The God Who Sees Me

Father, sometimes your word brings up issues that cause emotional turmoil for us.

And Father, we don't like having emotional turmoil,

but we know ultimately that when you raise issues that cause emotional turmoil,

it is for our good.

We give you thanks and praise that you know the sorrows of our hearts,

the sadnesses, the unfulfilled dreams that we have,

and we give you thanks and praise that we can pour out our hearts to you about those things,

that you are our Father in heaven and that we live in your world and that you love us.

We ask, Father, that you would gently but deeply pour the Holy Spirit upon us this morning

as we read this and think about this powerful story in your word.

And we give you full permission for your word to speak deeply into our hearts

and form us.

And we ask this in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior.

Amen.

Please be seated.

So today's sermon comes with a trigger warning.

And I'm not saying that as a joke.

It's very serious.

There's a particular issue which drives the story.

And it's an issue which was very painful then.

And it's painful for many people today.

And it's painful, in fact, for some of the people in our church.

And the issue which is triggered, which is very difficult,

is the problem of people who would like to have children but can't.

And for some people, they would love to be able to have children,

but they can't find anybody to marry.

Or they've never been able to marry.

Or at least not anybody that would be suitable.

So they can go through their 20s and their 30s.

And then maybe, of course, if you're a woman, enter into your 40s.

And now it's no longer possible to have children.

And you've never been able to find somebody to marry.

And it can be very, very painful.

And it's one of those pains that people have that they don't really wear on their sleeve.

But it still can be a very, very deep ache and sorrow.

And then, of course, there are women and men who've married.

But for a variety of reasons, for whatever reasons, they're not able to have children.

Or maybe they were able to have one miracle child, but they would long to have many children.

And that's a very deep pain.

It can be a very deep ache that can last for a very, very long time.

And once again, it's not something often that they wear on their sleeve or even feel free to talk about.

But it's a very, very real ache.

And what drives the events of this story, amongst other things,

is the struggle over childlessness.

And the reaction of somebody who gets pregnant in the context of somebody who's childless.

Now, this story, though, in other words, for some here in the room,

it can evoke and maybe even trigger very, very powerful emotions.

And the story itself doesn't directly deal with the issue of childlessness.

But one of the things you need to understand about this story that we're about to read,

and I know, by the way, if you went to the University of Ottawa,

they would just say this is nonsense.

But that's fine.

People in universities aren't always right.

I know that's a bit of a shock.

But historically, Christians have understood that this story that we're about to read in Genesis

is actually part of a five volume.

It's actually five books that are meant to be one book.

It would be like if you're reading The Lord of the Rings,

and The Lord of the Rings as a whole is six books.

And you're supposed to read the six books understanding that there's one author.

And historically, Christians have believed that there's one ultimate,

one primary author of this, which is Moses.

And he wrote five different books.

And then, of course, as Christians, we would now say that, in fact,

this is one book out of a 66-book story,

the 39 books that were written before Jesus

and the 27 books that were written after Jesus.

And one of the things that if you read the whole story,

so there's two things about this.

And so one of them isn't directly in this story.

It would be if you kept to read the rest of the story.

And even a little bit, if you were to think back to how the whole story begins in Genesis chapter 1,

Genesis 1 · chapter mention

is that one of the things which is very, very powerful

is that at no point in time in the Bible

does the Bible ever connect a woman's dignity or worth

to the bearing of children or of even being married.

At no point in time in the Bible

does it connect a woman's dignity or worth or value

or being used by God or ability to bring glory to God

is connected to having a child, being married or having a child.

And it's actually a very, very,

we're going to talk about it a little bit more later on,

that part of what the Bible is,

is it's, I would call it,

the Bible is, the Bible understood in the context of the gospel

is the perennial sexual revolution

to clarify how we human beings get sexual relations

and sexual knowing all messed up.

And the Bible is this unending source

as seen through the gospel and the power of the Holy Spirit

to bring sanity to us.

