January 29

Commentary and reflection:

The story of these two chapters is fascinating. We are reading about the lives of imperfect people, people who believed, but then faltered. People with issues in less than perfect families. Real people, not wax figures.

God’s promise to Abram of a lineage as numerous as the stars in the sky would be fulfilled, even though he was over 80 years old. And it would not be through human means and conjectures, like in his servant Eliezer, or in his servant’s son, but it would be fulfilled through the son of Abram and Sarah.
The promise would not be fulfilled immediately. Its fulfillment would have to be awaited with patience. Abram was to go to rest in old age. His descendants would be oppressed for 400 years; but in the end it would come,
18 On the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying:
“To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates. Genesis 15:18

Getting ahead of God to “help” Him brought serious problems to the house, endangered Abram’s marriage, brought great and deep suffering, including to innocent people, and even put at risk the fulfillment of the promise.
Note how God and Abram respected Sarah place as wife for the preservation of the family and the promise. However, Hagar and Ishmael were not abandoned. “You-Are-[e]the-God-Who-Sees” saw them and took care of them. They received a promise as well.
May God grant you and your family a very blessed day.

Pastor Abel Paulin