Build Your Life On God’s Promises (Genesis 21:1-21)
Lydia and I read “The Wingfeather Saga” together. It was wonderful. One of the interesting things about the book is the creation of certain evil creatures. These evil creatures are created as they trust the promises of strength and power given to them and become something most of us would think of as grotesque. It seems strange until you start to realize that this is what happens every day with humanity.
Why does a man decide to return home after a long day of work and not pay attention to his family? Because he believes the promise that his recliner and phone give him. There he finds rest. And there he finds pleasure. It is a pleasure that is fleeting, but it delivered a promise of relaxation and entertainment that left him ineffective and unengaged with what really mattered.
Why does a person decide they should throw off the sexual limitations found in Scripture?
How many times have you seen a seemingly good life ruined by an adulterous affair? They trusted that they would throw off the limitations of marriage for the satisfaction of that moment and found their life destroyed.
What about the LGBTQ + folks? They throw off the limitations of God’s Word for the promise of fulfilled desires. But what do they become? Well, they may find a little of what they are looking for, but the suicide rate is very high among people who are LGBTQ+[1], especially among young people.[2] The big promises made by rebelling against God’s created order left them in a state of despair.
Our decisions are not made in a vacuum. We do what we desire to do. And we reveal our trust in certain promises as we make decisions. The grid that we have for making decisions is not the same as the grid that the world uses. We are to base our lives on God’s promises.
I don’t like heights. A ladder is usually fine, though I’ve been on a couple tall wooden ladders while carrying things that didn’t give me good feelings. It’s other things that bother me. And as a youth intern the youth pastor took the student ministry repelling…repelling. For those of you that don’t know, that’s when you stand at the edge of a cliff with your heels hanging off and then lean backwards with the rope holding you to something above. When you’re body is parallel with the ground you jump and as you move the cord away from you, down the cliff you will go. One thing got me down that cliff that day and it was the fact that a bunch of punk 7th graders went first and I didn’t want to be embarrassed.
As I made my way to the edge of the cliff all strapped up I looked at the size of the tree and encouraged myself in the tree I was hooked to. I pulled on the strap and was assured that it was going to hold. I could go parallel to the ground strapped to that tree because I trusted the man who set it all up, the equipment, and the tree I was hooked to. I knew I would gain the prize of not being embarrassed because I chickened out because everything would do what it was supposed to do. I staked my life and lack of embarrassment on those things and made my way down a cliff.
We are to stake our lives on God’s promises. We are to order our lives a certain way because we trust God’s promises. And in the end, we receive something greater than a lack of being laughed at by 7th graders, we receive those very promises that we have staked our lives upon. That is what we see in our text today from Abraham, Sarah, Hagar, and Ishmael in different situations. God keeps His promises, and we are to base our lives on those promises.
Why do we devote our Sunday to the Lord? Why did you wake up early to come to church? Why do you raise your children in the fear and admonition of the Lord? Why do we order our lives the way that we do? It’s because God keeps His promises, and we base our lives on those promises.
Genesis 20 ended on a rather sad note. When God healed Abimelech and his harem the wombs were opened and they were having children again (Genesis 20:18). But Sarah, who had been promised a child was still barren.
God Keeps His Promises (Genesis 21:1-21)
The first thing that we notice in this text is obvious. God keeps His promises.
God had promised a child to Abraham and Sarah back when they were Abram and Sarai. And then in Genesis 18 God promised that this would take place in a year. It had been a long time since that first promise had been given. Neither Abraham nor Sarah were getting any younger and this was becoming more impossible by the minute.
To get the full impact of this text and what is happening here, it would be helpful to think back to Genesis 18 for a moment. The Lord appeared to Abraham and after an incredibly show of hospitality this happened.