So there's things in our human nature that might mean,

and it's not wrong for a person, for a woman

to desire to have children.

That's not a wrong desire.

And the Bible doesn't say it's a wrong desire.

The Bible very, very clearly portrays

that women who are blessed

and men who are blessed to enter into holy matrimony,

they are doing a good thing.

If they're blessed with children,

that is a good thing.

If they're not able to be married

or not able to have children,

those are also things,

which while all of these things can be sources of sorrow,

they're all things

that don't affect our dignity and worth,

our value,

our ability to be used by God.

And this is profoundly countercultural.

And the other thing that we're going to see in this story

is that there's the dynamic of childlessness

and pregnancy,

which causes conflict,

massive conflict.

But one of the things

that's very, very powerful about this story,

and by the way,

if you're watching this and you're not a Christian,

and you might not understand this,

that Christians have trouble with this too,

our culture has sort of formed us.

The stories of our culture

have formed us

to do one of two types of things.

One is to actually try to divide characters

in a story into the good guys and the bad guys.

Or the other thing,

the thing which the elites like,

but people tend to not want to go watch those movies

or read those books.

So they win awards

and they sell a thousand copies.

It's to sort of despair of the idea

that there's any good or evil,

right or wrong at all.

But for the bulk of the stories,

which human beings like,

we want to try to put characters

in the good category and the bad category.

And one of the things

which is going to be confusing for us

when we read this story

is that everybody's bad

in the sense that everybody does some wrong things.

Like everybody.

There's no hero in the story.

But what you see in the story

is a profound sympathy

for people who do bad things.

And it's hard for us

to get our minds around a story.

In a sense,

what you're doing is

the story is giving us

a little bit of a glimpse

about how God,

the triune God,

sees human beings.

He sees us as human beings.

He sees the evil that we do.

He sees the good that we fail to do.

He doesn't minimize it and say,

well, you're one of the good guys,

so therefore the bad things that you do

aren't as bad as the bad things

the bad people do.

And for you bad people,

the bad things you do are way worse

because that doesn't happen ever in the Bible.

What you see is

without minimizing moral evil

and without minimizing the consequences

of moral evil,

you see this constant sympathy.

This constant sympathy

towards how people are presented.

So here's how the story goes.

If you turn in your Bibles,

it's a long introduction,

but it's an important introduction.

And here's how the story goes.

It's Genesis chapter 16,

Genesis 16:1

verses 1 to the end of the story.

And for those of you

who have maybe not come to the church

for a long time,

we preach through either books of the Bible

or large chunks of the Bible,

and we're in the process

of going through the story of Abraham.

So we've done chapter 12, 13, 14, 15,

and now chapter 16,

and here's how the story goes.

Now Sarai, Abram's wife,

had borne him no children.

She had a female Egyptian servant

whose name was Hagar.

Now just sort of pause here.

One of the problems for us

reading a story like this

is we're all familiar with the problem.

How big or small a problem it is,

of course, is itself a problem,

the problem of racism

and the problem of prejudice.

And so for many people in our culture,

hearing a story like this

that instantly goes to identifying

the woman as an Egyptian

sounds as if it's, in a sense,

racializing the story.

It's bringing in prejudice.

So is that what's going on in the story?

Well, it's not what's going on

in the story at all.

What's going on here

is something which is very, very important

in terms of how the story

forms you in a deep way.

Excuse me.

You see,

here's the thing.

We have a person here

who's in the church today

who has a PhD in the Old Testament.

And if you talk to him,

he can tell you one of the things

which is remarkable

about not only the book of Genesis

but about all of the Pentateuch

is all of these intricate interconnections

in the story.

And that's what's going on here.

You see,

Egypt is bringing up something.

In Genesis chapter 12,

Genesis 12 · chapter mention

at the beginning of these stories

about Abraham,

what happens is

you get this profound thing

that sort of launches

the rest of the Bible

about how God has called Abram

to leave Ur of the Chaldees

and he's called him

to go to this land

that he doesn't know where it is

and that God's going to bless him

and he's going to make him

a blessing which blesses

and he's going to bless him

with the land

and it's a very, very powerful

moving set of verses.

