Hagar and Ishmael, who is now around the age of seventeen, have been sent away by Abraham. He sent them with food and water, but they used up their provisions before they found a new home. Hagar is now fearing for the life of her child. She leaves him under a bush and goes off to cry, for she cannot bear the sight of watching her son die of dehydration.

Hagar’s cries do not go unheard. The angel of God calls out to Hagar from heaven and says, “What is the matter with you, Hagar?” (Genesis 21:17). The angel tells her not to fear, and then he tells her that God is going to make a great nation out of Ishmael.

Another promise is given. Ishmael cannot die in the wilderness if God has promised to make a great nation from him. I think that Hagar believed this promise to be true and then God opened her eyes and she finally saw the well of water.

Once again we see in Scripture how God hears our cries. What peace we can have in knowing that we have a God who sees and a God who hears. He hears our cries, our laughter, our fears, and our praise. In Psalm 107, one of the key repeated phrases is “Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble; He delivered them out of their distresses.”

A closer look at this psalm reveals to us that those in Psalm 107:1–9 called out for salvation because they were lost.

In Psalm 107:10–22, those who call out are calling out because they have found themselves in prison, in chains, at the very gates of death because of their own rebellious ways.

and in the shadow of death,
Prisoners in misery and chains,
Because they had rebelled against the words of God
And spurned the counsel of the Most High.
Therefore He humbled their heart with labor;
They stumbled and there was none to help.
Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble;
He saved them out of their distresses.
He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death
And broke their bands apart.
Psalm 107:10-14

Abraham and Sarah now have their promised son. Abraham is one hundred years old, and Sarah ninety years old. God showed Himself faithful. He showed His glory, His power, and His sovereignty over life. At the appointed time, Sarah conceived and bore Isaac (Genesis 21:2).

Ecclesiastes 3:1 says, “There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven.” God had appointed the time of birth of this promised son just as He appointed the time of birth of His promised Son. “So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks” (Daniel 9:25). The birth of the Christ has never been hidden. God revealed His coming in the Hebrew Bible. His appointed time had been recorded in the Scriptures for any who would hear and believe.

How long the wait must have seemed. Along the way, Abraham and Sarah had tried on their own— in their own human strength and wisdom—to bring about this promised son. Likewise, man has been trying in his own human strength and wisdom to bring about the promised seed of Genesis 3:15. Man knows that he is broken. He also knows that there is more to life than what we presently see. We just have to look through the history of mankind to see this revealed.

Religion is man’s attempt to get to God. All around the globe peoples, tribes, and nations have formed their own religions and designed their own gods, trying in their own strength and wisdom to fix their hearts and the hearts of their fellow man; trying through the worship of gods that they formed with their own hands and imaginations to get to that place of approval and peace that they feel is out there somewhere. The promise, however, would not come through any ability of man, but through the word of God.

In his life, Abraham worshiped God through his obedience to the word of God. Abraham and Sarah worshiped God in giving Him the glory for the birth of their son Isaac. Abraham was a man who practiced immediate obedience to the commands of God. He was not perfect, and he made mistakes along the way; but when God said go, he went. He did not delay in his obedience. He did not pick and choose which commands were the important ones and follow as he saw fit. He acted when the command was given, with full devotion to the best of his faith.

God had kept Abimelech from touching Sarah. In fact, God had physically made Abimelech unable to go into Sarah, and He had also closed fast all the wombs of all the women in his household. There would be no baby making until Sarah was restored to Abraham.

We have to remember the promise that was given to Abraham and Sarah two chapters ago: “At this time next year, Sarah will have a son” (Genesis 18:14). The son that Sarah was to have was to be conceived with Abraham, not Abimelech. What a mess this could have been, but God’s plans will not be thwarted. God’s will shall be done. He has the power and authority to assure it, and He uses it in this situation. 

God is the one who opens the womb, and He is the one who closes it. He is the one who gives man his strength, and He is also the one who removes it. He is sovereign and in control of all things. Oh Church, do you understand this? Let this truth run its course through your mind, through your heart, through your soul.

Rebekah, Rachel, Sarah, and Hannah did not run to man to conceive a child. They ran to God. Before you put yourself in the hands of man and his ways, I beseech you, run to your God. Trust in Him. Seek His will. Time after time I have seen faithful women and men of God draw their line at further treatment. I have seen them trust in God and even abandon themselves in peace that it may not be meant for them to conceive, and then I have known God to open their wombs and have held their children in my arms.