“They said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?” And he said, “She is in the tent.” The LORD said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife shall have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent door behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years. The way of women had ceased to be with Sarah. So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I am worn out, and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure?” The LORD said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’ Is anything too hard for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you, about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son.” But Sarah denied it, saying, “I did not laugh,” for she was afraid. He said, “No, but you did laugh.”” (Genesis 18:9-15 ESV)
Sarah’s laughter was of the unbelieving sort. She laughed at the idea that she would have a son. But God was reprimanded and the Lord said to her “Is anything too hard for the LORD?” The obvious answer to that is, “Well, no!”. And here, as Sarah is well beyond child-bearing years, the Lord did it. And the child’s name was Isaac.
The name Isaac means “he laughs”. And knowing the background, this makes complete sense. She laughed derisively earlier and now she laughs in pure joy as she held him (Genesis 21:6). And well, doesn’t that name just make sense?
Then notice what Sarah said, “Who would’ve said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children (Genesis 21:7 ESV). Well, there is only One who could do such a thing and that is God. Only God is powerful and all knowing. Only God can make promises like that and keep them.
And, as we would expect, Abraham did everything he was supposed to do with Isaac (Genesis 21:4). We don’t hear much from Abraham’s perspective at this moment. But I can imagine that he carried out the Lord’s command with pure joy.
Look at this story and see that God is faithful to keep His promises. God made outlandish promises to Abraham and this was one of them. Abraham and Sarah were too old to have children back when God called them on this journey and year’s later they were no younger. God promised outlandish things and though there were some hiccups along the way, they believed God for those outlandish things.
And we believe God for outlandish things.
We believe that God saves sinners. We believe that those who have lived in rebellion against a holy God their entire life can find salvation in Him. Though we deserve His justice and wrath, we believe the outlandish promise of redemption in Him. God sent His Son to accomplish this salvation. God the Son took on human flesh and dwelt among us. He lived a perfect life and did every work of righteousness that we had to do to merit salvation. He accomplished righteousness for sinners. He died on the cross and paid the punishment for sin on behalf of sinners. The wrath and justice of God was poured out upon Him. All those who entrust their selves to Him are credited with His righteousness and He was credited with their sin so that they are now counted as righteous.
“For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV)
We believe that. And God did the unthinkable when He accomplished salvation for His people.
But we also believe that God can and will raise the dead. We believe there is coming a day when the dead will rise, even those people that have been dead for thousands of years and those that are the Lord’s will be with Him for eternity. Those who are not will pay the punishment for their sins.
We also believe that God will conquer the world with the preaching of the Word and the work of the Holy Spirit and that there is coming a day when the kings of the Earth will serve the Lord and there will be true and lasting peace on Earth.
“The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it, and many peoples shall come, and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.” (Isaiah 2:1-4 ESV)
These are not the only promises in Scripture. But we see glorious truths in them that we hold dear. And we will see as we move forward in this text that we are to base our lives on God’s promises.
Base Your Life On God’s Promises (Genesis 21:8-21)
We are going to see, in a few different episodes, the people in this passage walk by faith in God’s promises. These help us to see that we not only know that God will fulfill His promises to us, but we are also to build our lives upon the promises that He gives to us. I will give you an outline to help you think through this. The first one is Sarah’s command and God’s approval of it. The second is Abraham’s reluctant obedience. The third is God’s provision of Ishmael. And the fourth is Hagar’s faithfulness to the lead the boy into adulthood.
Let’s begin with Sarah’s command and God’s approval of that command. The weaning was a feast day. It was a huge celebration. And if I were guessing, after having breastfed a baby for 3 years, this was a big event for her as well (Genesis 21:8).
Something happened at this celebration that set Sarah off in a big way. Ishmael was laughing at Isaac (Genesis 21:9). As one might predict, Sarah was not pleased with this at all. Though we are not told what it was that Ishmael was carrying on about, we can come up with a few likely scenarios. Up until now Ishmael was Abraham’s heir. He was to inherit all of Abraham’s wealth one day. This is likely part of the issue. Ishmael is not a young boy at this point. He is very likely a young teenager and beginning to grasp how these things work. It is also likely that he was poking fun of the whole birth and care of Isaac. Whatever the case may be, Sarah was not happy about Ishmael laughing at her son.
