Our hands or His

DEVOTION

GENESIS

OUR HANDS OR HIS

Gen 16:1-6

16:1 Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian maidservant named Hagar; 2 so she said to Abram, "The LORD has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my maidservant; perhaps I can build a family through her." Abram agreed to what Sarai said. 3 So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian maidservant Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. 4 He slept with Hagar, and she conceived. When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress. 5 Then Sarai said to Abram, "You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my servant in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the LORD judge between you and me."  6 "Your servant is in your hands," Abram said. "Do with her whatever you think best." Then Sarai mistreated Hagar; so she fled from her.

NIV

Why would Abram agree to this? We switch for a moment to look at his wife Sarai. Surely Abram had shared all his experiences with the Lord God Most High. Certainly Abram had told her God had promised his descendants would outnumber the stars in the sky, or the dust of the earth. Sarai must have thought it was not going to happen because of her old age and still being barren, unless she took things into her own hands. We know Abram was a man of faith, but we were never told Sarai was a women of faith. Although she lived under the protection of her husband as well as his rule, she may not have accepted the promise of God. We know from further in this narrative when an angel of the Lord visits and confirms the promise again, she snickered. So we would have to conclude at this moment in time she does not ascribe to the promise and is not trusting in God or his promise. So she takes matters into her own hands and decides to offer her maidservant to her husband as a wife. First we should know Abram did not marry Hagar, no wedding ceremony and feast. He merely took her to have intimate relations, or sleep with her as we are told and she conceived. This is the beginning of something which has not turned out so well. Looking forward we know the story about these women and their sons never turned out well from then to now. We should not be too judgmental on want both Sarai and Abram did as far as her giving her maidservant to her husband from a moral standpoint. In the cultural of that day, it would have been acceptable behavior. In Addition, Abram had been told his descendants would come from his own body. So far we have not been told that the Lord God Most High had told him his descendants would also come from the body of Sarai. So when he was offered the opportunity to sleep with Hagar in order to have a son he might well have thought this is the way God is providing me with all these descendants. Plus, let’s face it, Abram was a man, not a perfect man, but just a man, not that is an excuse for his actions. But in his culture he did not need an excuse for his actions. Maybe we should not be so harsh on Sarai either as maybe she was trying to help her husband see the fulfillment of the promise. Yet that is not what we are told. Her motivation was self-centered. She wanted to build a family. Again we need to see the role of woman in that culture. Their identity was either being a daughter, wife or mother. Other than that, women had no identity of their own. She was a daughter and a wife, but not a mother. She bore no children for her husband, she was in an identity crisis and rather than trusting God, or at least asking God, she took matters into her own hands. This is the truth we need to see for our lives. It is way too easy to take the matters of our lives in our own hands rather than trusting the Lord. Even when we profess we live by faith, or rather we are believers, or Christians, we might tend to use our own judgement about situations. That age old saying, “God helps those who help themselves” might tend to influence our thinking, although it is not found anywhere in the scriptures, in words or intent. Sarai was certainly trying to help herself. If we profess Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior and understand the righteous live by faith, then we need to keep our lives out of our own hands. Sure we can decide if we want to eat meat or fish for dinner tonight. We can even decide what shirt we want to wear today, or if Monday or Tuesday is the best day to go golfing, or shopping or taking a walk. The point is the important issues of life should be in the hands of the Lord. Where we live, where we fellowship with other believers, yes, and even where we work. The course of our lives should be directed by our Lord, not by us. Because Sarai took this life changing course of her life into her own hands, things turned ugly. It would make sense that if we take life changing decisions into our own hands, things can turn ugly for us. We need to always be aware of the Spirit. God has promised us his word would be a lamp unto our feet. He will never lead us astray. We cannot make a move without knowing God is doing the moving. If we profess to live by faith, then we need to live by faith. When we do it on our own there is no faith. Sure there are those who never accept Jesus and live totally by their own choices, making their own way in life and seemly having a grand time with it. But we are not among that group, we have submitted our ways unto the Lord. We have submitted our lives unto God. It is not that we do not have the same mental acuity as unbelievers. We have the same abilities as anyone to make this life a good one, amassing as many possessions as we can. But we have decided to follow Jesus. That is the one choice, the one major decision we should take into our own hands. But after that, we then live in the Spirit. God has a plan for us and we need to live in accordance with his plan, not ours. It will never turn out well for us, if we reject his plan and live by ours. So is it our hands or his?