F O O T H O L D
READING
22 FAR REACHING LOVE
PRAY Teach me your way for
me today, Lord, and help me to walk in it.
READ Genesis 21:121.
THINK What can we learn from
God's dealings with Hagar about his care
for the outcast and lonely?
Review your own attitude to the
underprivileged and needy.
FOCUS The words of the
visitors came true. At the appointed time the
promised child was born. He
brought:
CONFIRMATION (18). Now
Abraham and Sarah KNEW they could trust
God. They knew that the
child was a sheer, miraculous gift of God.
There is nothing like the
certainty that comes when, after facing
difficulties, we see an
answer to prayer in the fulfilment of a
promise.
Now they had JOY. It is
apparent in the name given. Isaac means
'he laughs'. It appears also
in Sarah's words (6) and Abraham's
party (8).
Now they were OBEDIENT.
There is no hesitation about the special
sign of circumcision (4).
God had been true to his covenant
promise; Abraham
demonstrated that he was willing to live up to
his responsibilities in that
covenant.
CONFLICT (821). We might
expect everything to be wonderful, but
there was resentment. Some
thirteen or fourteen years earlier
Sarah had suggested to Abram
that her servant, Hagar, have a child
for them. So Ishmael had
been born (see 16:116). Now Sarah wanted
the adolescent Ishmael and
his mother to be sent away. Abraham was
reluctant to do this, but
God reassured him (1113). Although his
covenant would be fulfilled
through Isaac, God would not abandon
Ishmael. Abraham's
provisions of food and water were soon
exhausted. (1416). But what
man cannot do, God can (19). His care
for the outcast is made
gloriously plain.
PRAY Allow your mind and
imagination to explore God's farreaching
love. Worship him and thank
him.
