Genesis 17:1 And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God: walk before me, and be thou perfect.
Yes my Friends, we’ve seen how that was difficult for Abram to do, though he was a righteous man. But in a saga stretching across so much time and space, that’s inevitable. We left off yesterday where Sarai wished to lay the blame for Hagar’s behaviour at Abram’s door, but he threw the ball back into her court, saying; ‘Behold, thy maid is in thy hand; do to her as it pleaseth thee. And when Sarai dealt hardly with her, she fled from her face.’ (Gen. 16:6) Yeh people, the ole do so ent like so. When Hagar was rude and impudent to Sarai, that was okay, since she’d won the pregnant sweepstakes. But when the tables were turned, and Sarai ill-treated her, Hagar ran away bemoaning her faith. Now doesn’t that sound like how some of us behave? It sure does. And Friends, it all comes right back to those simple but powerful words of Jesus, ‘do unto others as you would have them do unto you.’ The selfish, one-sided human nature showing up there. But if Hagar thought she’d gotten away, she was wrong, for the Lord found her sitting by a spring in the wilderness and said to her: ‘Hagar, Sarai’s maid, whence camest thou? and wither wilt thou go? And she said, I flee from the face of my mistress Sarai. And the angel of the Lord said unto her, Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under hands.’ (Gen.16:8-9) Hn! The Lord surely knows how to put us in our place, and I’m sure this directive did not appeal to Hagar, but the Lord told her further; ‘I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude… Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael, because the Lord hath heard thy affliction. And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man’s hand against him, and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.’ (Gen.16:10-13) Oh my people, thus began years of contention. The name Ishmael, means ‘God hears’ and was intended to remind Hagar of God’s special intervention on her behalf. Yuh see how disobedience to God, not waiting on Him, and trying to take matters into our own hands can cause endless problems. If Sarai hadn’t sent Abram in to Hagar, and then the two women being angry and resentful to each other afterwards, who knows what might have happened. I don’t know if the Lord did it on purpose to teach us a lesson, but the enmity between both sides of Abram’s family was born right there in the Promised Land. What a bam-bam! And sadly, that family feud continues to this day, not only there, but all over the world. The mere fact that Ishmael was to be wild man, with his hand against everybody else’s, and theirs against his, did not signify good times forthcoming. And according to the scholars, his dwelling in the presence of all his brethren denotes an hostility on the part of Ishmael and his descendants toward his brethren Isaac and his descendants, and even among Ishmael’s own people. Yes Friends, the callaloo was just beginning to boil! And yuh know what it spawned? The Jewish and Arab conflict, which still runs at a fever pitch, thousands of years after the birth of Abram’s two sons. And it was all caused by the lust of the flesh, an inability to wait on God’s promise. We can’t judge Abram and the two women too harshly, for remember he was 85 and Sarai about 75, way past normal childbearing years, and ten years had passed since the Lord promised Abram an heir from his own loins. And though Abram was possibly wrong to lie with Hagar, what really soured the situation is the bitterness between the two women, which they passed on to their children. Can you imagine Arabs and Jews coming from the loins of the same man, with the enmity that still exists between them today? Hn! And Friends, the same stupidity and selfishness that existed between Sarai and Hagar back then, continues today between women who have children for the same man. The unproductive, resentment creating of the us against them mentality still persists, and like all selfish adult behaviour, harms the children more than anybody else. But apparently getting their pound of flesh is more important to the adults. And a serious word of advice here to men in that position: Fathers, regardless of what wrong you’ve done, please, I beg you, please don’t allow the resentful mothers to poison the children’s mind. You see how long the bitterness and stupidity can last; even unto thousands of generations. Yes my people, we are all human and so liable to make mistakes, but it doesn’t become us, either as intelligent humans and/or followers of Christ to compound them by creating and fostering strife and resentment amongst our families. No one wins. We all lose, both emotionally and financially. So my brethren, let’s smarten up nuh and realize that negative emotions and behaviour are destructive; just look at the current state of our world. And until we wake up and smell the roses my Friends, and turn the tables around, with the emotions and actions that lead in positive directions in the ascendancy, our fragile world will remain in constant turmoil. Let’s hope that happens soon, while there are still roses to smell. And the saga of our Faith Father, Abram, continues. Much LOVE!…please don’t compound mistakes…with unwise…unchristian behaviour and attitudes…
