Alan8

The interesting thing about the circumstances that Hagar finds herself is that most of it was none of her doing. As a slave she had no say about going into Abraham and conceiving a child. True she should not have acted to Sarah as she did but the circumstances she finds herself in have happened to her because of Abraham and Sarah's decisions. If the truth was really known we get down on ourselves and discouraged many times for far less than Hagar did. Here was Hagar a slave girl, no where to go, out on the street, the only food and water was what she could carry - definitely a very serious situation. But the thing that Hagar found out and the thing we find out from this passage is that when the situation looks the darkest and we think we are alone in our circumstances, our God sees and He is there by our side seeing us through. When we allow Him to speak to us during these times of darkness, it will bring meaning to our situations and testings.

He is wanting Hagar to give an account of her wanderings from his perfect will. God sends Hagar back to Sarah because that is His plan for her at the moment even though it meant eating humble pie and may be subject to more abuse. Apparently God wanted more of Hagar out of herself before she would be sent on her way. There have been times I have reacted and got myself out of the place God wanted for me. It is very humbling. As Christ looked beyond the suffering to the glory that would be His later on He was able to endure the cross. We should not focus on the present situation but focus on what will be ours with Christ when He comes again!

This passage is difficult to understand unless you know the culture of the times. In the culture of the time of Abraham a barren woman was looked upon as God's curse. God was withholding His blessing if a woman was barren. Sarah knowing that and now past the age of child bearing (in the natural)seeing how easy Hagar became pregnant was too much for Sarah to take in. In her jealousy and pressure in her inability to produce a child for Abraham she takes her anger out on Abraham. She takes her anger out on Hagar because she knows that should be her with the baby and not Hagar. Of course Abraham is happy now that he has an heir (the son will come from him even though it did not come from Sarah). Hagar is happy to have a son that will be Abraham's heir. Is she trying to get of Hagar or the baby? I don't think we will ever know that for sure. Her actions could be seen as though she was trying but anger can take you further than you want to go in any situation. Much of this is Abraham's fault. How? Because he never consulted God before he went in to Hagar and had a son. If he would have consulted God first this would not have happened. God did not reveal to Abraham until after Ishmael was born that the heir would come from Sarah. However, if he would have consulted God first before he went in to Hagar this whole mess would not have happened.

In Genesis 15:8 Abraham said, "Lord God, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?" When he asked, God entered into a covenant with Abraham. It was a covenant accompanied by signs,. sacrifices and a solemn oath that sealed the relationship with blessings and cursings for keeping or breaking it. By using the divided carcasses the parties of the covenant walked between the divided carcasses actually putting a curse on themselves in effect saying may I be cut up too like these carcasses if I violate the terms of this covenant. Both parties to the covenant are to walk between the pieces. The interesting thing about this covenant was that God only walked through these pieces binding Himself to this covenant. There was 2000 years ago another who made a covenant with mankind. When Jesus died on Calvary that blood was better than any animal blood and it was a binding covenant. When Jesus cried it is finished it meant not just the plan of salvation is completed but also a binding covenant on the part of God that He will fulfill His promises to us if we will believe like Abraham.

I think all of us at the beginning of our walk with the Lord have gotten frustrated and even angry for not fulfilling his promises to us immediately. A lot of times when we are just babes He answers some of our prayers immediately and then we begin to think we have a "genie in a bottle here." We can get what we want when we want it. After we mature a little bit in the Lord He doesn't answer always when we want Him to because He is trying to develop us into the image of Christ. So he teaches us patience. He teaches us to trust in Him. He wants a closer relationship with us so He delays somethings in order for us to mature. Maybe even after we mature some in Him we would not want that thing anyway so He delays knowing that we will not want it later on. Even though we think we know what is best for us, He knows what is best.

o All the way back in the Book of Genesis God had already established the basis of righteousness - belief in what God has said. In order for the redeemer to come Abraham had to have a son and so Abraham believed God. How are we saved? By believing God. Believing God that He sent His Son, believing God that His Son died for us and the third day He rose from the dead, believing God that Christ's death paid the penalty for our sin. When we believe God, God counts us righteous.

