Life of Abraham Series: Abraham And Hagar
June 2025
“Now Sarai Abram's wife bare him no children: and she had an handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar. And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, the LORD hath restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai. And Sarai Abram's wife took Hagar her maid the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife. And he went in unto Hagar, and she conceived: and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes. And Sarai said unto Abram, My wrong be upon thee: I have given my maid into thy bosom; and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes: the LORD judge between me and thee. But Abram said unto Sarai, Behold, thy maid is in thy hand; do to her as it pleaseth thee. And when Sarai dealt hardly with her, she fled from her face. And the angel of the LORD found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur.”
—Genesis 16:1-7
The path of faith is not an easy path. The Lord gives direction but then Satan does everything he can to hinder and discourage the child of God.
Abraham and Sarah were now past the age of childbearing; actually verse 16 tells us that Abraham was now eighty-six years old. They had been promised a child, but years passed, and they began to waver in their faith.
George Williams, in The Complete Bible Commentary, said of this: “Chapter [15] sets out the faithfulness of God, chapter [16] the faithlessness of Abraham….The path of faith is full of dignity, the path of unbelief full of degradation. Abraham, finding that God has failed to give him a son, and tired of waiting, no longer sets his hope upon God, but upon an Egyptian slave girl. The natural heart will trust anything rather than God. Abraham thinks that he can, by his clever plan, hasten and bring to pass the Divine promise. The result is misery. He succeeds in his plan, Ishmael is born but better were it for Abraham and the world had he never been born! It is disastrous when the self-willed plans of the Christian succeed.”
God has a time set for his great exploits, and His time is perfect. However, man is impatient and wants the promises of God to be fulfilled on his time schedule; hence, we think we need to help God, and this self-will overrides the timing and the working of the Holy Spirit.
Sarah would say, “The Lord hath restrained me from bearing.” This is the impatience of unbelief. Since time has passed the thought is, “I must do something.” This is the flesh and the spirit, and the flesh is always in conflict. C. H. Mackintosh says of this: “It is one thing to believe a promise at the first, and quite another thing to wait quietly for the accomplishment thereof.”
When the Lord gives a promise such as He did to Abraham regarding the birth of a son, He gives very little information concerning the how and the when. Instead, He expects us to seek His face regarding direction. All of this is meant to teach us trust, patience, and faith.
Hagar was not God’s plan, nor could she help bring forth the miracle. All she could bring forth was a work of the flesh. As well, when we look at all the trouble in the Middle East concerning Islam, it all can be traced back to Abraham’s faithlessness.
All of this is Satan’s attempt to stop the plan of God. When we are led by the Spirit, our actions help the plan of God. When we resort to the flesh, our actions hinder the work of God and can cause harm to others.
The flesh is the Adamic sinful nature of man interjecting itself into the plans of God. The flesh and the spirit cannot work together. Galatians 5:17 says: “For the flesh lustethagainst the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.”
When Isaac did come, there was enmity—hatred—on Ishmael’s part against Isaac. He despised him and eventually wanted to kill him. The moment anyone attempts to help or add something to faith, they nullify the grace of God and actually subvert God’s plan.
We must never forget the word of the Lord to Zechariah, “This is the word of the Lordunto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit saith the Lord of hosts” (Zech. 4:6).
Human might and human power and human wisdom can never add to or improve the plan and work of God.
Isaac and Ishmael cannot remain in the same place. Ishmael must be cast out. The former is a child of promise, while the latter is a work of the flesh. The believer can resort to his own efforts or the efforts of others, thereby producing Ishmael, or he can rely totally on Christ, which will produce Isaac.
The choice is ever before us: faith or faithlessness, Isaac or Ishmael. One brings forth life; the other brings forth death.
Let us walk in faith and not the flesh.