just as we said last week, in times of uncertainty, we need to seek God's presence. God reminded Abram, “I am God almighty.” The Hebrew name used here is El Shaddai, the all-powerful God. God was about to tell Abram what He would do through Sarai, and this would be at the hand and will of El Shaddai, the all-powerful and all sufficient God. There is nothing beyond His ability, including enabling a 99-year-old man to father a child.
Back in chapter 12 of Genesis, God had called Abram to go and he obediently went. Now God called Abram to obedience again: “Live in my presence and be blameless.” Abram had gone before, and now he was going to continue walking with God and living a life that honored Him. Abram had gotten ahead of God's plan when he had a child through Hagar. He probably wasn't aware of that at the time, but now he was about to learn of God's greater plan. Abram didn't hear a rebuke from God. God did not discipline Abram here. But he did call to Abram and Abram heard the call to live in God's presence and move forward in obedience. We should embrace that same call as well.
Genesis 17:3 – “Then Abram fell facedown and God spoke with him:”
A lot of times we tend to wallow in our past defeats or we keep reminding ourselves of our past sins. We don't need to do that. Giving up in defeat doesn't resolve anything. Instead, in those moments when we sin or get ahead of God, we need to run to him in repentance. The Bible tells us:
1 John 1:9 – “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
And then as we rest in confidence in God's forgiveness, we can then move forward in obedience with nothing holding us back. The apostle Paul said
Philippians 3:13-14 – “Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead, 14 I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God’s heavenly call in Christ Jesus.”
Take note of Abram’s response to God's call to obedience and his reminder of the covenant. Abram fell face down. This is the position of respect a person in that culture showed to one who was superior. It was in this position of humility that Abram acknowledged God Almighty truly is Almighty and expressed his willingness to obey. Abram was willing to do whatever the Lord required. When we worship, we need to worship God for who He is. We should always let God know that we acknowledge his unmatched authority.
Genesis 17:4-6 – ““As for me, here is my covenant with you: You will become the father of many nations. 5 Your name will no longer be Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I will make you the father of many nations. 6 I will make you extremely fruitful and will make nations and kings come from you.”
Remember that God previously had made promises to Abram relating to the land and his descendants, but now he formalized it with a covenant. There are many covenants found in Scripture, which are basically promises confirmed by an oath between two parties. This concept of a covenant is important in Scripture since it both defines and establishes God's relationship with His people. Abram, from this point on, would carry a sign and remembrance of this covenant: a new name. Abraham.
Names in the Old Testament carried meaning behind them. For all of his 99 years, Abram’s name meant “exalted father”, but now God changed his name to reflect the covenant and what God was doing in Abram’s life. Abram would now be Abraham. He could still be considered an exalted father, but even more so, he would now be seen as Abraham: father of many. At the same time, in verse 15, Sarai's name also would be changed to Sarah. This change was subtle since both names have their root in the word “princess”. God's name changes for both Abraham and Sarah highlighted His plan to bless the couple and their many descendants.
Genesis 17:7-9 – “I will confirm my covenant that is between me and you and your future offspring throughout their generations. It is a permanent covenant to be your God and the God of your offspring after you. 8 And to you and your future offspring I will give the land where you are residing—all the land of Canaan—as a permanent possession, and I will be their God.”
9 God also said to Abraham, “As for you, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations are to keep my covenant.”
Got outlined His covenant with Abraham, and it included several commitments. God would make Abraham the father of many nations. God would give Abraham many offspring. God would give Abraham the land as a permanent possession. This covenant wouldn't have an expiration date on it. It's important to add here that God never intended this covenant to be exclusive to Abraham's physical descendants, the Jews. The promise first given to Abraham extends to all who put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ. You might ask, how can I say that?
Galatians 3:29 – “And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, heirs according to the promise.”
We know from history that within the just a few generations, Abraham's descendants were many, but one of his offspring carries a very significant role that far outshines the others. Jesus was a direct descendant of Abraham, but He is also the Son of God. This promise first given to Abraham in these verses extends to those who put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ, including Christians today.
God made a covenant relationship with Abraham, and He wants a covenant relationship with us also. Even as He told Abraham, “Live in my presence and be blameless”, He also calls us to do the very same thing.
We can live in His presence because of Jesus Christ, and we can be blameless because Jesus has forgiven us. When we see all that God has done in Christ to make His covenant relationship with Him possible, we should respond just as Abraham did, falling face down before Him in humility and thankfulness. The certainty of failure has been replaced with a certainty of forgiveness. God redeems our failures and puts us back on the path to live in His presence with confidence even after we fail. That's why I can say that we can still have confidence when we fail. Praise God for His forgiveness when we fail Him!