So, Sarah insisted that Hagar and Ishmael be thrown out. There is a very derogatory tone and word usage from Sarah in this moment. But the reason she gave was that her son Isaac was to be the heir (Genesis 21:10). Who was supposed to be the heir to Abraham? Isaac was. And so, we can see that in this sense, though her treatment of Hagar and Ishmael was harsh, she was protecting the status of her son. This accords with ancient laws that did dictate this sort of matter. At this time, slave women and their children could be granted their freedom and they would lose their paternal share of the inheritance. This would mean that Sarah was not wrong in what she was saying to Abraham.
We must remember that this is Abraham’s son. Abraham loved Ishmael (Genesis 21:11). The thought of casting him out of the family and sending him on his way was displeasing to Abraham. And I think we can all understand why this would be the case. So, it seems that Abraham did not take the direction of Sarah immediately. But God told Abraham to follow Sarah’s command (Genesis 21:12). And the reason that God gave for this was that “through Isaac shall your offspring be named” (Genesis 21:12 ESV).
The basis for God’s instruction to Abraham was the promise that He gave Abraham concerning Isaac. Even though Sarah was a bit angry and sensitive about this situation, she was right. They were given God’s promise and the expectation was that they were to order their lives and make their decisions based upon those promises.
The next episode that we notice is the reluctant obedience of Abraham. But that reluctant obedience was an act of trust in God’s promise. God told Abraham to follow Sarah’s command. And then God reminded Abraham of the promise that was made concerning Ishmael.
“And I will make a nation of the son of the slave woman also, because he is your offspring.” (Genesis 21:13 ESV)
In God’s promise you can see that Ishmael will live. Abraham’s son, whom he loved would live to become a great nation himself. But in this moment, Abraham was to trust God’s promises concerning Ishmael and let him go.
Abraham gave to Hagar and Ishmael the bare necessities and sent them on their way. The Hebrew is a bit vague here. It’s hard to tell what he placed upon Hagar’s should, but the child is very likely what we would typically call a young teenager at this point. The word “boy” or “lad”, as Ishmael is called here can be any boy from an infant to a young man. But we do know that he is old enough to walk, for later the angel is going to tell Hagar to take Ishmael by the hand (Genesis 21:18). It seems that Abraham loads Hagar up with a water skin and bread so that she can take the boy by the hand and sent them on their way.
What a heartbreaking moment for Abraham! I wonder if the reason Abraham just gave the bare essentials was that he was so incredibly numb. I imagine his heartache was great. But I guess we will not know the answer to this on this side of Heaven.
But here we see that, even though it was incredibly hard for Abraham to do, he trusted the Lord and let Hagar and Ishmael go. He was commanded to order his life by God’s promise to himself and Sarah concerning Isaac. Therefore, he had to do what broke his heart and let Hagar and Ishmael go.
The third episode we see is God’s provision of Ishmael. This is by far the most sorrow filled moment in this text.
Hagar and Ishmael run out of water and his mother believes that he is about to die (Genesis 21:14). She left him under some bushes in the shade and left his side because she did not want to witness his death (Genesis 21:15-16). She couldn’t stand it and began to weep. But something happened after Hagar left Ishmael. Though we are not told what he said, the boy must have cried out to the Lord and the Lord heard his cry. God heard Ishmael whose name means “God hears”.
Remember that this whole episode started with Ishmael mocking young Isaac. Was he repentant? Was he pleading with the Lord for his life? We don’t know because we are not told. But God heard the boy and came to the mother.
The angel spoke to Hagar, whose child was dying and asked her what bothered her. What a question! But the angel went on to tell her that he Lord heard Ishmael’s cry (Genesis 21:17). Then, the angel called upon Hagar to trust the promises that God had made to Ishmael.
