Creating an Ishmael

In the book of Genesis we are introduced to a man named Abram and witness God’s blessing and calling upon his life. As their relationship develops Abram voices his concerns over having to leave all that God gives him to a servant, because he has no heirs, and God makes Abram a promise.

Then the word of the Lord came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.^” He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” Genesis 15:4-5 NIV

Although Abram was closing in on eighty by this time, the Bible says Abram believed what he was told and it was credited to him as righteousness, yet in the very next chapter we see him take Sarai’s servant as his wife to have a child through her since Sarai was barren. So God made Abram a promise and Abram believed him, but instead of waiting for God to fulfil his promise, Abram decides to help God out and ushers Hagar in.

Until this point we didn’t even know Hagar’s name, although she suddenly becomes a pivotal character in our story. If only she had been found barren too, she would have been little more than a side note, yet that’s not what happened. Hagar conceived and tension arose between she and Sarai. When the time came Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram. Although, he was not the promised son, I imagine it was a very uncomfortable situation for all of them. When Sarai, now Sarah finally bore Isaac, fourteen years later, the animosity intensified and eventually Hagar and her son were forced to leave. Under the blessing of Abraham, Ishmael received his own promise of a nation, though the conflict between the descendants of Ishmael and Isaac has persisted for thousands of years, all because Abraham and Sarah didn’t trust God’s timing.

I totally get where Abraham was, even in my own life I await the fulfilment of a promise I feel God has made to me, yet waiting for God to do something in his own sovereign time can be agonizing, and leave us questioning if we heard him right or wondering if there’s something we should be doing. Does God really expect us to just sit quietly and wait for him to magically pull things together? The truth is, sometimes, yes and then other times, no. So how do we know when to do something or when God is teaching us to trust fully in him? How do we avoid creating Ishmaels in our little world; those undesirable situations that bring strife and confusion to God’s established order in our life?

1. Seek God’s guidance daily, or moment by moment when things get harried and there’s quick decisions to make. Although usually we have time to pray and think things through, before we make decisions, if we take the time. There’s nothing in the text to suggest Abraham and Sarah ever took their idea to God first. They just talked together and moved forward with their plan.

2. Listen to your gut. The Holy Spirit will often speak to guide us, though other times we get a sense in our gut or a persistent thought that nags us toward making the right choice. If we heed the prompting of the Holy Spirit it could save us a lot of frustration and heartache.

3. Pay attention to road blocks. I’ve been in that place multiple times when no matter what option I pursued, it was like hitting a thirty foot wall. When you hit this wall several times in a row, and you’re feeling boxed in, God is probably asking you to wait on him. The walls are there to protect you and his perfect timing, which will always prevail in the end.