Tag: Hagar

The Rest of “Do Not Judge”

Old Testament: Genesis 15 & 16

Poetry: Psalm 5

New Testament: Matthew 7:1-12

If Sarai of Genesis 16 was my neighbor or Bible study partner or worse, my daughter-in-law, I’m not sure I would like her much. There is the big problem of Sarai sending her maidservant Hagar to sleep with her husband Abram. Perhaps, with a bit of study I could accept this as a cultural Canaanite tradition which was indeed an effective way of fulfilling God’s first command to Adam and Eve: Be fruitful and increase in number (Genesis 1:27). It gets trickier to do this God’s way when there are more than two people on earth, but still no law. In fairness to Sarai, she did not have the benefit of God’s law yet as she was born hundreds of years before Moses. But, even if I were to give her grace and excuse her from that act, there is the whole problem with her attitude and overall mean spirit. Even when her plan works out as she had orchestrated, she quickly casts blame on her husband and mistreats/abuses Hagar. Not a pretty picture, Sarai. 

I am glad I am so much better. I would never impatiently try to help God give me blessings in my own way not His. You would never find me blaming my husband. And I have certainly never ever mistreated – anyone. Well, probably not enough to make them run away into the desert. 

Maybe, I am exactly what Jesus was talking about in Matthew 7 when he begins, “Do not judge, or you too will be judged.  For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you” (vs 1-2). Unfortunately, the world has heard just the first three words, “Do Not Judge” and has twisted Jesus’ words into permission to sin and accept sin. But that is not the case! Jesus tells us over and over again (and even multiple times in this same chapter) to look carefully and judge whether people and actions and ideas are good or bad, righteous or wicked, wise or foolish, innocent or dangerous, taking us closer to God or further from Him. He warns you and I about the wolf in sheep’s clothing who wants to deceive you and figurative dogs and pigs that will tear you to pieces. And if you have already decided that it is not your place to judge if they are good or evil or to discern if they want what is good and godly for you or what will destroy you, then I fear you are already sitting in a very dangerous spot. 

So, what did Jesus mean when he started out with the words, “Do not Judge…or you too will be judged” and then gave the excellent illustration of the speck and the plank? Make sure you read it for yourself from Matthew 7. I think he was saying judge yourself first in order to be helpful in then spotting sin in others. Specks are hard to see clearly when we have a plank lodged in our eye socket. And our restored sight is crucial in then being able to delicately help our neighbor remove the irritating speck in their eye. When we judge rightly we can start out by putting every single one of us in the sorry sinking boat of sinners in need of a Savior – and make sure you jump into that boat first. Stop bad talking and blaming the neighbors and church members and see yourself for what you are and what you do. Don’t sugar-coat the truth trying to make yourself look better than the rest. 

I am no better than Sarai. I have been quick to blame my husband and my kids and my friends, when the fault was more with me. I have mistreated people, sometimes to their face, sometimes behind their back. And I have tried to ‘fix’ things my way rather than patiently trusting God for what He said He would do in His time. I can be very selfish and prideful and rude. And the list goes on. And if I don’t accept and work to correct these problems and sins in myself FIRST then I will be hypocritical and ineffective when I, with that plank still stuck in my eye, turn to help my neighbor who has a speck in her eye.

Jesus was not saying specks and planks are okay and we should leave them be. Sin is not okay. He was telling us the order in which to judge and correct – self first SO THAT you can actually be useful in helping others recognize and remove the sins that are affecting their sight and health and well-being. Sin surgery for yourself first. Recognize it for what it is and get it out! Then look with compassion not contempt on the Sarais and Hagars and neighbors of the world, some of whom do not even know God’s law and have no idea they are stuck in evil because they only heard “Do Not Judge” and never heard the rest.

