Unless the Lord builds a house, the work of the builders is useless. Unless the Lord protects a city, guarding it with sentries will do no good.
- It is useless for you to work so hard from early morning until late at night, anxiously working for food to eat; for God gives rest to his loved ones.
The Psalm and these verses were opened to me by the Holy Spirit through the life of Abraham of whom we read in the book of Genesis. God had promised Abraham that He, the LORD, was going to make Abraham a father of a nation through the barren womb of Sarah, his wife. We read about God's promise upon Abraham's life for a son through Sarah, Abraham's attempt at fulfilling God's promise because of Sarah's barrenness, God fulfilling His promise in His time, and the results thereof. It should be noted that from the initial promise God gave to Abraham to the fulfillment of that promise spanned 25 years of Abraham's life!
Genesis 11:29-30, says, “Meanwhile, Abram married Sarai, and his brother Nahor married Milcah, the daughter of their brother Haran. (Milcah had a sister named Iscah.) Now Sarai was not able to have any children. [Abram and Sarai were their original names until God changed it to Abraham and Sarah.] Apparently, it was a known fact to Abram and the rest of his family that Sarah was not able to have any children. And into this barren womb, God spoke a promise to Abram, Genesis 12:1-3, "Then the Lord told Abram, “Leave your country, your relatives , and your father's house, and go to the land that I will show you. I will cause you to become the father of a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and I will make you a blessing to others. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you. All the families of the earth will be blessed through you.“
Abram was seventy five years old when God spoke this promise upon his life, to make him a father of a great nation. Abram obediently left his father's house with his belongings, wealth, Sarai and servants and arrived in Canaan. There the Lord again appeared to Abram and told him, “I am going to give this land to your offspring.” To Abram's descendants. The LORD reiterated his promise to Abram again in chapter 13, verses 14-16 – After Lot was gone, the LORD said to Abram, “Look as far as you can see in every direction. I am going to give all this land to you and your seed as a permanent possession. And I am going to give you so many descendants that, like dust, they cannot be counted!Now, as we read the Bible we see that God's initial promise to bless him with a child and when he actually does become a father spans over 25 years of Abraham's life. Several times during this span God reiterates his promise to Abraham. At times, I Abraham doubted if ever he was going to be a father, for we read in Genesis 15:1-6, "Afterward the LORD spoke to Abram in a vision and said to him, “Do not be afraid, Abram, for I will protect you, and your reward will be great.” But Abram replied, “ O Sovereign LORD, what good are all your blessings when I don't even have a son? Since I don't have a son, Eliezer of Damascus, a servant in my household, will inherit all my wealth. You have given me no children, so one of my servants will have to be my heir.”
Then the LORD said to him, “ No, your servant will not be your heir, for you will have a son of your own to inherit everything I am giving you.” Then the LORD brought Abram outside beneath the night sky and told him, “ Look up into the heavens and count the stars if you can. Your descendants will be like that – too many to count!” And Abram believed the LORD [though Abram, in Genesis 11:30, knew Sarai couldn't have any children, but when the LORD promised him posterity, he believed the LORD though his intimate knowledge of Sarah told him otherwise] and the LORD declared him righteous because of his faith. [Faith is the KEY that unlocks God's promises in your life.]
Later, in chapter 16 we read that doubt again creeps in...10 years into God's promise, "But Sarai, Abram's wife, had no children. So Sarai took her servant, an Egyptian woman named Hagar, and gave her to Abram so she could bear his children. “ The Lord has kept me from having any children,” Sarai said to Abram. “ Go and sleep with my servant. Perhaps I can have children through her.” And Abram agreed. So Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar the Egyptian servant and gave her to Abram as a wife. (This happened ten years after Abram first arrived in the land of Canaan.) So Abram slept with Hagar, and she became pregnant."
Further along in the chapter we see the results of impatience and putting trust in one's own intelligence, knowledge, experience and judgment. [Maybe "impatience" is not the right choice of word as he had been waiting 10 years for the fulfillment of God's promise - I don't know if I could last a year of waiting! May be that's why he's called the Father of Faith - the birth of Isaac completes his faith building - proof in his willingness to sacrifice Isaac at God's command, for he knew the God who gave him a seed in a barren womb of a 90 year old - old woman was able to raise up a dead Isaac!!!] Strife developed between Sarah and Hagar. Chapter 16 continues...
"When Hagar knew she was pregnant, she began to treat her mistress Sarai with contempt. Then Sarai said to Abram, “ It's all your fault! Now this servant of mine is pregnant, and she despises me, though I myself gave her the privilege of sleeping with you. The Lord will make you pay for doing this to me! Abram replied, “ Since she is your servant, you may deal with her as you see fit.” So Sarai treated her harshly, and Hagar ran away."Would you think that Abraham had any peace during these times as his wife whom he loved and her servant - the expectant mother of his only child fought with each other? Would you think there was any peace or joy in that household? As we read the rest of the chapter, we see that Hagar finally returned back to Abraham and Sarah, and Hagar gave birth to a son, Ishmael – a name that meant he will live at odds with his brothers! Abraham at this point was 86 years old.
When Abraham was 99 years old and Sarah was 89 years old, the LORD again appeared to him and reiterated His promise to bless him a son through Sarah when he turned a 100 years old; and make his offspring into a mighty nation. Genesis 21:1-6 says, "Then the LORD did exactly what he had promised. Sarah became pregnant, and she gave a son to Abraham in his old age. It all happened at the time God had said it would. And Abraham named his son Isaac. Eight days after Isaac was born, Abraham circumcised him as God had commanded. Abraham was one hundred years old at the time. And Sarah declared, “God has brought me laughter! All who hear about this will laugh with me. For who would have dreamed that I would ever have a baby? Yet I have given Abraham a son in his old age!”"Even though God delivered his promise to Abraham in His time, the results of trusting in his own judgment continued to haunt and trouble Abraham. Strife again brewed between Sarah and Hagar, and Sarah asks Abraham to send Hagar and Ishmael out of the household – to get rid of them! The Bible says, “This upset Abraham very much because Ishmael was his son [who was 13 years old at this point; when you consider the bond that had grown between the father and son - Abraham's first born over those 13 years, you could imagine Abraham's pain and sorrow upon his wife's demand!]. But God told Abraham, “Do not be upset over the boy and your servant wife. Do just as Sarah says, for Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted. But I will make a nation of the descendants of Hagar's son because he also is your son.”
Ishmael was Abraham's own son, just like Isaac, but was Abraham's own attempt at fulfilling God's promise that did not give him lasting joy, nor peace. In the end, walking with worldly counsel (Sarah's advise to have a child through her servant Hagar) gave him much pain and suffering. But through Isaac, the seed God had promised him, through his lawful wife (not any servant woman) was a nation born – Jacob (Israel!)
Unless the Lord builds a house, the work of the builders is useless,Unless the Lord protects a city, guarding it with sentries will do no good.It is useless for you to work so hard from early morning until late at night,anxiously working for food to eat; for God gives rest to his loved ones.
Isaiah 29:14 says, I will show that human wisdom is foolish and even the most brilliant people lack understanding.
Hillsongs - How great is our God!
Jars of Clay - Love came down at Christmas
(I post this song as today is Christmas and my daughter sang this as a solo in her school's program - made me proud to hear her sing!)
No comments:
Post a Comment