Paul H

What lesson is God teaching you out of Hagar's experience? Which situation that God is calling you to is most difficult for you to submit to? To trust in God completely for He hears me and knows my every need. He is beside me always, unless I wander off on my own path, in which case, He will still be there for me and will still hear me. There is no situation that God is calling me to that I am finding difficult at the moment, but I pray that when He does call me to something which I do find difficult, He will give me the strength and courage to be able to go forward into that situation.

What is the significance of Hagar's name for God -- El Roi, the God Who Sees? Hagar realizes that the mighty and all powerful God actually knows about her, that He sees the difficulties that she is in and that He cares about her. What does it mean to a person who is discouraged and losing hope? What does it mean to you personally? I can answer these two questions together. It is a great thing that we have such a mighty and all powerful God. He is, after all, the creator of everything and has power over everything. That in itself is awe inspiring. However, what is even more amazing is that He knows about each one of us individually, cares about us and responds to our pleas to Him. I have been having a very difficult time both in my work and in my personal life recently and up until a few months ago, I was quite literally without hope and in despair. I brought the whole situation before God and called on Him to help me and to guide me to resolve the problems and whilst doing that to give me a real peace. If you are reading this, you can believe me or not, but I can tell you for a fact that from the moment that I called on God in this way, I have seen the knots of the problems surrounding me, all of which have been created by me I might add, unraveling in what can only be described as a miraculous way It hasn't happened instantly and it is an on going process but I know that God is resolving it in His time and in accordance with His will. The reason this has happened is that He knows about the problems which I have, He cares about them and if I call on Him, He will be there for me just as He was in Hagar's hour of need. Now, not only do I have hope, but I wake every morning and God is right there by my side and He stays with me through everything I do. In fact I wake up every morning looking forward to seeing God in action!! The peace and joy which I get from this knowledge is almost impossible to put into words, but it is a joy and peace which I want everyone to be able to share.

Why does the angel ask Hagar something that the angel already knows? ("Where have you come from, and where are you going?") He is calling Hagar to account. She has wandered from God's will for her. It is a bit like when a parent sees a child wandering off - the parent might say "Where do you think you are going? " before sweeping the child up and pointing him or her back in the right direction. I think that this is what God is doing to Hagar here. Why does she send her back to Sarah? It is clearly God's will that Hagar, and Ishmael should be with Abraham and Sarah at this point. He therefore points Hagar back in the direction of Abraham and Sarah, and for good measure teaches Hagar a lesson on humility. Have you ever reacted and got yourself out of the place God wanted you? All to frequently in my life I have been out of the place where God has wanted me. The time which I have spent outside of where God wanted me has always proved to be deeply unsatisfying and ultimately unfruitful. The great thing is though that when I turn back to God's way He is always there just where I left Him when I wandered off the path. Oh that I would never wander off the path again!!

Why does Sarah take her anger out on Abraham? Why does she take her anger out on Hagar? She is jealous and her jealousy turns to anger. She vents that anger on the 2 who are nearest to the situation namely Abraham and Hagar Is she trying to get rid of Hagar or the baby? I suspect that she is not thinking very clearly here, but it is the situation that she wants to get rid of rather than Hagar or the baby. Maybe though she has had second thoughts and is thinking that maybe she could conceive after all and therefore wants to get rid of Hagar and the baby. In what sense is Hagar's pride Abraham's fault? Remember that Hagar's pride is simply seen through Sarah's eyes. It is Sarah who says to Abraham that Hagar despises her. I wonder therefore whether a lot of the pride is in Sarah's mind. In any event Abraham should have seen these problems coming and dealt with them. Most men though are not good at seeing and even less understanding conflicts between women and I don't think Abraham was the first and he certainly wasn't the last, to get caught up in a conflict between two women which he didn't see coming and didn't fully understand the implications of. In what sense is Hagar's affliction Abraham's fault? See answer to previous question What situation in your family does this reminds you of? Nothing in particular although again, as with other incidents in Abraham and Sarah's lives, it does show what a mess we can get into if we try to do things our own way rather than trusting in God. The great thing is though that, like Abraham and Sarah, whatever mess we make, God is always there when we turn back to Him. He is ever faithful to His promise and never lets us down.