“Up! Lift up the boy, and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make him into a great nation.” (Genesis 21:18 ESV)
God had already promised to make Ishmael a great nation (Genesis 16:10). We see here that God called upon her to trust that promise and to get up and go.
God had already provided for them, but they needed to have their eyes open to see it. In her desperation and in both of their tear laden eyes, they had missed the fact that there was a well nearby. And God made Hagar to see it.
“God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water and gave the boy a drink.” (Genesis 21:19)
They were to arise and go because God would make Ishmael into a great nation. They were to get up and trust God’s promise rather than lie there dying in the wilderness.
Lastly, Hagar was faithful to live and lead the boy according to God’s promise. And we see this in a very fast snapshot. The next few verses are a fast forward of Ishmael’s life. We get to see an overview of what would become of Ishmael here.
God was with Ishmael, just as He promised to be (Genesis 21:20). He grew up in the wilderness of Paran and was an expert with a bow. Just as God had stated earlier, this boy grew up to be wild. But God’s promise was not about a boy living the solitary life. It was of a boy becoming a great nation.
Hagar was faithful to move Ishmael in the direction of God’s promise. She took it upon herself to do what fathers usually do and took a wife for him in her homeland. Without a father around, she understood that she needed to find a family for her son, and she did so. God had promised great things for her son and Hagar ordered her life around those great promises of God (Genesis 21:21).
We have God’s promises in His Word. Page after page of precious promises are found in Scripture. We don’t have enough time to chase after every precious promise in the Bible and apply it to our lives the way that Abraham, Sarah, Hagar, and Ishmael did in this text. But we do see something important for us to take home. They ordered their lives after God’s promises.
So, what does this mean for us?
It means that we should do the same.
God has promised to us eternal life through Christ, therefore we are to live our lives as if we have eternal life in Christ. We live our lives in that reality. God has promised it and so it is ours. And we are to order our lives as if these great and glorious promises are ours in Christ. I can do without some things in this world because I know that I have something greater coming to me in eternity. I can make sacrifices for the Kingdom now because I know that it is ultimately worth it.
I can order my life in such a way that prioritizes God’s Kingdom now because I know that God will keep His promise. I can decide that I will do things that just don’t make sense to other people today because I am ordering my life on God’s promises and not the promises of this world.
This orders the choices that I make in my everyday life. This also orders the choices that I make in the long term as well.
Why do I devote my life to a church? Why do I spend Sundays and Wednesdays here? Because I know that I need to hear God’s Word applied to my life again and again. I need to hear God’s promises again and again. And I need to think through and be helped to understand how to order my life according to God’s promises. And I need a group of people to help me live accordingly.
We see in Scripture that God does work in a special way within families. And we also understand that God works through His Word. So, we teach God’s Word to our children and we raise them in the fear and the admonition of the Lord.
“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” (Isaiah 55:10-11 ESV)
And when we look around and see that things are impossible, we trust God’s promises to us. We press on by faith, trusting in God’s promises. When we see what feels like evil winning all around us, we trust God’s promises.
Conclusion
The world makes a lot of promises to us. But God’s promises are better. And we are so tempted to live by the promises that this world makes to us rather than those that God has made to us. But God’s are better. God’s promises are those that we stake our lives on and they deliver to us glorious, glorious benefits. Eternal blessing after eternal blessing are found as we follow God’s promises.
C.S. Lewis famously wrote,
“It would seem that our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is mean by the offer of a holiday at sea. We are far too easily pleased.” (C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory)
God calls us to base our lives on the eternal. He calls us to base our lives on what matters. But all the while we fool around with things that don’t. We waste our lives on the menial when God promises us so much more.
Base your life on God’s promises.
R. Dwain Minor
[1] https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/press/suicide-prevention-media-alert/ accessed 07/14/2022
[2] https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-truth-about-exercise-addiction/201710/why-are-suicide-rates-higher-among-lgbtq-youth accessed 07/14/2022