I have also witnessed God open up the door of adoption and have seen the pure joy of a mother and father as they held this precious gift in their arms with the same love as if this child had come from their own bodies. Our God is good.

Once again, Abraham has his wife lie. They are in the Negev and come across Abimelech, king of Gerar. Abimelech takes Sarah in as his wife. This amazes me in itself and makes me smile; we have to remember that at this time, Sarah is about ninety years old.

Now God appears to Abimelech in a dream and lets him know that Sarah is a married woman and he has no right to her as his wife; God actually says, “You are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is married” (Genesis 20:3). God holds the marriage covenant to a very high standard, even if we sometimes do not.

Abimelech immediately begins to explain to God that he didn’t know that she was married, and God assures Abimelech that He knows that. God knows the integrity of our hearts, and He can keep us from sinning against Him when our actions come from a heart that truly did not know it was in the wrong.

Does that bring you peace?

It does me.

God could have struck Abimelech then, but He didn’t. Once again we see God’s mercy displayed. Once again we see God opening the eyes of man to His standard and making His ways known. Once again we see God not acting in secret, but giving man an opportunity to repent.

We need to understand that once the truth is known, we must make a choice. God gives Abimelech a choice: return Sarah, and live; keep her, and die. Even though Abimelech’s sin was committed in ignorance, he still had to make it right. He still needed to repent before God and be obedient to what he had heard in order to be saved.

Repent and be saved—the same choice God gives us. Even if we feel that we have sinned against God in ignorance; even if we were raised in a country or in a home that worshiped false gods or never spoke of the One True God, once we have heard, once we have seen, once we know, we must choose.

When I was around twenty-four, I purchased a new Bible because I was going to read through the Bible from beginning to end. When I read this verse I became angry. I was appalled that this was in the Bible. I was appalled that a man could offer his two virgin daughters to a mob to be abused. I was angry with God for this to even be recorded in His Word, and when I came to Judges 19:22–26 and read of the abuse of a man’s concubine, I put my Bible down and could read no further for days. I was hurt and confused. I didn’t understand. I had experienced rape, and the attitudes, the hearts of these men, made me nauseous.

After a while, God moved me to pick my Bible back up and continue my journey. I know now that it was the sweet whispers of the Holy Spirit drawing me with His “bonds of love” (Hosea 11:4). It was as if Jesus was standing at the door of my heart, knocking, and when I opened His Word to seek understanding from Him about what I had read, it was as if I also opened the door to my heart.

By the time I read to 1 Chronicles, I realized I was lost. I knew about God, but I did not know God. I realized that my heart had never been changed. I had never surrendered my life to Christ. He was no more my Lord than He was the Lord of the men who heartlessly abused these women. I needed Christ just as much as these men who made me nauseous needed Him.

These men were living out the effects of a diseased heart, a depraved mind, and a dead spirit. The sad thing is that all around the world there are men and women still subjected to this type of behavior. Nations without Christ place little importance on life and on innocence. Nations that suppress the truth in unrighteousness are filled with all kinds of darkness.

There is no end to the depravity of our minds without Christ. There is no limit to the evil deeds that we can commit when we turn our backs on God. We can point our fingers at others, but we must first point our fingers at ourselves.

We must stop comparing ourselves to others and compare ourselves to the standard of God’s righteousness. When we do, we see how greatly we need Him. We also see how desperately He is calling out to us, wooing us, beckoning us to him. We also can see how desperately the world needs him.

All around the globe, women are still experiencing the treatment we read about in Genesis 19:8. I wish fewer women would rally around the pro-choice agenda and more would rally around the global treatment of women, of young girls, as human beings. For “in the image of God He created him, male and female He created them” (Genesis 1:27).

What I have also learned through the Scriptures is that God does not enslave. God does not keep ignorant. God encourages freedom. He encourages intelligence. He created us in His image, and His desire is that we walk in Him—in His light, in His wisdom, and in His knowledge. Those who claim that believers in God are ignorant, weak, and foolish need to re-examine their history. Without the light of God, this world is a very dark place.

God’s visit with Abraham was not all about good news. The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah was great and their sin exceedingly grave (Genesis 18:20). The Lord was about to bring his judgment down on these cities.

The amazing thing in this story is that Abraham’s relationship with God was so close that God shared what He was about to do with him. God doesn’t do things in secret; He has nothing to hide. Isaiah 48:16 declares, “Come near to Me, listen to this: From the first I have not spoken in secret.” His judgments always come with a warning, an opportunity to repent, and to be saved.