I heard a message by a preacher that said everything is Father-filtered. I believe that. Anything that comes to us must first go through our heavenly Father who knows what is best for us. In that respect He is our shield. According to the passage God says I am your shield, your very great reward. God is our reward. Think of all that God is and what He does. That is our reward! If He is truly your Sovereign it means that He is truly your Lord. You are His slave and He is your Master. You have no rights of your own and as one person has aptly said - God is the One who calls the shots!

Abraham by refusing to take the spoils of war from the King of Sodom shows he wanted to distance himself from this unholy alliance. As has been stated earlier it is God who gives us the strength to get wealth. If perhaps God would have given Abraham that spoil perhaps he would have taken it but for an evil king to do so, he refused. I believe it was a testimony also not only to the pagan friends he had with him but to his army and to his nephew Lot. After all the reason for this pursuit was not to get rich but to rescue family. Abraham kept his eyes on the goal and that was all that mattered. This tells us something about Abraham's character. If God was going to make him rich that is one thing but not for an evil king. Abraham would accept from God what He had for him. Abraham also wanted to distance himself from any unholy alliance that could possibly begin by accepting spoils from the king of Sodom. It would be good for us to keep as far away from evil and evil alliances as we can, not only for our own sakes but for the sakes of those around us. We see how Lot's choices of making alliances with this unholy city just did not affect Lot but also affected his family as well. We would be wise to think before we got involved in an questionable activity involving unrighteousness or those associated with it.

Abraham gave a tithe to Melchizedek to not only as an act of worship but because he realized that it was God who brought the victory. Melchizedek acknowledged that the God of Abraham was possessor of heaven and earth and has delivered the enemy into thine (Abraham's) hands. Tithing today represents the same kind of worship. We ought to recognize like Melchizedek and Abraham that the God we serve is possessor of heaven and earth and has given us the victory over the world, the flesh and the devil. Ultimately for Abraham it was God who gave him the strength and wisdom to go against an enemy that was more powerful than he. Today it is God who gives us the strength not only to get the wealth that we have but the wisdom to live each day victorious. WE should tithe to God first and by first I mean even before our taxes are taken out so that is tithing on our gross. We should do that because we should begin with God who has given us the victory!

Abraham's military expedition to rescue Lot shows Abraham's integrity and courage in the face of insurmountable odds. Abraham could have been just like a lot of us - "Well he took the best portion of land, now he is in trouble. Let him get out of it himself. But he didn't. A brother was in need and he went and helped. Also Abraham had trained 318 men in his household. Obviously by this time he is very wealthy to have this many men. And they are trained men. I believe he learned his lesson as he went down into Egypt and was a sojourner there and other parts he was probably picked on and taken advantage of and so he raised up men for protection. His abilities definitely show forth as he works out a strategy for his little armies and his allies. He made a covenant or a treaty with his neighbors so when he was in trouble they would come and lend a hand as well as he would help them. What is interesting is that they were Amorites who later became enemies of Israel. However Abraham lived peaceable with them which is a great testimony. Something else here that could be missed but you need to read in between the lines. Abraham showed great courage here attacking a much bigger and powerful enemy. I believe Abraham knew that he would not die in battle. How do I know? Because of God's promises to him. I will make thee a great nation. He was not a nation yet. If he believed God's promises then it meant that he could go into this battle confident regardless of the odds and come out victorious. A man or woman today in the will of God is practically indestructible until God is through with him.

Abraham's material wealth reflected God's blessing on him. God said in Genesis 12:2-3 that I will bless you. I do believe that material wealth does reflect God's blessing on a person's life. That of course is totally different from God's favor. I believe He blesses many with wealth even those who are not His own. There is a verse that says it is the goodness of God that leadeth a person to repentance. On the other hand physical poverty does not always reflect God's curse. Jesus said that foxes have holes.... but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head. Paul at times was in poverty and sometimes in plenty but Paul said I have learned that in whatever state I am therewith to be content. That is the attitude that the Christian is to have concerning wealth or poverty.