-Marcia Railton

Reflection Questions

  1. When you honestly look at yourself what sins do you find? How can you work at removing them? What roles do Jesus and God’s word play in surgery to remove sin?
  2. When you encounter sinful stories how can you respond less like a hypocrite and more like “The God who sees me” that Hagar experienced in the desert in Genesis 16?
  3. What is the problem with not judging what you see around you? 
  4. How does Matthew 7:12 relate to the “Do not Judge” part of Matthew 7? In what other situations is it wise to live by Matthew 7:12?
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The God Who Sees Me

Old Testament Reading: Genesis 15 & 16

Psalm Reading: Psalm 10

New Testament Reading: Matthew 9

We have a need to be heard.

We have a need to be seen.

In today’s Psalm, the psalmist begins writing about a wicked man who preys on the weak, he doesn’t seek God, “in all his thoughts there is no room for God” (Psalm 10:4), he is haughty and God’s laws “are far from him” (10:5), he is full of lies and threats, and, “He says to himself, ‘God has forgotten; he covers his face and never sees'”(10:11).

There are those who would like to think that God never sees. Don’t be one of them.

In the second part of the Psalm, the psalmist calls out for God to arise and take action, remembering the helpless.

“Why does the wicked man revile God: Why does he say to himself, ‘He won’t call me to account’? But you, O God, do SEE Trouble and grief; you consider it to take it in hand…You HEAR, O LORD, the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you LISTEN to their cry, defending the fatherless and the oppressed” (Psalm 10:13, 14a, 17a)

And it just so happens that our reading in Genesis has an excellent example of this. Unfortunately, our very own Sarai and Abram, to whom God had promised a child and descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky, got tired seeking God’s way and waiting on Him. Perhaps Sarai didn’t think God really saw her trouble and grief, or wasn’t able to do anything about it, if He did see. So her solution (and an accepted custom of the time – still not making it right) was to have her husband sleep with her maidservant Hagar and build a family through her. Hagar did become pregnant and jealousy and bitterness mounted within the household leading Hagar to run away.

She had been oppressed, abused and used.

But God heard her cry.

An angel of the LORD tells her it will be safe for her to go back to Sarai and resume her servant’s role, but that won’t be the end of her story. She will have a child and her descendants will be too numerous to count. I love that she was told to name her child Ishmael which means ‘God hears’. What a great life-long reminder she would have every time she said his name. I also love Hagar’s response. After God named her child, this oppressed and helpless Egyptian servant girl who just met God in the wilderness gives a name to God. “She gave this name to the LORD who spoke to her: ‘You are the God who sees me,’ for she said, ‘I have now seen the One who sees me.'” (Genesis 16:13 NIV).

You are the God who sees me.

What a privilege to be seen by God.

In our Matthew reading we see that God has passed along this compassionate, caring, seeing trait to his son Jesus as well. Jesus sees the paralytic in need of forgiveness and healing. Jesus sees (and eats with and calls) the sinners and tax collectors (much to the dismay of the pharisees). Jesus sees the sick, the dead, the blind, the demon-possessed, the crowds that are like sheep without a shepherd. He sees and he has compassion and he gives hope and a new life. I am sure God is proud of His son – seeing these traits passed down.

Jesus says there is still work to be done. The harvest fields are full of the sick, the sinners, the oppressed, the Hagars. They want to be seen. They want to be introduced to the God who sees. Pray for God to show you where He wants you to work in his harvest field.

-Marcia Railton

Reflection Questions

  1. Are there times you have resembled the man of Psalm 10:4 – “In his pride the wicked does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God.” How will you make room in your thoughts for God and seek Him? What role does pride play?
  2. When have you known God sees you? How can you introduce others to the God who sees and His Son who gives a new life?
  3. What did God reveal about Himself to you in your reading of His words today?
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To Trust God

Genesis 16-18

Genesis 17 1 NIV

In chapter 12, we met Abram and the covenant story of the Bible began. God expands on that covenant in chapter 15 when he promises that Abram, who was childless, would have a son who would be the father of nations. Genesis 15:6 says, “Abram believed the LORD, and He credited it to him as righteousness.”