Why did God go through the covenant ritual with Abraham, with the divided carcasses? To make a unilateral pledge to Abraham to fulfill His promises to him. Why does God bind himself to a solemn promise? God's promises to us are always solemn and will always be kept. He shows this to Abraham by going through the customary ritual of the day used to witness a covenant, which was a custom with which Abraham would no doubt have been farmiliar and which he would have respected. How does Abraham respond to God's promises In the case of this particular act by which God makes His covenant with Abraham, Abraham's response is not recorded. However, generally Abraham has faith in God's promises, although he does invariably have the usual human reaction such as "How can this be? What promises has God made to us that affect our futures? God has promised us many things which affect our futures, but most importantly He has promised that if we believe in Him He will take us to be with Him forever. What significance does blood sacrifice have in those promises? Gods promise of the forgiveness of sins and eternal life could not have been given without the shedding of the blood of Jesus for us on the cross. This is the new and ultimate sacrifice and one which was crucial for us all.

Have you ever been frustrated with God for not fulfilling his promise to you immediately? So far in my short time following Christ's path, I have not been frustrated in this way. I know that if I remain faithful to Him, God will fulfill His promises to me. He knows the best way to fulfill His promises to me and I put my faith entirely in Him Why does God sometimes delay the fulfillment of his promises to a future time? God only seems to delay to us. There is no delay, He has it worked out and delivers on all of His promises at the right time and in the right place for His will to be fulfilled.

What is so amazing about this verse? This is the first time in the Bible in which God introduces us to the concept of salvation or righteousness through faith, a recurring theme throughout the Old and New Testaments and a key element of Christian faith. On what basis does God declare Abraham a righteous person? On the basis of his faith in God. What significance does this have to our New Testament understanding of justification by faith? This concept of righteousness and salvation through faith is a recurring theme throughout the entire Bible, and in particular in the New Testament writings of Paul. I had actually never made the connection between this concept, which is so clear in the New Testament and in my entire faith and the story of Abraham all the way back in Genesis, mainly I suppose because I have never studied the Old Testament before. In my view, this connection through the entire Word of God is very important, and for me, shows the real benefits and rewards of studying the bible carefully in depth. There must be so many gems like this in there just waiting to be discovered. I can't wait

What does it mean to you personally to call God your "Shield"? It means that He is my shield against my enemies and against evil. As with any shield however, I have to keep it raised and in position, otherwise it would be useless. I keep it raised and in position by keepi8ng my faith in God and by trusting Him for everything. As long as I do that, God remains as my shield which gives me the ultimate protection and courage. What does it mean to you that he promises to you (as heir of the promises to Abraham) "an exceedingly great reward"? This promise means everything to me. My reward here and now is the ability to be able to walk with Christ everyday of my life and to know the peace which that walk brings. My ultimate reward is to be in God's presence surrounded by His love forever. What does it mean to you to call God your Suzerain or Sovereign? I have given myself completely to God. When He speaks, I listen and when He commands, I obey. In return, He has promised to be there for me when I need Him forever.

Abraham didn't want the King of Sodom being able to use this against him by being able to claim that it was he (the King of Sodom) who had made Abraham rich. Abraham knew that the King of Sodom was wicked, and therefore probably fully expected that he would have acted in this way given the chance. On the other hand, he had no hesitation in giving the one tenth share to God because Abraham knew that the riches had come from God in any event. The lesson for us is that like Abraham, we should not compromise ourselves with wicked people. Give to them what is rightly theirs, as Abraham did to the King of Sodom, but never put ourselves in a position where we can be accused of relying or depending on them. Instead, we should put all our trust in God.

By giving one tenth, Abraham is worshipping God for giving him the victory. He is giving back to God what God has given to him. Nothing has changed between Abraham and now on this issue. We should worship God by giving back to Him a part of what He has given to us (which by the way is everything!) provided that at all times it is done only to worship and glorify God. If it is done to glorify ourselves, then it is useless. One of my favourite Psalms is Psalm 50 and I think that this gives some good guidance on how we should give. It says that everything belongs to God anyway, everything which we could give Him is His already, but "offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving and pay your vows to the most high. Call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me" (Psalm 50 14 - 15). This is exactly what Abraham was doing and what we should do It is interesting to note that Abraham gave one tenth of everything, before he returned anything to the king of Sodom or anything else. It was one tenth of everything. Clearly our tithing should be one tenth of everything before anything else comes out.