When both kings took Sarah there were negative consequences as a result. Sarah was not just Abraham's but God's as well. As a result there were negative consequences (i.e. sickness, closing of the wombs, etc). When God revealed to the kings that Abraham and Sarah were husband and wife, although the kings were angry that Abraham did not reveal this to them, the kings sent them on their way with the gifts anyway so they became richer than before the incidents happened. We do not see in Scripture what happened to the kings after Abraham was sent away but because the kings blessed them I believe the kings received a blessing as well.

I like what someone has said: God paints His saints warts and all. Understand the first time Abraham has just begun his walk with God. Has any of us had a perfect walk from the very beginning? If we had we wouldn't be here. After the first time you would think that Abraham would have learned to trust God so the second time would be different. Maybe God put it in the Word to let us know if we flunked the test the first time we will go through it again. After all the years experience the test came around again and it was the same response. I am not in Abraham's shoes and I wouldn't want to be. Despite Abraham's lack of faith, God is faithful to Abraham. That is the lesson in these accounts - not to see how much we can get away with but how faithful our God really is!

Obviously, God hates adultery. When God instituted marriage back in Genesis 2 they were to be one flesh; that means inseparable. Unfortunately today in our world marriage is taken far too lightly. We as observers in the life of Abraham should take notice that this situation with Abraham happened twice. Once should have been enough but don't you think God was saying something to us about marriage when he repeated it a second time? Our foundation of society is built around a marriage covenant. And if it wasn't enough with those two incidents, just so we got the point God made it one of the commandments - thou shalt not commit adultery! Yet today society continues to take lightly God's commands. Is it any wonder why the world is in the mess it is in today? Many of the problems in the world today stem from taking lightly this marriage covenant. Think about it. Homosexuality, adultery, fornication, and even many of the abortions would be prevented if people today would take seriously what God takes seriously. Praise God that it is forgivable. David not only committed adultery but also murder when he had Urriah moved to the front lines in order to be killed. David knew he did wrong. David says in Psalm 51:16-17 "For "thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise." John says in I John 1:9 "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." All means just that all, including adultery and murder. Praise God his blood is greater than the sin of adultery or the sin of murder or any other sin we can commit!

The sickness came as a result of Pharaoh taking someone who did not belong to him. Understand that Abraham and Sarah were chosen by God to be instruments through which an entire race would come and eventually the Messiah. Sarah in the hands of Pharaoh would not accomplish God's purposes so God had to do something in order for Abraham and Sarah to get back together once again. I see in this something fantastic: despite our human weaknesses and our weak faith (which Abraham had at this point) God still brought about His will and promises for Abraham and Sarah!What a mighty God we serve!

Q1. (12:10) What dangers faced Abraham and his family as aliens and sojourners in Egypt and elsewhere? Who might oppress them? What "aliens and sojourners" live in your community? Why did they come? How are they being oppressed or discriminated against by employers and others in the community? What can you and your church do to "love those who are aliens"? This is a perspective that I had not seen before - the fact that they were new on the block and so they could be taken advantage of even so far as being raped and killed and possessions taken from them. Of course today in our country some of those things could not happen (i.e. killed)and many years ago the other things would be hard to find in this culture but not any more. As a stranger and sojourner you could very easily be taken advantage of. If you don't believe me just get lost in a big city and see what happens? We got lost outside of Washington DC trying to find our way and if it wasn't for police that came by, we were following people who said they would take us back to the route we were looking for but they were going the opposite way the police took us. Who knows what they were possibly going to do to us once they got us to where they wanted us. Perhaps that is why we read a little later that Abraham had a small army with him to rescue Lot when war broke out in Sodom. Abraham as he was getting wealthier had to protect what he had. Realizing that it was more than he himself could do had a small army - a band of men to help him. As someone else said in the posts, we as Peter says are all strangers and pilgrims to this world system. We are passing through being citizens of another country. Moses told the Israelites in the law to treat strangers and foreigners like you would want to be treated because remember you once were a stranger in a strange land. What a great witness that could be for the Lord!

Calling on the Lord is recognizing you need His help in a critical need. When I boarded that plan for San Francisco to work at the Teen Challenge during the summer of my Freshman and Sophomore years I called on the Lord for guidance and direction. I never took an illegal drug in my life, never been that far from home alone. When I got off the plan I did not know what awaited me. I called on God for guidance. I called on God for protection. Now that I have been a pastor for 25 years I still call on the Lord for wisdom!I recognize I can not do it without Him!

