Abraham and Faith -

This weeks Sabbath School lesson provides a look at the father of the faithful and what we can learn from such a look. One thing that we can learn from Sunday's and Monday's lesson is that this father of the faithful wasn't always pictured as exactly our idea of what is faithful in the text.

The Promise to Abraham

Sunday's lesson gives us the promise of God to Abraham found in Genesis 12:2. Abraham would be a great nation. However, the problem was that Abraham didn't have a child. And Abraham was getting up in age. So Abraham came to God and offered to adopt Eliezar to be the son of that promise. (Gen 15:2-3). Here Abraham looked at his circumstances and realized that it was not exactly in line with the promise that God had given to him. Certainly God didn't mean that he would have a son at his age. How often do we look at the promise that God has for our own lives and see that they don't make sense? How often do we begin to seek to find ways to fulfill that promise? I don't really blame Abraham. Abraham simply realized that he best do something now. But God wasn't with that plan. Genesis 15:4-5 has God saying that Abraham would be the natural father through birth.

Taking Advantage of the Weak to Fulfill God's Promise

So Abraham and Sarah once again sought to fulfill this promise. They did it by giving the slave Hagar to Abraham. (Genesis 16:1-3) While supposedly this was a custom of the area, it is still just as despicable as it would be today. That act caused the creation of problems between two sons both who have right to be called the son of Abraham. That act caused problems in the home that would never be resolved. Here both Sarah and Abraham took advantage of their status as "slave masters" over the slave to fulfill the "promise of God." It is easy to be so caught up in attempting to do what God has promised that we don't take time to think about who we hurt? Perhaps the greatest evils in the world have been done in the name of God or for God's glory. When God's promise comes, we cannot take advantage of others to fulfill that promise.

Sarah will be the Mother

Finally, God said "Sarah will be the Mother!" Genesis 17:16, 19. As I read this text, I begin to wonder why God didn't just say that up front? Why did God go so slow? If God, in this narrative, had said totally up front, "Abraham, you and Sarah will have a child and through that child there will be a great nation. If God had done that, Abraham may have done the same thing that he did in this case. Maybe not. But in any case, the story reveals something that is often the case. Sometimes we learn God's will in life. Sometimes we learn God's will by trying and failing. Sometimes it is only after a misstep that God reveals more of God's plan.

At the very least, all of these missteps didn't stand in the way of Abraham still being called the father of the faithful. While gives me hope. Even when I have not done as I should have done. God does not cast us off.