And then almost immediately after that

there's a famine

that comes to the land

and Abram,

rather than trusting God

or rather than seeking God's will,

he tries to take matters

into his own hand

and he goes down to Egypt.

And if you remember the story,

what he does

is not only does he decide

to go down to Egypt

but he decides

that he's going to manage

the Egyptian issue

by lying

and by doing something,

him and Sarah together

decide they're going to do

something terrible.

They're going to pretend

that they're brother and sister

and anyway,

the whole thing becomes

this complete and utter disaster.

And in fact, actually,

so when we see here now

Hagar, who's an Egyptian,

she probably became

their servant

in that incident.

And there's other things

which go on in this story

because just before this,

they talk about

the 400 years

and they're going to be

in their impression

and this is going to set

the stage for eventually

we discover it's going

to be Egypt.

And so there's all

these little threads

that go all the way

through the story

that connect things

in the story

and echoes of each other.

But the particular thing

which is going on here,

if you've been reading

the stories from chapter 12,

13, 14, 15, and 16

and you come to this

and you see this

and it reminds you

of the disaster

that happened in chapter 12,

it's saying

something bad

is about to happen.

In modern movies,

it would be done

with a certain type of music

where all of a sudden

the music stops

in their silence

and it signals

to the viewer

that something

bad is about to happen

and that's what's going on

here in the text.

So, verse 2.

So what's the bad thing

that's about to happen?

Verse 2.

And Sarai said to Abram,

Behold, now,

sorry, behold,

behold, now,

the Lord has prevented me

from bearing children.

We'll talk about that

in a moment.

Go into my servant

and go into my servant

is sexual language.

Basically, she's saying

I want you to have sex

with my servant.

Go into my servant,

it may be that I shall

obtain children by her.

And Abram listened

to the voice of Sarai.

So after Abram

had lived ten years

in the land of Canaan,

Sarai, Abram's wife,

took Hagar the Egyptian,

her servant,

and gave her to Abram,

her husband,

as a wife.

And he went into Hagar

and she conceived.

And when she saw

that she had conceived,

she looked with contempt

on her mistress.

So,

so first of all,

this sounds a bit weird

to us, eh?

I could just imagine

me suggesting

to Louise

that she find

a younger woman

for me to marry

and I'll be married

to both of them.

And that would not be

a conversation

would go very well,

nor should it.

But here's the thing.

What Sarah and Hagar do

is the cultural wisdom

of the day.

In other words,

it is what the cultural

equivalents of the CBC,

the Liberal Party,

the Conservative Party,

Ottawa U,

Hollywood,

the Globe and Mail,

all of our elites

have a cultural wisdom

around sexual knowledge.

and sexual relations.

And in the,

the equivalents

of the CBC

and the Supreme Court

and Parliament

and the Senate

and Ottawa U

and,

and Hollywood,

the equivalents

in those days

would have said

that what Sarah

and Hagar were doing

was the smart,

wise way

to fix the problem.

They're following

the cultural wisdom

of the day.

And it leads

to complete

and utter disaster.

The disaster

is going to get worse

as the story goes on.

There's going to be

demands for justice

which is really

just masking a desire

to hurt,

not for justice

but to hurt,

to crush,

to oppress,

to afflict.

There's going to be

abandonment

and running away

and there's only going

to be further heartache

as they follow

the wisdom of the world.

this in fact is

why you see

that the Bible's teaching

is part of the continual

true sexual revolution,

the perennial sexual revolution.

You see,

if you watch Hollywood

and read stories

and listen to the experts,

they continually

tell us different ways

to live sexually

in the world

which they say

are wise.

And the stories

and the movies

never show

in fact

the folly

of following

the wisdom

of the world.

So in the wisdom

of our world,

there is pressure

on women

to have

sexual knowing

with their boyfriends

because they believe

that unless they have,

they sexually know

their boyfriends,

their boyfriends

will not date them

and they'll never marry

and they want to marry.

