Word of Encouragement (01/27/2022)

Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, "Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?" 18 And Abraham said to God, "Oh that Ishmael might live before you!" (Gen. 17:17-18).

This is another conversation Abraham is having with God. Actually, in the first part, he is not talking to God; he is talking to himself: “Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” Of course, we are not praying when we are talking to ourselves. But we should know that God still hears us; God is more inward than our innermost thoughts. So, in the next verse, we hear God saying, “No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac” (v. 19). What does “Isaac” mean? “He laughs” (Gen. 21:3, 6). God knew that Abraham was laughing and what he was laughing about.

I mention this only to remind ourselves that we should be honest and earnest in our prayer. We ought to show respect to God when we pray. We can do that by speaking in humility and reverence. We can do that also by praying what is doctrinally sound as well. When we do this, we should not forget that another important way of showing respect to God is by being honest. In our efforts to be doctrinally sound, we may hide or deny our true feelings. But God is never happy that we praise God with our lips while our hearts are dry and far away. And it is not like we can high anything from God, who sees all things. He would much rather have us confess our true feelings and ask for His help than go on saying what we think God wants to hear from us when our hearts are not in it.

Having chuckled to himself, Abraham says, “Oh that Ishmael might live before you!” This is in response to God’s assurance that Sarai, whose name God just changed to Sarah, will bear a son. Why is Abraham doubting God’s promise concerning a son? Did he not believe it back in Ch. 15 and God counted it as righteousness to him (15:6)? You know what happened between then and now, in Ch. 16. Growing impatient with God’s slow answer, Sarai decided to have a child through a surrogate, Hagar her Egyptian maid. Thus was born Ishmael. It seems that both Abram and Sarai accepted Ishmael to be the offspring God had promised to them. That is why Abraham chuckled to himself when the Lord brought up “the old” promise again when he and Sarah got even older and both moved on with their lives.

It is amazing how we can project our small minds and ideas onto God and settle for less, isn’t it? It is like we are afraid to trust in our great God to do great things for us. We are afraid because we don’t want to be disappointed. We get disappointed all the time by so many things and people in big and small ways. But disappointments are still hard. More than anything, we don’t want to get disappointed by God. If that happens, where do we turn to for hope? It’s like people not wanting to do their best: if they do their best and still fail, how do they go on living?

I’m sure we all feel like God has disappointed us. But we must ask: was it because He broke His promise or because He did not meet our expectations? He may not do what we expect Him to do but He will fulfill His promise far beyond our imagination, as was the case with Abraham and Sarah. Just think about what God did for the greatest need we have—our eternal salvation from sin. Could any one of us have expected that He would sacrifice His Son the way He did? Who of us could have asked the Son of God to suffer and die as He did for sinners like us? The cross of Jesus Christ should demolish any doubt we have about God’s abundant and generous love for us. Would you not trust Him and His promises and rekindle your hope in Christ and His great love for you?

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