God’s Love Extends to Everyone

https://odb.org/MY/2023/03/06/all-alone

The story of Abram (Abraham) with Hagar and Ishmael and Sarai (Sarah) with Isaac as recounted in Genesis 21 demonstrates God’s love and compassion for humanity despite our human failure and fraility. Sarah couldn’t wait for the child that was promised to Abraham when he was already 75 and thus offered her Egyptian slavegirl Hagar to him to bear his heir when he was 85 (not an unusual practice then as a slave was regarded as a possession), and thus Ishmael was born when Abraham was 86.

However, Sarah sent Hagar away with Ishmael after Issac was born when Abraham was 100 as she wanted her own flesh and blood to be his heir. Abraham was distressed, but God told him not to be as He would take care of Ishmael and raise a whole nation through him. The LORD eventually sent an angel to show Hagar a water source when they were waiting to die as their water ran out in the desert.

History would show Ishmael later led to the creation of the Arab nation, and it is perhaps this action of Sarah and Abraham deserting Hagar and Ishmael that is the root cause of centuries of hostilities between Arabs and Jews until the present day. But God’s love and compassion were indeed clearly demonstrated here as even though Sarah abandoned Hagar, God protected her, and her offspring from the seed of Abraham became a prosperous and a much larger nation (in comparison to the Jews) that has been a thorn to them since ancient times.

God’s love extends to everyone, whether Jew or Arab and later through Jesus Christ, to all the Gentile nations of the world. As much as we may be alone, God will take care of us. As much as our children may not be near us or our spouse is no longer with us, God is with us. He is our shield and protector. He is our stronghold. Our fortress and the rock of our salvation! Soldier on, my dear brothers and sisters, for our goal is heavenward in Christ Jesus, our Lord. We are mere pilgrims passing through this temporal abode on our way to our eternal home, which our Lord Jesus Christ has already gone ahead to prepare for us in our Father’s vast heavenly mansion!

The message today, I believe, is that if we feel we are all alone, that the world has abandoned us, be comforted by the fact that God loves us and is compassionate, gentle and humble. Maybe we went through a devastating breakup or divorce, or our spouse or child had passed on or our children live too far away from us abroad or due to some disagreement, we left our church. There could be many reasons. As Sarah had sent Hagar and Ishmael away to fend for themselves in the desert, the LORD made sure they were taken care of. In Genesis 21:12, God told Abraham not to be distressed by Sarah’s request to send Hagar away. In verse 13, the LORD promised Abraham that He would make the son of the slave into a nation, for he was also Abraham’s offspring.