Lesson 10 - Ishmael and Isaac:
 Faith Falters and Is Renewed
 Read Genesis 16-17 - www.bible.com/bible/59/gen.16

Has God ever promised you something, and then you tried to work it out yourself because you couldn’t see any other way that His promise could be kept? But what you did turned out all wrong and wasn’t at all what you had expected, so you asked God why it all got messed up?

God’s promise to Abram, that he would become a father of many descendants, seemed impossible to Sarai because she knew she was too old to have children. So she took the only steps she could see by which she could have a child – and it all turned out wrong. It became an issue of resentment between Abram and Sarai – certainly not what God wanted for them.

When Abram gave Sarai permission to deal with her maid, Hagar, as she wished, Hagar ran away, intending to die rather than remain with Sarai.

As God does with all things we turn over to Him, He worked out this situation for good, and brought Hagar and Ishmael back to Abram to be part of his family so he could teach this son about God.

God allowed the situation between Abram, Sarai, Hagar, and Ishmael to continue for 13 years between the end of chapter 16 and the beginning of chapter 17. That seems like a long time to wait for God to fulfill His promise, doesn’t it? But now Abram is 99 years old, and Sarai is 89 – far past what we would think it possible to have a child.

When God came to talk with Abram again, God reinforced His promise by doing something unusual – He gave Abram and Sarai new names. To us this might not be important, but to people in Abram’s day names said something about who you were. For example, Abram meant “exalted father.” Sarai meant “princess.” Abraham means “father of many nations” and Sarah “mother of nations.”


*When was a time you went through a difficult event from which you gained new insight into God's concern for you?
*What have you learned about God in this chapter to help you believe His promises in spite of your circumstances?
One of God’s greatest promises for us when we try to do things our own way and make a great mess of things is found in Romans 8:28 – “we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” Whatever we give to Him by confession of sin or releasing of a burden, He will make into something more wonderful than we could ever have imagined possible.