Abraham's Shortcut Leads to Family Strife

We are continuing yesterday's meditation on Sarai’s suggestion to Abram (Abraham) to use Hagar to bear a child and fulfill Abram’s vision of becoming the father of a multitude. The passage we are examining today begins with Abram sleeping with Hagar:

4He slept with Hagar, and she conceived. When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress. 5Then Sarai said to Abram, “You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my slave in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the LORD judge between you and me.” 6“Your slave is in your hands,” Abram said. “Do with her whatever you think best.” Then Sarai mistreated Hagar; so she fled from her. 7The angel of the LORD found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur (Genesis 21:4-7).

When Hagar, Sarai's slave girl, became pregnant, changes occurred in the household and relationships. Things got messy! Hagar grew proud and began to look down on her mistress. Whatever the younger Hagar's attitude toward the seventy-five-year-old Sarai, it resulted in suffering for Sarai, who now blames Abram for his lack of leadership in allowing the shortcut to proceed, and she is right. Abram was the leader of the home, the one who received direction from God to guide the family, yet his leadership was shaky because he did not seek God's guidance for his family and home. When Sarai raised the situation with Abram, he should have been the one to resolve it, but instead, he shifted the responsibility back onto Sarai:

“Your slave is in your hands,” Abram said. “Do with her whatever you think best.” Then Sarai mistreated Hagar; so she fled from her (v. 6).

Abram should have dealt kindly with Hagar and counseled Sarai to do the same. After all, he and Sarai were the ones who devised the plan in the first place. Unfortunately, Abram does not take responsibility for Hagar. In his response to Sarai, he does not even refer to Hagar by her name but instead calls her Sarai's slave (v. 6). It is as if he is distancing himself from the entire situation involving Hagar and the child Abram brought into the world. It is a complete abdication of responsibility. There seems to be little care shown for the well-being of Hagar or Ishmael. Having been treated as a commodity, Hagar was pushed outside the family. She served as a visible reminder of Abram and Sarai's failure in attempting to take a shortcut to God's purposes, leaving Hagar feeling that her unborn son would be unwanted by the family of Abraham, which made her very insecure at a time when she needed security with a baby on the way. Seeking solitude, Hagar ran away to a deserted place and sat down by a water spring. In her brokenness, the Angel of the Lord visited her. Let’s talk about that tomorrow.

Have you ever had a family relationship that became broken? You thought you were doing the right thing, but hurt feelings, insecurity, and emotional outbursts led to separation within the family relationship. What should you do? Learn a lesson from Hagar. Spend some time on your own, pour out your heart to the Lord, casting all your cares upon Him (1 Peter 5:7), and maybe you, too, will find the Angel of the Lord coming to you in the desert place. Thank God that there is always a spring or well of salvation whenever we are in a dry, desert place, and our God is always watching over us. Keith Thomas

Taken from the complete study found in the series on Abraham. Go to All Studies, scroll down to The Faith of Abraham, and click on Study 3. Abraham’s Shortcut