Finding God Wanting: The Church in the Days of Abram (4), Genesis 16

So far in our study of the church in the time of the Patriarchs we have seen that the fortunes of the church do not always move in the direction going from strength to strength. There are periods of persecution by men, hard providences, what feels like desertion by God, sin among members of the church, and even our own moral failures. We recall that early in his sojourn in the land of Canaan, Abram, because he was afraid of Pharaoh, deceived Pharaoh and allowed his wife to be taken into Pharaoh’s harem.

This evening we are going to look at another sin into which Abram stumbled, one that had significant consequences for his immediate family and for future generations of the church. Tonight we will be looking at a few verses from Genesis 16.

Surveying God’s providence, verse 1

Genesis 16:1 says, “Now Sarai Abram’s wife bare him no children.” This comes just after a promise in Genesis 15:5, “And [God] brought [Abram] forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and [God] said unto him, So shall thy seed be.”

Between these two verses, God has made a covenant with Abram. Also, he has been very specific in telling Abram about the future of his family, how they will be slaves in a strange land, and how they will return to the land of Canaan. There is lots of revelation. It’s evident that God has a plan in mind, and it is a plan that will ultimately bless Abram and his seed.

Nonetheless, Abram is faced with a fact, and that fact is stated in verse 1 of chapter 16: “Now Sarai Abram’s wife bare him no children.” Facts are hard things to get around. They pop up at the most inconvenient times and they are often very brazen. They are sometimes not afraid to challenge the very word of God. In this case, we have a fact that seems to stand in the most direct opposition to God’s promise.

Abram makes a mistake at this point in giving too much credence to his interpretation of this fact. Instead of remembering that God’s word is the perspicuous and plain communication, he sets the providence of God, the fact of Sarai’s barrenness, on equal footing. He finds God wanting—not being quite straightforward with him—and slow in his providence—so he gives in to a worldly, immoral work-around to try and solve God’s problem for him.

Finding God wanting

When we find God wanting, it leads us into a multitude of errors.

Blaming God for our circumstances, v. 2

Look at v. 2, “And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, the Lord hath restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai.”

You see that God is blamed for Abram and Sarai’s circumstances. Sarai says, “The Lord hath restrained me from bearing.” Of course, this is true as far as it goes. But Sarai is really saying more than this. From what follows, it’s clear that she means that not only has God restrained her from bearing children, but that he will always do so. In other words, there is no help in God for their barrenness. In fact, he could solve the problem, but for some reason, he just won’t.

Justifying our inventions, v. 2

If God is to blame, then it’s easy to justify ourselves in inventing alternatives to faith. When it comes down to it, there is little practical difference between saying that “God is wrong, so I don’t have to obey him or wait for him,” and saying “God apparently doesn’t really mean what he said in plain language, so I’ll figure out some way to make it happen on my own.”

This was the solution of the unbelieving Jews in Ezekiel’s audience who would not believe from the plain preaching of Ezekiel that God was going to make an end of Judah. After a particularly clear message in chapter 20, Ezekiel cries, “Ah Lord God, they say of me, Doth he not speak in parables?” (Ezk 20:49).

Now, we are very reluctant to come right out and say “God is wrong, God is unfair, God is not keeping his promises.” We’re much more prone to think that God didn’t really mean what he seemed to say. He must have meant something else. We say, “I’ll figure out what he meant, and at the same time,” by the way, “whatever I come up with will be much easier on my flesh.”

Acting against nature, v. 3

In the present case, this leads Abram and Sarai to sin even against nature. What woman would want to give her young handmaid to her husband as a second wife? You would think this would be the last thing she would want.

And as for Abram, we see how careful he is later to find a wife for his son from the daughters of his believing family back in Haran. But here, he takes a wife for himself from the Egyptians, the would be mother of all those who would inherit the covenant promises.

It is likely, in fact, that Hagar was added to the household at the time Abram slipped into faithlessness previously, when he told Pharaoh that Sarai was merely his sister. We are told in chapter 12 that Pharaoh gave Abram, among other things, maidservants. Sometimes the remnants of an earlier sin come back to plague us later.

Shifting the blame when things don’t work out, v. 5

This plan quickly goes awry, v. 5, “And Sarai said unto Abram, My wrong be upon thee: I have given my maid into thy bosom; and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes: the Lord judge between me and thee.”

When Hagar finds that she is pregnant, she has difficulty thinking of herself as the mother of Sarai’s child. That’s hardly surprising. Chattel slavery, forced marriage, one’s child being considered the property of someone else, is not a moral good, and therefore it is not consistent with the law, either natural or revealed.

When Sarai finds this out she tries to blame Abram for it. Earlier she had blamed God. Her reasoning from that point on hadn’t produced the desired effect, so now she blames Abram. Strife often points to more fundamental problems.

Consequences, verses 10-12

Lastly, and briefly, we consider the consequences, vv. 10-12: “And the angel of the Lord said to Hagar, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the Lord hath heard thy affliction. And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man’s hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.”

We hardly need to describe the consequences of this thing down through all the ages of the history of Israel. We sing in Psalm 83—800 years later—of the confederated conspiracy of the Ishmaelites and the Hagarenes against Israel. It’s still with us to this day.

The lesson for us is to continue to trust God, taking him plainly in his word. We need to do this even though we think we can plausibly reinterpret the Bible to mean something that is more convenient to us. We don’t want to compromise in the preaching of the word or the worship of God to suit the world and bring more warm bodies into the church. We need to maintain the truth of creation from nothing in the space of six days in the face of ridicule. We must keep the Sabbath day even though it offends our friends.

Ultimately, we want to please God and bring glory to him, even if it takes several hundred years before anyone sees the results. That was God’s time scale with Abram. We shouldn’t be surprised if it is the same with us, and that we may see only the bare outlines of the fulfillment in our own lifetimes.