16:7,8
Men and women have been making mistakes and sinning, but God also acts, and sometimes He acts to counteract the effect of our sin. So here he appears to Hagar who is running away from her cruel mistress (Sarai!). There is a lot of talk these days about decolonising this, that and the other. If some hero is found to have had some bad things about them. Well what a surprise! All our heroes were sinners. Who’d have guessed? This cancelling is very silly, it is also very dangerous. “Judge not lest you too be judged”. We had all better watch out, for on the basis you apply to others you too could be cancelled! We are far wiser to focus on the grace of God. Mercy triumphs over judgement. And look here that the servant girl who was treated as a mere object by Abram and Saria, is valued by God.
16:9,10
“Go back to your mistress and submit to her.” Well, this isn’t advice that any woke warrior would give! Yet it is far better to submit and be under God’s protection, than to live out of our own will and flesh and be dependent upon our own strength. For the “go back and submit” is not the end of the matter, there is a promise to follow. The Lord would increase the numbers of her descendants so that they were too numerous to count. If we live out of our own strength then the promises for our future are limited by our own strength. If we submit to the word of God then the promises are limited only by God’s power. I know which I would rather choose
No comments:
Post a Comment