What it shows about his character is that he is loyal to his family (Lot), determined and brave. What I think it also shows is that unlike in Egypt and again later in Gerar, this time, Abraham put his faith in God and was rewarded with God's protection and victory. What is shows about his abilities is that through God's blessing, he was able to raise a force of 318 trained armed men and with God's guidance he was able to command them to a great victory. At no time previously is there any hint through Abraham's life of him having any military prowess or even experience, and yet guided by God, he attacks in the right place, at the right time, dividing his men to attack from several directions so that he is able to achieve a remarkable victory. In dealings with his neighbours it shows Abraham to be strong and principled, but fair, and on this occasion, completely honest. Abraham clearly comes out of this story very well. There is no ambiguity about his character here and we can emulate all of the characteristics which Abraham displays here. We should stand by our Christian principles even in the face of seeming overwhelming adversity, in the sure knowledge that God will guide and protect us as He did Abraham. We should also learn to recognize good (King Melchizedek) and wicked (the King of Sodom) and distinguish between them in our dealings

Yes, I think that it is clear from the text of various passages concerning Abraham's life that the material wealth which he accumulated was a blessing sent from God. It is true that the wealth which he accumulated whilst in Egypt was due directly to the fact that Pharaoh had taken Sarah into his house when he believed Abraham to be Sarah's brother. However, when Pharaoh found out the truth, it was likely without God's intervention that he would at best have stripped Abraham of all his wealth gained under false pretenses, or at worst killed Abraham and Sarah and taken away all the possessions. God intervened and Abraham was sent from Egypt with his wealth intact, which I think was a part of God's blessing on him. "Does material wealth always reflect God's blessing and does physical poverty always reflect God's curse?" To rule almost anything out where God is concerned is impossible. There are therefore occasions when God gives His blessing to someone in the form of material wealth and, I believe could punish someone in the form of poverty. However, I believe this to be the exception rather than the rule and that in most cases the possession or lack of possession of material wealth is neither a blessing nor a curse in just the same way that neither good health nor sickness can be seen as a blessing nor a curse. Other posters have mention Paul. He knew both wealth and poverty and he knew both good health and sickness. In this case, I think that none of this reflected either a blessing or a curse.

God intervention by speaking to Abimelech in the dream ensures that the promise given to Abraham that he will make him a great nation can be fulfilled. Furthermore, the alternatives which God gives to Abimelech if he fails to return Sarah to Abraham (basically death and destruction) and the fact that He intervenes to prevent the women of Abimelech's house having children fulfill God's promise to Abraham that He will curse those who curse Abraham. Finally, when Abimelech responds to this as described in 20 14-16, Abraham brings blessing on Abimelech by praying to God (20, 17) with the result that the women in Abimelech's house have children, this fulfilling the promise in 12 2 & 3 ".. you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and one who curses you I will curse.." What a great and all powerful God we have!

It is difficult to judge at such a distance of time and cultures the morals and ethics of the actions themselves, but the fact is that Abraham and Sarah both lied, or at least told a half truth, which at least judging by most standards would be considered morally wrong. More importantly though in the context of what I think this passage is saying to us is that Abraham's and to a lesser extent Sarah's actions could be seen as evidence of Abraham trying to resolve the situation which they were in in his own way without relying on God. Does this show a lack of faith on Abraham's part? Yes, it probably does. What the story does show is that whatever happens God stays true to his covenant. He protects Abraham and Sarah and indeed seems to enrich them as a result of the whole episode. He also curses those who curse Abraham as He had promised He would. The fact of God staying true to His covenant can be of crucial significance to us today and has been particularly significant for me personally. I had strayed very far away from God for a number of years (and what a waste those years were), and yet, when I turned back to Him, there He still was just as He had promised that He always would be.