Or

there is pressure

put on young men

and young women

and older men

and older women

that they need to have

sexual knowing

of many people

because how else

will you be prepared

for marriage

unless you have

sexual knowing

of many people.

And the cultural

wisdom of the day

says that if you want

to have a long

and happy marriage,

you need to live

together first

because that's the way

that you find out

whether you're in fact

suited to be

with this other person.

And this is all

just the commonplace

wisdom of the world.

What they don't say

is because God

has designed

sexual knowing

as a powerful

unitive force

within the person

that when a woman

sleeps with a man

and one or both

have absolutely

no intention

of ever marrying them,

all that happens

is that there's

a type of tearing

in the person

in a hardening

of relations

between the sexes

and a distrust.

And that's not

even calling,

that's not even

connected to things

like sexually

transmitted diseases

which can in fact

in many cases

lead to infertility

or to unwanted

pregnancies

and abortions.

And there's no

type of sense

that the supposed

wisdom of living

together

to prepare you

for marriage

that all

of the statistics

for decades

consistently show

that people

who lived together

before marriage

are much more

likely to divorce

than to remain

married.

Nor that the

pressure to sexually

know many different

people to somehow

prepare you for

marriage,

that to sexually

know many people

only forms you

to have sex

with lots of

people.

doesn't help

you or form

you at all

to sexually

know just one

person,

your husband

or your wife.

In fact,

the sexual

wisdom of our

world causes

chaos.

And the

wisdom of the

Bible,

because you see

one of the

things in what

happens in this

story,

and it's a

subtle thing,

but it's very

powerful and

cumulative.

The wisdom

of the world

in those days

was polygamy

was good

amongst other

things.

And one of

the things

that the

Bible consistently

shows is

that whenever

polygamy or

these other

things happen,

all that

happens is

heartache and

chaos.

And that the

wisdom,

portrayed especially

in Exodus and

Deuteronomy,

where it talks

about you

shall not

commit adultery,

that that

is something

which opens

the door to

a perpetual

sexual revolution.

that points

you towards

sanity and

wholeness and

health.

So they

follow the

wisdom of

the world,

and Hagar

successfully gets

pregnant,

and Sarah

is crushed,

Hagar's

arrogant and

contemptuous,

and we can

all see that

this is going

to be a

recipe for a

great time

together.

In sitcoms,

of course,

what would

happen is

there'd be a

period of

conflict.

They'd all

come to their

senses,

they'd have a

group hug,

and they'd

live together

happily ever

after,

and that,

of course,

is completely

and utterly

unrealistic to

most of

human

experience,

but what

is portrayed

in sitcoms,

and what we

think should

happen to

us.

Well,

how does it

work out?

Look what

happens in

verse 5.

Sarah said

to Abram,

May the

wrong done

to me

be on you.

I gave

my servant

to your

embrace,

and when

she saw

that she

had conceived,

she looked

on me with

contempt.

The same

word for

contempt is

also the

word for

curse.

She

curses,

Sarah.

May the

Lord judge

between you

and me.

But Abram

said to

Sarah,

Behold,

your servant

is in

your power.

Do to

her as

you please.

Then Sarah

dealt

harshly

with her,

and Hagar

fled from

Sarah.

So here

we see

just a

perfect

picture

of human

life.

Why is

it that we

can't

accept

responsibility

for the

wrong that

we do?

Sarah

blames

Abram.

Abram

shuffles

off

responsibility.

Sarah

claims that

she wants

justice,

which is

what she's

trying to

talk to

Abram

about

what she

doesn't

really want

justice.

She wants

to smash.

That's what

she wants.

She doesn't

want justice.

She wants

to smash.

And so

she smashes.

And Hagar

flees.

And now

the focus

shifts

to Hagar.

Sarah,

in a sense,

disappears from

the story,

at least this

incident,

moment,

and now

the focus

goes on

Hagar.

