Identify the Difficulty/Problem

We have a good Father, don’t we? I love the song, “You’re a good, good Father. It’s who You are. It’s who You are, and I’m loved by You. It’s who I am. It’s who I am.”

Luke 11:13 says, “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”

I’m reading in Genesis the story of Isaac. God blessed Isaac like He had blessed Abraham, his father.

In Genesis 26, God has blessed Isaac to the point the king asked him to move on because he had become much too powerful. Isaac sowed seed and reaped 100 times what he sowed. That, for the record, is amazing. God blessed Isaac with flocks, herds and slaves, and his neighbors the Philistines were jealous.

Sometimes when God pours His blessings on us, those around us can become jealous. It happens. We live in a sinful, fallen world. They don’t see what has gone on behind closed doors. They haven’t seen the tears that have been shed or hear the prayers prayed from inside your prayer closet. All they see is how you’ve been blessed.

So how do you handle their jealousy? Jealousy inevitably brings conflict. In Genesis 26, Isaac was opening wells his father had dug, and the Philistines were filling them with dirt. Isaac could have gotten mad, but instead he dug new wells.

Wells were and are a source of life-giving water. When Isaac opened new wells, the Philistines quarreled with him saying the water was theirs. The first time, Isaac named the well Quarrel. The second time, Isaac named the well Hostility.

Isaac identified the root cause. The Philistines wanted to take away the life-giving source in hopes of deterring and hurting Isaac. They wanted to snuff out the thing which could benefit Isaac most.

On the third try Isaac had a well dug, the Philistines backed off. Isaac named the well Open Spaces. Isaac named it Open Spaces “because the Lord has made room for us, and we will be fruitful in the land.” It reminds me of Psalm 18:19, “He brought me out to a spacious place; He rescued me because He delighted in me.”

Isaac could have easily gone to the king and told him the wells belonged to him because they had been his father’s, but he didn’t. He didn’t offer a defense. Why? Because He knew God would provide.

What if God had allowed the Philistines to close those wells and claim those wells because He didn’t want Isaac at that location? What if God was causing Isaac to move on as a form of protection? Was God protecting Isaac from something harmful? Was God moving Isaac to bless him more?

Too often in today’s society when people are blessed, they clutch so tightly to the things of this world, to the blessings they didn’t work to attain that they lose sight of what is important.

What are you holding onto? What do you clutch tightly to your chest as if protecting it with your life? Career. Car. Clothes. Home. Let’s go a little deeper. Spouse. Son. Daughter. Family members. Your reputation. Your position – in the community, in your church, in your home.

When things come up and try to take those things, those people away from you, do you fight like the dickens to keep them? Don’t get me wrong. There are times when we are to fight, but do you know what times that you aren’t to fight? Do you recognize God’s hand? Do you acknowledge you don’t fight against flesh and blood (Ephesians 6:12)?

Is what you’re fighting for a kingdom matter? Is it someone’s soul? Is it someone’s future in eternity you are fighting for, or are you fighting for control and power?

Identify what the problem is. Name it. Quarrel. Hostility.

Look for God’s guidance. Identify it. Name it. Open Spaces. 

Life is too short to be fighting for something God doesn’t intend on your having in the first place.

Life is too short to be fighting for something you didn’t work to attain.

Life is too short to fight for the things you did work to attain.

You fight when God leads you to fight. Otherwise, you seek God and follow Him and let go of all the nonsense. Sometimes we make life harder than it has to be.

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Would You Share Your Husband Just to Become a Mom

I am reading Genesis 13 – 20. It’s the story of God, Abram, Sarai and Hagar.

As I’m reading through this story, I have questions. I’m curious. Because as an infertile woman, I’ve known the desperation, heart ache, and need to get pregnant and have a baby, I’ve wondered how Sarai could give her servant to her husband. This step in becoming pregnant takes things to another level.

So here are a few questions:

1.       Abram was around 75 years old when God called Abram and promised to make him into a great nation (Genesis 12). How soon did Abram and Sarai think this promise would be fulfilled?

2.       In today’s age, women take their temperature and even use ovulating kits to determine when they are the most fertile. Did Sarai use what was popular in their time like mandrakes once she heard the promise from God?

3.       Sarai did not take documented steps in controlling her family’s future until God had made a “Sands and Stars” (Genesis 13:14, 15:5) promise to Abram. My questions are: Had Sarai come to grips with her infertility until she heard about this promise from God? Had she accepted the fact she and Abram would not have children? This is a huge step to get to in a woman’s life. The custom of giving a servant to a husband to bear a child was nothing new to Sarai or her generation, but she hadn’t selected to use this option. As an infertile woman, we went through so many options, but there were some we were not willing to consider. Why did Sarai change her mind to consider Hagar as a valid option?

4.       God prevented Sarai from getting pregnant, but He allowed Hagar to become pregnant. Why? What was the point?

5.       Did Sarai resent her slave whom she gave as a wife to her own husband? I can’t imagine enjoying sharing my husband with anyone.

6.       Sarai had to have insecurities about not producing an heir for Abram. How were the escalated when Hagar became pregnant so easily?

7.       How could Sarai think that giving her husband another woman to sleep with was a good idea?

8.       I wonder what the full conversation was like between Abram and Sarai when she blamed Abram for the mess she found herself in.

9.       When we read Abram gives Hagar back to Sarai, we see a side of Sarai that is very unbecoming. What was Sarai’s desired outcome for mistreating Hagar? What did she hope to attain? Did she feel better about things once she paid Hagar back?

10.   Then there’s Hagar. The rise from servant to wife was a brief rise to power. She didn’t seem to exercise her position too well. What did she think was going to happen when the number 1 wife told Abram what Hagar had been doing?

11.   How humiliating it must have been for Hagar to go from slave to wife then be demoted again to slave. What was the final thing that happened or was said which convinced Hagar to run away?

12.   When the Angel of the Lord appeared to Hagar who was on the run, his message to her was to return to the mistreatment. This would be another blow for Hagar, but where else could she have gone?

13.   The God named Hagar’s son, and the angel gave a prophesy and promise regarding Ishmael. How did she take hearing her son would be like a wild donkey, his hand would be against everyone, and everyone would be against him (16:12)? Did she wonder what it meant? Did she worry about her son’s future? Did she receive notices from school saying her son had been in another fight? When did she first see this prophesy coming to life?

14.   Hagar is the only one in the Bible I’ve found who has given God a name. She named Him, “The God Who Sees.”

15.   Did Sarah give up on God keeping His promise or at least wonder if He was going to keep it? Abram left out for Promised Land at 75. He was 100 when Isaac was born. Every day, every week, every month, every year getting older and older.

16.   Then there’s chapter 20. Sarah was around 90 years old, and King Abimilech found her beautiful and took her for his wife because Abraham told her to claim him as her brother. She was 90 and still beautiful and desirable. What kind of night cream did she use!? LOL

My mind can wonder into some weird questions, but the point of all this is to ask questions. By being inquisitive, God reveals Himself to us through His Word. It also makes me hunger for the Word even more.

What other questions did you have when you read these chapters?

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