From this story and from many other passages throughout the Bible it is clear that God views adultery as a very serious sin. That is why it is one of the 10 commandments in its own right as well as forming the basis and background for a second of the 10 Commandments (not coveting your neighbour's wife). As serious as it is though, I do not believe that there is any sin which as a result of the sacrifice of Jesus for us all on the cross cannot be forgiven provided that the sinner asks for forgiveness and truly repents, which undoubtedly involves not committing that sin on a continuing basis. As other posters in this study have pointed out though even though sins can be forgiven by God, and indeed wiped clean and forgotten, the consequences in human terms of those sins can continue in human terms. To take an extreme example, if a person murders another person and the murderer subsequently comes to God and truly repents of that sin, I believe that God will forgive that murderer. However, the person who was murdered remains dead and, barring an extreme miracle, that consequence will never change. The same can be true of adultery, the sin can be forgiven, but the devastation it can cause to relationships can remain forever.

Why did Pharaoh and his household get sick? Pharaoh and his household were sick because Pharaoh had taken Sarah into his house as his concubine when in fact she was Abraham's wife. It is not clear from the text whether this was a punishment of Pharaoh for his adultery or whether the punishment related specifically to the fact that it was Sarah. What effect did this have? What is clear is that the effect that it had was that when Pharaoh found out that this was what was causing the sickness, he restored Sarah to Abraham and sent them out of Egypt back to where they had come from, but allowing them to maintain all of their possessions. What is interesting, is that by this point, the famine which they had fled in the first place seems to have gone. So notwithstanding the apparent adversity which Abraham and more particularly Sarah, seemed to have suffered in Egypt, they were protected from the effects of the famine whilst there, and in fact prospered whilst there. What was God seeking to accomplish through this affliction? Throughout this passage God is shown as protecting Abraham, Sarah and their family first from the ravages of the famine and then from the dangers of being a foreign alien in Egypt. When the time comes and the famine has gone and Abraham can return to the land which God has promised him, it is necessary for Sarah to be restored to Abraham and for Pharaoh to allow them both safe passage from Egypt. God uses the sickness as a way of ensuring that Pharaoh releases Abraham and Sarah unharmed so that they can go on to fulfill God's promise. Did it have the desired effect? Yes. The sickness inflicted on Pharaoh's house persuades him that he should restore Sarah to Abraham, and more that that, he is clearly keen to get rid of them and put them as far away from his house as possible. He does this by ensuring that they are sent away from Egypt as quickly as possible. There is an interesting parallel here with the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt many years later. The Pharaoh in that case needed a lot more persuasion and afflictions to be convinced that he should release Abraham's descendants.

Many potential dangers might face them. It would be surprising if Abraham and his family were the only family arriving in Egypt to escape the famine and sadly history is littered with the sufferings of refugees like this who are almost always seen as some kind of threat to the livelihood of the local people. The only fear which Abraham expressly refers to is that the Egyptians will kill him and take Sarah. In addition, there must have been other potential dangers for them (although ones own possible death is a pretty serious danger!!) Maybe Abraham thought that he was faced with no real options here and saw this as the only viable alternative. What is interesting is that in this passage we are not told that Abraham called on the name of the Lord as he had done in 12:8, which is surprising given the fix that they must have been in. In fact at no point in this passage do we have any communication between Abraham and God. I wonder whether this was a time when Abraham tried to rely on his own wiles to get by and what this passage is telling us is that God never left him and continued to take care of him as He had promised He would. What is clear is that this passage is obviously a very foreshortened version of events in Egypt, and to judge Abraham simply on the text of this very short report would clearly not be reasonable. For that reason, I think that the message of the passage that God continued to take care of Abraham is the most important thing here. There are now a lot of Polish people living in our community - they came here when Poland joined the European Union seeking a better life. I don't think that that have been oppressed very much, and in fact with the current economic situation in the UK, many of them are returning to Poland! There are though in the UK many examples of oppressed minorities. most notable recently were the group of Romanians who were harassed out of their homes by a campaign of intimidation and violence. Also, earlier this year, there were a lot of protests about foreigners taking jobs away from the British. This didn't take the form of direct violence to the foreign workers themselves, but nonetheless must have been intimidating. As to what we can do to show love to aliens, it really depends on the circumstances. Sometimes it can take the form of simply speaking with them and befriending them or inviting them for a meal, sometimes more practical help can be given such as gifts of food or clothes, sometimes it can even take the form of just leaving them alone. If in doubt, I would think that the best guide to follow would be to imagine what Jesus would have done or said. Read the Gospels and all of the guidance that you could possibly need is there.