How is

God going

to deal

with all

of this?

Well,

let's

look.

Verse 7,

the angel

of the

Lord

found her,

now the

her is

Hagar,

not Sarai,

but found

Hagar,

by a

spring of

water in

the wilderness,

the spring

on the

way to

Shur.

Now,

just sort

of pause

here for

a second.

It's just

a very

tiny bit

of the

story,

but remember,

stories form

us,

and one

of the

things which

is subtly

forming us

here at the

very,

very beginning

of the

Old Testament

is that

God goes

seeking

Hagar,

the one

who treats

Sarai with

contempt,

the one

who curses

Sarai out.

God

goes

looking

for

Hagar.

Hagar.

See,

every single

one of us

who have

become a

Christian,

God

sought you

before you

sought him.

That's the

pattern of

the Bible.

The Lord

seeks you,

and he

seeks you

even when

you've done

things which

aren't very

good.

The Lord

seeks

Hagar,

and the

Lord finds

Hagar.

Verse 8,

and he

said,

Hagar,

servant

of

Sarai,

where have

you come

from and

where are

you going?

She said,

I am

fleeing from

my mistress

Sarai.

The angel

of the Lord

said to

her,

return to

your mistress

and submit

to her.

Now,

that causes

problems for

us.

I don't

know if

you're aware

of the

fact,

but the

most popular

tattoo in

Canada is

the phrase,

I love to

submit.

Haven't you

found that

is the

case?

Like,

I don't

know,

you know,

every time

I go into

a Starbucks,

it's like

every person,

I think,

what are you,

a herd of

independent

minds?

You all

like to

tattoo on

your arms

where everybody

can see I

love to

submit?

No,

of course,

this is like

a completely

terrible thing.

This is so

un-Canadian.

In fact,

for many people

looking at this,

they go,

oh,

come on,

good grief.

Like,

how,

what?

Listen,

the Bible

shouldn't be

telling her to

submit.

Like,

so how would

Hollywood tell

it?

Well,

here's the

thing.

Here's the

thing where

the Bible

is wise.

There is

no option

to Hagar

other than

submitting.

The question

isn't,

see,

that's what

Hollywood and

the wisdom of

the world

likes to try

to tell us.

the option

for George

is,

will I

submit?

Or will

I be

an independent,

powerful,

self-asserting,

autonomous,

self-actualizing

person that

everybody should

applaud?

Should I do

that or should

I submit?

Well,

who's going to

pick submitting

when that's

the option?

But that's

not the

option in

life.

Bob Dylan,

in his

Christian phase,

put it

perfectly.

You've

got to

serve

somebody.

It might

be the

devil,

or it

might be

the

Lord,

but you

got to

serve

somebody.

The

question

isn't,

will you

submit

or not?

The

question

is always

who or

what will

you submit

to?

So,

if you

get upset

with the

story,

well,

what's

Hagar

going to

do?

Hagar's

going to

go back.

Here she

is a

single,

unattached

woman in

a patriarchal

society.

She's

going to

go back

and be

somebody's

slave.

she's

not going

to go

to

Egypt

and start

the

equivalent

of

Shopify

or

Amazon

and be

unbelievably

rich.

She's

going to

submit

to

somebody.

But

what does

he tell

her?

And we're

going to

see,

in a sense,

the promise

which comes

immediately

after that.

Remember,

if you go

back and

you read

Genesis

Genesis 12:1

chapter 12

verses 1,

2,

and 3,

one of the

things which

characterizes the

blessing that

God is to

give Abram,

is that

Abram is

blessed to

be a

blessing.

So what

he is telling

Hagar to

do is to

go back to

the one who's

being blessed

to be a

blessing,

because if

she goes

back,

she will

be blessed.

She goes

to Egypt,

slavery,

she goes

to poverty,

she goes

back,

and she's

going to

have to

submit,

or she

can go

back and

submit.

God is

going to

deal with

things so

that she's

blessed.

Look, in

fact, what

happens.

