by Jay Linthicum | 6 May 2022 | This was originally presented by Jay during a Mother’s Day Sabbath at the Gathering Place Sabbath School, Loma Linda University Church. It being the time of the year when we honor our mothers, I thought I would tell you some stories about my remarkable mom. Ducks Once […] Source: https://atoday.org/memories-of-my-wonderful-bold-and-unusual-mother/
Proverbs 31:28
Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her…
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Monday: Abraham’s Doubts
Read Genesis 16:1-16. What is the significance of Abram’s decision to go with Hagar, even despite God’s promise to him? How do the two women represent two attitudes of faith (Galatians 4:21-31)?
When Abram doubted (Genesis 15:2), God unambiguously reassured him that He will have a son. Years later, Abram is still without a son.
Image © Bjorn Thorkelson at Goodsalt.com
Even after God’s last powerful prophecy, Abram seems to have lost his faith: he does not believe anymore that it will be possible for him to have a son with Sarai. Sarai, feeling hopeless, takes the initiative and urges him to resort to a common practice of that time in the ancient Near East: take a surrogate. Hagar, Sarai’s servant, is appointed for this service. The system works. Ironically, this human strategy seemed more efficient than did faith in God’s promises.
The passage describing Sarai’s relation to Abram echoes the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. The two texts share a number of common motifs (Sarai, like Eve, is active; Abram, like Adam, is passive) and share common verbs and phrases (“heed the voice,” “take” and “give”). This parallel between the two stories implies God’s disapproval of this course of action.
The apostle Paul refers to this story to make his point about works versus grace (Galatians 4:23-26). In both accounts, the result is the same: the immediate reward of human work outside the will of God leads to future troubles. Note that God is absent during the whole course of action. Sarai speaks about God but never speaks to Him; nor does God speak to either of them. This absence of God is striking, especially after the intense presence of God in the previous chapter.
God then appears to Hagar but only after she has left the house of Abram. This unexpected appearance discloses God’s presence in spite of human effort to work without Him. The reference to “the Angel of the LORD” (Genesis 16:7, NKJV) is a title that is often identified with the LORD, YHWH (see Genesis 18:1, Genesis 18:13, Genesis 18:22). This time it is God who takes the initiative and announces to Hagar that she will give birth to a son, Ishmael, whose name means God hears (Genesis 16:11). Ironically, the story, which ends with the idea of hearing (shama‘), echoes the hearing of the beginning of the story, when Abram who “heeded” (shama‘) the voice of Sarai (Genesis 16:2).
| Why is it so easy for us to have the same lack of faith that Abram had here? |
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Sunday: The Faith of Abraham
Read Genesis 15:1-21 and Romans 4:3-4, Romans 4:9, Romans 4:22. How does Abram reveal what it means to live by faith? What is the meaning of the sacrifice that God had Abram perform?
God’s first response to Abram’s concern about an heir (Genesis 15:1-3) is that he will have a son from his “own body” (Genesis 15:4, NKJV). The same language is used by the prophet Nathan to refer to the seed of the future Messianic king (2 Samuel 7:12).
Image © The Classic Bible Art Collection – Formerly Standard Publishing at Goodsalt.com
Abram was reassured and “believed in the LORD” (Genesis 15:6), because he understood that the fulfillment of God’s promise depended not on his own righteousness but on God’s (Genesis 15:6; compare with Romans 4:5-6).
This notion is extraordinary, especially in that culture. In the religion of the ancient Egyptians, for instance, judgment was evaluated on the basis of counting one’s human works of righteousness against the righteousness of the goddess Maat, who represented divine righteousness. In short, you had to earn “salvation.”
God then sets up a sacrificial ceremony for Abram to perform. Basically, the sacrifice points to Christ’s death for our sins. Humans are saved by grace, the gift of God’s righteousness, symbolized by these sacrifices. But this particular ceremony conveys specific messages for Abram. The preying of the vultures on the sacrificial animals (Genesis 15:9-11) means that Abram’s descendants will suffer slavery for a period of “four hundred years” (Genesis 15:13), or four generations (Genesis 15:16). Then in the fourth generation, Abram’s descendants “shall return here” (Genesis 15:16, NKJV).
The last scene of the sacrificial ceremony is dramatic: “a burning torch that passed between those pieces” (Genesis 15:17, NKJV). This extraordinary wonder signifies God’s commitment to fulfill His covenant promise of giving land to Abram’s descendants (Genesis 15:18).
The boundaries of this Promised Land, “from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates” (Genesis 15:18, NKJV) remind us of the boundaries of the Garden of Eden (compare with Genesis 2:13-14). This prophecy has, therefore, more in view than just the Exodus and a homeland for Israel. On the distant horizon of this prophecy, in Abraham’s descendants taking the country of Canaan, looms the idea of the end-time salvation of God’s people, who will return to the Garden of Eden.
| How can we learn to keep focused on Christ and His righteousness as our only hope of salvation? What happens if we try to start counting up our good works? |
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Every Child Born Should Be a Wanted Child
By Lindsey Abston Painter | 6 May 2022 | My job is to train professionals who work with children and families in a variety of needs. One is the foster care system: I train new foster parents, seasoned foster parents, foster family case workers, social workers, and floor staff in group homes. In my work […] Source: https://atoday.org/every-child-born-should-be-a-wanted-child/