Yes my Friends, we’ve seen how that was difficult for Abram to do, though he was a righteous man. But in a saga stretching across so much time and space, that’s inevitable. We left off yesterday where Sarai wished to lay the blame for Hagar’s behaviour at Abram’s door, but he threw the ball back into her court, saying; ‘Behold, thy maid is in thy hand; do to her as it pleaseth thee. And when Sarai dealt hardly with her, she fled from her face.’ (Gen. 16:6) Yeh people, the ole do so ent like so. When Hagar was rude and impudent to Sarai, that was okay, since she’d won the pregnant sweepstakes. But when the tables were turned, and Sarai ill-treated her, Hagar ran away bemoaning her faith. Now doesn’t that sound like how some of us behave? It sure does. And Friends, it all comes right back to those simple but powerful words of Jesus, ‘do unto others as you would have them do unto you.’ The selfish, one-sided human nature showing up there. But if Hagar thought she’d gotten away, she was wrong, for the Lord found her sitting by a spring in the wilderness and said to her: ‘Hagar, Sarai’s maid, whence camest thou? and wither wilt thou go? And she said, I flee from the face of my mistress Sarai. And the angel of the Lord said unto her, Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under hands.’ (Gen.16:8-9) Hn! The Lord surely knows how to put us in our place, and I’m sure this directive did not appeal to Hagar, but the Lord told her further; ‘I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude… Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael, because the Lord hath heard thy affliction. And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man’s hand against him, and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.’ (Gen.16:10-13) Oh my people, thus began years of contention. The name Ishmael, means ‘God hears’ and was intended to remind Hagar of God’s special intervention on her behalf. Yuh see how disobedience to God, not waiting on Him, and trying to take matters into our own hands can cause endless problems. If Sarai hadn’t sent Abram in to Hagar, and then the two women being angry and resentful to each other afterwards, who knows what might have happened. I don’t know if the Lord did it on purpose to teach us a lesson, but the enmity between both sides of Abram’s family was born right there in the Promised Land. What a bam-bam! And sadly, that family feud continues to this day, not only there, but all over the world. The mere fact that Ishmael was to be wild man, with his hand against everybody else’s, and theirs against his, did not signify good times forthcoming. And according to the scholars, his dwelling in the presence of all his brethren denotes an hostility on the part of Ishmael and his descendants toward his brethren Isaac and his descendants, and even among Ishmael’s own people. Yes Friends, the callaloo was just beginning to boil! And yuh know what it spawned? The Jewish and Arab conflict, which still runs at a fever pitch, thousands of years after the birth of Abram’s two sons. And it was all caused by the lust of the flesh, an inability to wait on God’s promise. We can’t judge Abram and the two women too harshly, for remember he was 85 and Sarai about 75, way past normal childbearing years, and ten years had passed since the Lord promised Abram an heir from his own loins. And though Abram was possibly wrong to lie with Hagar, what really soured the situation is the bitterness between the two women, which they passed on to their children. Can you imagine Arabs and Jews coming from the loins of the same man, with the enmity that still exists between them today? Hn! And Friends, the same stupidity and selfishness that existed between Sarai and Hagar back then, continues today between women who have children for the same man. The unproductive, resentment creating of the us against them mentality still persists, and like all selfish adult behaviour, harms the children more than anybody else. But apparently getting their pound of flesh is more important to the adults. And a serious word of advice here to men in that position: Fathers, regardless of what wrong you’ve done, please, I beg you, please don’t allow the resentful mothers to poison the children’s mind. You see how long the bitterness and stupidity can last; even unto thousands of generations. Yes my people, we are all human and so liable to make mistakes, but it doesn’t become us, either as intelligent humans and/or followers of Christ to compound them by creating and fostering strife and resentment amongst our families. No one wins. We all lose, both emotionally and financially. So my brethren, let’s smarten up nuh and realize that negative emotions and behaviour are destructive; just look at the current state of our world. And until we wake up and smell the roses my Friends, and turn the tables around, with the emotions and actions that lead in positive directions in the ascendancy, our fragile world will remain in constant turmoil. Let’s hope that happens soon, while there are still roses to smell. And the saga of our Faith Father, Abram, continues. Much LOVE!…please don’t compound mistakes…with unwise…unchristian behaviour and attitudes…
SCRIP-BITS 