When God shares the judgment that is coming to these cities, Abraham cries out for mercy for the righteous ones in the cities. Abraham intercedes on their behalf. It is still God’s people’s responsibility to intercede on behalf of others. We know the judgment that is to come, and we are to intercede and pray for the lost, the blinded, the deceived, the saved, and the persecuted.

Abraham’s heart goes to his nephew Lot and his family, who are living in Sodom. God, in His grace, allows Abraham to bring Him down to staying His judgment if there can at least be found ten righteous within the city. We know from the reading of this chapter that ten were not found and God’s judgment fell, but we also know that God honored the prayers of Abraham and his nephew Lot was spared.

Does God hear our prayers? Psalm 32:6 declares, “Therefore, let everyone who is godly pray to you in a time when you may be found.” Psalm 34:15 declares, “The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous and His ears are open to their cry.” Yes, God hears our prayers; He hears the prayers of His children. The real question is: are you his child?

Oh, precious one, judgment is coming. God’s judgment will fall upon this world, just as it fell on Sodom and Gomorrah. If you are His child through faith in Christ, then remember these words:

Abraham was building himself up on his most holy faith as he walked each day with God, growing in Him. He prayed in the Spirit and kept himself in the love of God. He waited anxiously for the mercy of his Lord. In his praying, Abraham had mercy on Lot and on his family, who doubted. Abraham interceded on their behalf, and by this intercession they were snatched out of the fire.

God honors the prayers of his people, and even when Lot hesitated and had to be literally dragged out of the city, God did not allow His judgment to fall until he was safely out of the city. Lot was living in this place by his own choosing, but even in this, God honored the prayers of Abraham and delivered Lot and gave his entire family the opportunity to be saved.

The Lord appears to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre in the heat of the day. He comes accompanied with two angels. Abraham looks to see three men standing before him, and he calls for Sarah to prepare a meal for their guest.

Abraham takes the prepared meal to his guests, the Lord and His two angels. The men ask Abraham where his wife, Sarah, is, and Abraham replies that she is in the tent. The men then remind Abraham in the hearing of Sarah (she is listening at the tent door, eavesdropping as we might say) about the promise of a son. They tell him that at this time next year, Sarah will have a son.

When Sarah hears these words, she laughs to herself. She laughs in disbelief. She knows her womb is dead, and she knows Abraham’s ability is also dead. Sarah was weak in faith, but her husband was not.

Abraham knew that the Lord was Elohim, Creator God.

The Lord asks Abraham in the hearing of Sarah, “Is anything too difficult for the Lord?”

The Lord doesn’t wait for an answer. He didn’t need one because the answer was obvious. Nothing is too difficult for God. He is in the business of creating life out of nothing and raising the dead. The point, I believe, of God waiting until their bodies’ abilities to conceive on their own had passed was to make sure that they understood beyond the shadow of any doubt that this son they would bear was the promised son. This son would be conceived through the power and might of their Lord God. This son, the promised seed, would be conceived in faith.

In Revelation 2:17, God tells us that he who overcomes will be given a white stone and a new name written on the stone; a new name that is not connected to the sins of my youth or the wrong choices I have made. I can’t wait to get that name.

Abram, because of God’s call on him, is now Abraham. Abraham means, “father of a multitude.” Abram was a man with no son, no descendants, until he met God, and now he becomes father of not only one nation, but a multitude of nations.

God will establish His covenant with Abraham, and it will be an everlasting covenant. The sign of this covenant will be circumcision. Every male at the age of eight days old, or any servant brought into the house, or any foreigner that lives among Abraham and his descendants was to be circumcised. God then tells Abraham that He is also changing Sarai’s name to Sarah, which means “princess,” and that from her will come kings of people.

At this point Abraham has Ishmael, but it is not through Hagar and Ishmael that God will establish His covenant. Abraham will have many descendants, but there will only be one seed, and that seed will be passed to and through Isaac.

Abraham then falls on his face and laughs, amazed that God is going to bless him and Sarah with a child. God will establish His covenant through Isaac, the son that Sarah will bear to Abraham. The Abrahamic Covenant was based on a promise, and it would be carried through the child of a promise.

When God finished talking with Abraham, he had all the males in his household circumcised. That very same day, Abraham was obedient to God. He did not put it off until a more convenient time; there was no delayed obedience with Abraham.

