From abaptist.org:
Daily Devotional:
Genesis 21:9-21
Monday, December 20
The Bondwoman Cast Out
KEY VERSE: "And God said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman; in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called," Genesis 21:12.
If you thought using surrogate mothers was a fairly modern practice, you were wrong. Surrogate mothers were in existence as far back as Abraham, if not before. So, what was wrong with what Sarah did in persuading Abraham to have a child by Hagar, Sarah's Egyptian maid? The wrong was that she had given up on God. She was using human reasoning and not trusting God.
It would be easy to feel sorry for Hagar and Ishmael, to resent Sarah's attitude toward them. In fact, it is easy to see that God operated in pure justice in this matter. He said, "And also of the son of the bondwoman will I make a nation, because he is thy seed" (verse 13). He also sent an angel to minister to Hagar in the wilderness.
There were serious consequences to Abraham and Sarah's lack of faith in God and His promises. Ishmael did indeed become a great nation, and we are reaping the consequences of Abraham's failure. The whole world is in a turmoil because of the strife between the Arabs and the Jews.
The Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that the purpose of his nation was to bring an end to the Jewish regime. He said that we will witness the destruction of this regime in the near future. This will not happen because God has made a covenant with the nation of Israel, and He will keep that covenant.
LIVING IT: Have faith in God and trust Him. He will not fail.
Mary McCalister
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