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The Soap Opera Bible Saga

Friends, I've been traversing the book of Genesis, and I have just gotten to the sibling rivalry (between Isaac and Ishmael) part of the Bible. Truth be told, I don’t know what to make of it. This chapter is so full of family drama, it’s like a soap opera…


Isaac, the long-awaited child of our favorite elderly couple, has finally arrived. Woo-hoo! But with him, comes a lasting feud between Isaac and Ishmael (remember him? Abraham’s son from Hagar, his wife Sarah’s servant… who was forced to have a child with Abraham because no way was Sarah going to become a mother even though God said she would be and look, now she is! Sorry… was that too sassy for you?).


When Isaac is a couple years old, Abraham and Sarah through him a party. And simply put (although this is really not simple because interpretations vary drastically), Sarah catches Ishmael doing something inappropriate at said party.


Depending on the translation, Ishmael is either playing with, mocking, scoffing at, or molesting Isaac (21:9).


And while I am so tempted to go on an epic side quest teaching you about the verbiage of Biblical Hebrew (the language of the Old Testament) and why translations range so widely, I think I’m the only one who would enjoy that lesson. So we’ll leave it at that—Ishmael did something to Isaac that enraged Sarah.


Eager to defend her son, Sarah marches up to Abraham and demands that Hagar and Ishmael be banished.


After much hesitation (I mean, Ishmael is his son, after all) and prayerful consideration, our ancient prophet sends the teenager and the servant into the desert to fend for themselves.


(See what I mean about soap-opera-level drama? Also, if you think that’s heartless, God actually told Abraham to do that. Sometimes the Lord seems cruel, but it’s only because we can’t see the bigger picture.)


As you can imagine, Hagar and Ishmael quickly run out of water. And strength. And hope. It is in this hopelessness that they collapse, defeated, sobbing.


It is also in this hopelessness that God shows up:


“God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, ‘What is the matter, Hagar? Do not be afraid; God has heard the boy crying as he lies there’” (21:17)


Instantly, a well of water appears to nourish Hagar and Ishmael (21:19).


And what’s even more spectacular, in my opinion, is what God does next; He says that Ishmael will be a great nation, and that He will be with him (21:18, 20).


Readers, what’s so striking about this passage is that God is not only proving how faithful He is—He promised that Abraham’s descendants will be as numerous as the stars, so both of Abraham’s sons will be… even though Ishmael was born out of sin and fear and mistrust and is not the son destined to be God’s great nation, and despite the fact that there will be millennia’s worth of bloodshed between these two (aka, Jews and Muslims; Jews and Arabs; Israel and Palestine)… He will still make Ishmael a great nation. Not His nation, but a nation. And will be with him. Because He promised. And He is the great Promise Keeper (wow, that was the longest run-on sentence ever… and we’re still not done)—but He is also giving us an insight into our prayer life… or lack thereof.


You see, as far as Scriptures dictate, there’s no record of Hagar and Ishmael praying to God.


All we know is that “she said to herself, ‘let me not see the death of the boy”” (21:16). That’s in verse 16. Our fear fighting verse is the one right after.


All Hagar did was speak to herself and sob. And Ishmael didn’t even say anything; he just sobbed!


And yet, God met them there.


They had no words to pray (and quite frankly, I don’t know if they followed our God or some pagan one), but He heard their cries. He saw their struggle.


Friends, the Bible says that “the Lord is close to the brokenhearted and rescues those who are crushed in spirit” (Psalm 34:18). Sometimes we won’t have the words. Sometimes we will be too lost and angry and anxious to even think of praying.


But God’s nearness is not dependent on our eloquent prayers.


He is still close. He will still be our Shield, our comfort, refuge, strength (Gen 15:1).


Even when we don’t understand what He’s doing, we can rest in the Truth that He is working for good… we just can’t see the bigger picture.



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Creation Spotlight:


I Know the Author is inspired by Hebrews 12:2. This sticker reminds us God is the author and perfector of our faith... and we can trust Him in all aspects of our lives. 

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