Verse 10.

So verse 9,

return to

your mistress

and submit

to her.

The angel

of the

Lord,

verse 10,

also said

to her,

I will

surely

multiply

your

offspring

so that

they cannot

be numbered

for multitude.

And the

angel of

the Lord

said to

her,

behold,

you are

pregnant,

and you

shall bear

a son,

you shall

call his

name Ishmael,

because the

Lord has

listened to

your affliction.

He shall

be a wild

donkey of

a man.

That's an

image of

a person

who loves

freedom,

but at the

same time

he's going

to have a

problem.

His freedom,

his love

of freedom

will mean he

won't get

along with

people.

Verse 12,

he shall

be a wild

donkey of

a man,

his hand

against

everyone,

and everyone's

hand against

him,

and he

shall

dwell

over

against

all his

kinsmen.

But the

thing is,

right,

there's a

prophecy of

some other

things that

are going

to go on

there,

but fundamentally

if she

goes back

and submits

to the

one whom

the Lord

is blessing

to be a

blessing,

is that

she will

be blessed.

Her son

will be

safely born.

Her son

will marry.

her son

will have

children,

and she

will be a

mom who

has a

child,

and who

has

grandchildren,

and great

grandchildren,

of course,

in those days

she would die

before any

of that

would be

seen,

probably.

But that

is what

God is

promising her

and offering

her.

Verse 13,

this is very

significant.

So she

called the

name of

the Lord

who spoke

to her,

you are

a God

of seeing.

For she

said,

truly,

here I

have seen

him who

looks after

me.

Therefore

the well

was called

Bir Lahai

Roy.

It lies

between

Kadesh

and Bered

and Hagar

bore Abram

a son,

and Abram

called the

name of

his son

whom

Hagar

bore

Ishmael.

In other

words,

Abram

comes

back,

there's

peace

which

goes

back

there.

Abram

was 86

years

old

when

Hagar

bore

Ishmael

to

Abram.

But here's

the thing,

trying to

wrap this

up,

here's the

thing which

is very

significant

about this.

If you

go back

to verse

13,

you are

a God

of seeing.

In the

original

language,

the same

name

sentence

can be

understood

in different

senses

all at

the same

time.

In English,

of course,

you have

to pick

one.

And it

also means

not just

you are

a God

of seeing,

but you

are a

God who

sees me.

And it

also could

be understood

as you

are the

God I

see.

And then

the thing

about the

well is

that there's

a living

God who

sees

me.

You know,

here's one

of the

things.

things.

I mean,

one of the

problems,

of course,

to go back

to the

thing which

I mentioned

at the

first,

is, of

course,

one of the

reasons that

people can

feel so

hard done

by and

hurt,

and hard

done by,

I didn't

mean to say

it that way,

can be very

hurt,

is that they

haven't been

able to find,

they'd love to

be married,

they'd love to

have children,

they aren't

able to find

it,

and it's a

very,

very hard

thing,

and at

some point

in time,

they start

to feel

invisible.

It's one

of the

things which

is also

hard,

not just

for women

like that,

but for

men,

is the

feeling of

being

invisible.

It's the

problem of

the poor,

they are

invisible.

One of the

things I had

several people

tell me who

live in the

downtown core,

is that when

we had the

lockdown,

especially the

first lockdown,

what did they

say to me?

They never

realized there

were so many

street people

in Ottawa.

Why did they

never realize

there were so

many street

people in

Ottawa?

Because they're

often invisible

amidst all

the others,

and when

there's nobody

there,

they're no

longer

invisible.

What is

part of the

problem with

aging?

Often with

age, you

start to

feel invisible,

unseen,

and so we

have this

very, very

powerful way

of describing

the true

and living

God.

Not the

God of

Canadians,

but the

God of

the Bible.

The God

of Canadians

is often

just an

impersonal

force or

some type

of wispy

type of

thing,

but the

God of

the Bible

is not

an invisible

force,

it's not

something

wispy.