Abraham was a man who grew in his faith as he walked with God. He had experienced the consequences of less-than-complete obedience, and he learned from his mistakes. Can you look back on your walk with Christ and see growth? Have you grown stronger in your faith?

“El Shaddai” is one of my favorite names for God. So much about God is revealed to us in the first seventeen chapters of His Word. We discover that He is our Creator, our giver of life. We learn that our sin grieves His heart. We are shown that He keeps His promises. We are taught that He is the Most High God. We have seen that He is El Roi, a God who sees. We have also learned that He is our shield and our reward. Now we learn that He is God Almighty and that we can walk before Him and be blameless. Walking before God blameless seems like an impossible feat, but Jesus assures us in Luke 18:27 that “the things that are impossible with people are possible with God.”

In Genesis 17:3 we read that “Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him.” I believe this is a key verse as to how we are able to walk before God blameless. God came to Abram and announced Himself. Abram responded by falling on his face before Him, and then God talked with him. I wonder if it is even possible to really talk with God if we do not spend time on our face before Him—humbled in his presence.

We need to be bowed before our El Elyon, ready to submit in complete obedience to whatever He tells us to do. The great men and women of faith in Scripture and in history spent time on their faces.

I know that I do not spend enough time on my face before him. I think our position in prayer may matter more than we want to realize and admit. We want to say we are on our face in our hearts; we are bowed before Him spiritually, but are we really?

When we look at all that we know about our Creator, when we let these truths sink in, how can we not fall on our faces and worship Him? When we look at who He is, compared to who we know ourselves to be, why would we even consider that we could look Him in the face? Even the seraphim who stand before the throne of our Lord cover their faces with their wings (Isaiah 6:2).

I want God to talk with me. I want to be in His presence. I want to walk before my El Shaddai and be blameless. Acts 10:34 declares that “God is not one to show partiality,” so if Abram could walk before Him and be blameless, then so can we. The question we must ask ourselves is do we truly desire to walk blameless before our God? Do we truly desire for God to talk with us? If we do, then we must first humble ourselves before Him.

Abram demonstrated the humility of his heart by falling on his face when he was in God’s presence. This simple act shows so much. It shows that we are acknowledging the holiness of our God. It shows that we are submitting to His authority in our life. It shows that our hearts’ desire is to be obedient to the One we call “Master” and “Lord.”

Oh, precious one, our God knows our hearts. We can’t pretend humility before our Creator. In Philippians 2:8 we read that Jesus “humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

Abram demonstrated the humility of his heart before God. Jesus demonstrated the humility of His heart before the world. So maybe we too need to demonstrate the humility of our hearts by humbling ourselves physically. We need to fall on our faces before Him. He is, after all, deserving of our wholehearted, face-down devotion.

Amen.

I read this today (today being November 17th 2011) and wanted to add it this post…

Perhaps Job lay under the stars until he was wet from the dew. Finally, he spoke. And when he did, what a remarkable response! Verse 20 comprises nine words in the Hebrew text. These words describe what Job did before the text goes on to tell us what Job said. Five of the nine words are verbs. When you read your Bible, always pay close attention to the verbs, because they move you through the action of a narrative, helping you vicariously to enter the event.

First, Job peeled himself off the ground. He “arose.” The next verb tells us something strange. He “tore his robe.” The word translated “robe” is a term describing a garment that fits over the body loosely, like an outer gown that reaches below the knees. This is not the undertunic; it’s the outer robe that kept him warm at night. Job reached to his neck and, not finding a seam, he seized a worn part of the fabric and ripped it. In the ripping of the robe he is announcing his horrible grief. It was the action of a man in anguish. It’s used several times in the Old Testament to portray utter grief.

And then we read the third verb. He “shaved his head.” The hair is always pictured in the Scriptures as the glory of an individual, an expression of his worth. The shaving of the head, therefore, is symbolic of the loss of personal glory. And to carry his grief to its lowest depth, his fourth action is to fall to the ground. But, let’s understand, this was not a collapse of grief, but for another purpose entirely. It’s this that portrays the heroism of Job’s endurance. He doesn’t wallow and wail, he worships. The Hebrew verb means “to fall prostrate in utter submission and worship.” I dare say most of us have never worshiped like that! I mean with your face on the ground, lying down, full-length. This was considered in ancient days the sincerest expression of obedience and submission to the Creator-God.

Before moving on, I’d like to suggest you try this sometime. Palms down, facedown, knees and toes touching the ground, body fully extended, as you pour out your heart in worship. It’s the position Job deliberately took. Complete and humble submission.