 

Many of us wonder how we can be righteous, and some of us may feel like, to be righteous, we need to live a perfect, sinless life. However, we can learn from the life and attitude of Abram that righteous living is not only about right actions. Righteous living also centers around our belief. What does it mean to believe in God? Many assume that this belief is just to acknowledge that God exists. However, James says that even the demons know that God exists and shudder (James 2:19). Belief that produces righteousness is not simply that. Instead, belief is trusting in God and letting that trust influence our actions. Through belief, we do end up living a righteous life, but that is because we know that God’s plan for our life is trustworthy- it is the best way to live.

 

To trust God is not a one time choice that we make. It takes a lifetime to learn how to truly trust God, and many times it seems like we are taking one step forward and two steps back on our trust journey. Abram certainly experienced this. In chapter 15, he believed in God’s promises and trusted him. But, in chapter 16, he tries to build a family in a way that was not God’s plan through his servant, Hagar. Then, in chapter 17, he shows his commitment to the covenant through circumcision. Our lives will often mirror this. When we feel like God is delaying in his promises, we may stop trusting him and try to fulfill those promises ourselves, falling prey to the lie the serpent spoke in Genesis 3 when he said, “Did God really say…?” We have to remember that God’s timing is the perfect timing and be assured of his faithfulness.

 

Where do you need to trust God today? What steps do you need to take in faith to show that trust?

~ Cayce Fletcher
To read or listen to today’s Bible passage check out https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=genesis+16-18&version=NIV
Tomorrow’s reading will be Genesis 19-21 as we continue on the 2020 Chronological Bible Reading Plan

Affecting Future Generations

Gen 16 1
Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar; so she said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.” Abram agreed to what Sarai said. So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. He slept with Hagar, and she conceived. When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress. Then Sarai said to Abram, “You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my slave in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the Lord judge between you and me.”  “Your slave is in your hands,” Abram said. “Do with her whatever you think best.” Then Sarai mistreated Hagar; so she fled from her.  The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. And he said, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?” “I’m running away from my mistress Sarai,” she answered.  Then the angel of the Lord told her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her.” The angel added, “I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count.”  The angel of the Lord also said to her: “You are now pregnant and you will give birth to a son. You shall name him Ishmael, for the Lord has heard of your misery.  He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers.”  She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.”
Genesis 16:1‭-‬13 NIV
In this chapter, we see a choice that Abram and Sarai made, that still impacts the world today.  They were trying to fulfill a promise that God had made, by their design instead of waiting for God.  It’s easy for us to sit back and think, ‘Wow no way would I do that if God promised me something!’ Fact is though, we turn our backs on God’s promises all the time.  We force decisions in our lives based on our wants, instead of truly seeking God’s will first.  But what really gets me is the possible consequences of our decisions.
It isn’t always just us that pays the price, our families and friends can be significantly affected by our decisions.  If you’re a parent you see this all the time.  Might just be little things like choosing to stay late at work instead of going to a game, or it could be big things like how a divorce can change everyone’s life involved.  If you’re a son or daughter, you feel those decisions, but you also know that your choices affect your parents.  Could be something minor like not doing something you said you would, or something major like a DUI.  Point is that all of us have to realize that how we live our lives can affect how others live theirs.  And some of, if not many of,  the decisions we make affect future generations.
This is true for good decisions also, the legacy we leave on life isn’t just about our screw ups, it’s about our accomplishments also, all part of God’s design and his plan of grace.  So if you’ve screwed up, no worries, there’s forgiveness.  But that might mean the consequences are set, and we have to rely on that grace and work hard to make better choices moving forward.  Just remember next time you have a major choice in front of you, am I seeking God’s will or my own?  Does this choice honor the people around me as well as myself? If we take time to evaluate our choices like that, I think we’ll have fewer regrets in them.
Jerry Briggs