The God

of the

Bible is

the true

and living

God,

and the

true and

living God

is the

one who

sees you.

You are

not

invisible to

the true

and living

God,

and he

looks upon

you with

sympathy.

He sees

very clear-eyed

the wrong

you've done

and the good

you've done,

but you're

never invisible

to the true

and living

God.

And this

becomes even

more, as

the Bible

continues,

and as you

learn more

about the

true and

living God

and the

different ways

that the

true and

living God

sees,

both with

justice and

mercy and

with compassion

and with

sympathy,

and it

culminates in

the New

Testament.

John's

Gospel, in

particular,

the clearest.

In John's

Gospel, it's

very, very

clear that

when you

see Jesus,

you are

seeing the

living God.

And the

way that you

see the

living God

most completely

and perfectly

in the

Gospel of

John is

when you

see Jesus

dying upon

the cross.

And one

of the

things which

is so

remarkable about

the seven

last words

that Jesus

has from

the cross

is the

way that

even as

he is

hanging on

the cross

dying,

he sees.

He sees

the thief

upon the

cross.

He sees

the disciple

whom he

loves.

He sees

his mother.

He sees.

He sees

you.

You see

God

perfectly

revealed

when you

see Jesus

dying upon

the cross.

He sees

God and

you are

seeing the

God who

sees you

and sees

me.

The promise

that God

would be a

blessing to

Abram and

Sarah and

that part of

that profound

mystery of

blessing isn't

as you can see

that they were

perfect.

they are

not

perfect.

But from

them believing

the promise

you see

from them

believing the

promise

eventually they

will give

birth to

the son

who will

give birth

to a son

who will

give birth

to a son

that down

the road

and down

the road

and down

the road

is great

Abram's

greater son

who dies

on the cross

so that

Abram and

Sarah can

be made

right with

the true

and living

God.

And for

Hagar

potentially.

but in

the cross

you see

the God

you see

God

and you

see the

God who

sees you.

You're not

invisible.

Just in

closing

part of the

great lesson

of this text

is not just

to bring us

to this point

this profound

insight.

Remember I

said that one

of the things

which is

complicated for

us when we

read this

story is we

want to put

people in

good guys

and bad

guys and

downgrade

their badness

and upgrade

their goodness

or do the

opposite depending

on what

sides we

are and we

don't see

that happening

in the text.

We see the

wrong.

We see the

hurt.

We see the

sorrow.

We see the

sadness and

we don't see

it and we

see it seen

with sympathy

and the

steps to

deliver people

from oppression

and to bring

people into

love.

To live out

of the promise

that comes from

the gospel

that when

Jesus dies

for you on

the cross

he sees

you and

he died

for you

and to

realize that

he has come

and sought

me the

promise God

comes and

gives me this

great gift of

grace when I

do not am

worthy of it

and I do not

deserve it.

You see

part of

Sarah's

problem was

she thought

God couldn't

accomplish

things and

so she

needed to

do it

for herself.

She

stopped living

out of the

promise

and thought

that God

needed her

power to

fix the

things that

his power

couldn't

manage.

and that's

always a

consistent

problem and

danger for

us who are

Christians

thinking that

somehow we

need to use

our power

because God's

power isn't

enough.

You see

what happens

is it will

happen now in

the rest of

the story in

chapter 17 and

18 and

19 and

20 and

21 and

22 is

that when

Abram and

Sarah are

being faithful

they live out

of the

promise.

And as

the promise

of grace

and of

blessing

becomes real

to their

heart

God will

at the

same time

put into

their heart

the things

that they

need to

do out

of obedience

and gratitude

to the

promise.

Not because

his hand

is short

or weak

but because

the very

promise of

the blessing

and the

promise

forms you

to do

things

in a way

that don't

bring your

own power

first and

foremost

and you're

not trying

to be

God.

It just

flows out

of being

formed by

the promise.

And that's

how the

Christian life

is to be.

Not that

if I don't

do this

God can't

get it

done.

But what