Calling on the Lord is recognizing you need His help in a critical need. When I boarded that plan for San Francisco to work at the Teen Challenge during the summer of my Freshman and Sophomore years I called on the Lord for guidance and direction. I never took an illegal drug in my life, never been that far from home alone. When I got off the plan I did not know what awaited me. I called on God for guidance. I called on God for protection. Now that I have been a pastor for 25 years I still call on the Lord for wisdom!I recognize I can not do it without Him!

Between my freshman and sophomore year in Bible school I decided to do something over the summer. Teen Challenge was always something that interested me because they came to our church so I decided to go help out at a Teen Challenge Center. To make a long story short, I decided to go to one where they would work with people who may be suicidal. Before I came to the Lord I was suicidal. So I thought this would be great! I asked where it was and the interviewer said San Francisco! Man, I didn't want to go that far from home. I lived on the east coast! I had to raise my own money which I figured I would need at least a thousand dollars. Well if the Lord wanted me there, He would provide. Well He did provide and the stipulation to the Lord was that it had to be without my parent's help and He came through. Well I got on that plane scared. Here I am basically a home boy, never took a drug in my life thrust into a home setting with 28 other drug addicts. Boy, I thought, I really got myself into it this time. But God spoke to me on the plane and said to show those addicts my love. God moved in ways I never saw before in my life and that summer changed my life! If I would not have been obedient I would have missed some real blessings in my life!

Q2. (12:2-3) In what ways was Abraham blessed. How have all the peoples of the earth been blessed? In what way does Abraham continue bless people through your life? Abraham was blessed in many ways. He became the father of several nations. He became very wealthy. Had an heir miraculously. As Dr. Wilson has said in his notes Abraham has been an inspiration to many people. I think part of the reason is we can see ourselves in Abraham. I don't believe he obeyed fully at first. Several times he lied to protect himself at the expense of his wife. He can be an inspiration because if God paints pictures with warts and all like He did Abraham and still used him mightily, then there is hope for me to be used as well. All the people of the earth have been blessed through Abraham because the Messiah comes through his lineage. Abraham continues to bless people through my life when they see Jesus Christ shine through me. If it wasn't for Abraham it would not have been possible.

In answer to the question. The Lord called me into the ministry but I did not respond at first. The reason was I was fairly new in the Lord. I wanted to wait, get more grounded to make sure it was the Lord calling me and not my own wishful thinking. During the time I did get deeper in the Lord and it also got me grounded in a church and then from there it was not too difficult to determine which Bible school to attend. However the timing was important. I waited for several years and as I did I was getting more and more comfortable in the job that I was doing. That is what happens sometimes when we are only half obedient. Things can get in there and distract us or pull us down. I believe Abraham's father and nephew were definitely distractions to God's will for him. When my supervisor came to me and said we would like you to take a couple classes at the community college during the evenings and afterwards we will promote you and later you could even be president of the company. At that point, I was close enough to the Lord to know I needed to get out and get to Bible school or else the distraction would become a hindrance to God's will.

I totally agree with Klawncare. I believe the call was for Abraham and Sarah and not for Terah and Lot. In the end Abraham had a lot of grief over his nephew. If they were idol worshipers why would God call them? They could only serve to pull Abraham down. Perhaps Abraham's influence did have some affect on Lot but some of the things he does seems to be very questionable indeed. We will never know what the outcome would have been if only Abraham and Sarah left by themselves.

Hello to everyone, My name is Alan and I am a pastor. I am taking these lessons and probably many more as study aids for me. I am planning to do at least a year study in the Book of Genesis and the Bible characters in Genesis are a fascinating study. Looking forward to starting. I agree with Brian - that the internet can be used for a lot of questionable things but praise God it can also be used to bring honor and glory to His name! It is fantastic to see people from other parts of the world in this forum also. Hopefully from your cultures you can add perspective that we can not see from our culture. This will be exciting. What is more exciting is that people from all over the world can come together, who would not have otherwise come together and learn together principles and precepts from the Word of God! What better way to bring people together than around the Word of God! Looking forward to it! Blessings Alan