Abraham's call on the name of the Lord in 12:9 uses the verb qara (sorry no idea how to type an a with a line above it!) which here connotes "calling one to a specific task" Abraham has, in faith on God's promise set out on a journey to a land which God has promised that he will show him. Abraham is in Canaan, but still he has no fixed home and he is still wandering around. Even for a nomadic shepherd, this was probably worrying, and he calls on the Lord for guidance and direction. After calling on the Lord's name, Abraham continues in faith by stages toward the Negev. One issue which is confusing me here is whether there is any difference between calling on the name of the Lord, as Abraham does here and asking for something in the name of Jesus as Jesus himself taught in John 14: 13 & 14. When I pray, for example for someone who is sick or for God's guidance in a particular area of my life or with a real problem which has arisen, I pray in the name of Jesus. In praying in this way, I have absolute faith, based on the words of Jesus that my prayer will be answered. I suppose that this is the same as when Abraham calls on the name of the Lord. Whether my faith is absolute every time is a different issue. Maybe if I had the faith of Abraham I could get a lot more done.

Throughout our lives we make plans. We plan what subjects we want to study at school and college which we choose to prepare us for our planned career path. We plan what job we want to go into, when to change jobs, when to get married, when to start a family and all of these plans have within them some future goal... in 2 years time I will be at point A, then in 5 years time at point b etc. We are taught to think like this from a very early age. It isn't a bad thing, but we do think that we can always see how things are likely to turn out. Sometimes God has his own plans for us. This is fine where it fits in with our own plans and we can see where we think it is going to turn out, but not so fine where we can't see how it will turn out or even sometimes how we are possibly going to get there. This is where special faith is required. God said to Abraham: pack up all your things leave your house and set off with your wife and kids and go somewhere that I will show to you in due course. So Abraham said fine and set off into the unknown and actually ended up wandering around for quite a long time. That is a special faith but upon that special faith was built a great nation and ultimately, through Jesus, it led to salvation for all who choose to accept it (which wasn't a bad legacy for Abraham to leave to us). Have I had a chance to test this special faith? No not yet but I am sure that the time is coming. I feel a very strong calling to some kind of work for God. I don't know what and I don't know where nor do I know how I am going to be able to do any of this. I am waiting for God's lead (not quite with the house packed up like a previous poster in this series) but knowing that the call is coming. At the moment, it is an exciting prospect, but when I am really faced with the unknown if that is what happens, I pray that I will have Abraham's faith to seize the opportunity.

Abraham was blessed in many ways in his own lifetime. First; he became a great man who was clearly respected and revered even amongst Kings eg Melchizedek (14, 17) in his own time. Second he was blessed with great wealth. Third, he was blessed with great wisdom (God's wisdom?). Fourth, he was blessed with an heir (Isaac) when it seemed impossible that he could ever have such an heir as well as with many other children which would lead to him being made a "great nation". Finally, he lived to an old age and went to his ancestors in peace as promised by God (15, 15) Ever since Abraham, the people of Israel have been blessed as a result of the covenant which God made with Abraham. This blessing was extended to all people of the World through Jesus Christ and the new covenant established by His sacrifice on the Cross. If I am a true disciple of Jesus and follow in his footsteps I am a living embodiment of the covenant which God made with Abraham which was extended to all by Jesus. In my life, everyone should be able to see Jesus and the blessings that His covenant has to offer. This is an blessed position to be in and I pray that God will make me worthy of it and through me in some small way extend this blessing to others.

I have turned back to Jesus after almost 30 years of ignoring him and following my own path. During that 30 year period I have wandered very far away from Him not only ignoring Him but denying Him. Amazingly, when I turned back 2 months ago, He was still there and when I turned to Him, he did not turn away as I had done to Him but welcomed me. Isn't that amazing? Now I feel very strongly that God is calling me to serve Him, but I don't know in what way. Every day I offer myself to God as His servant to use me and I really want to move forward with His plan whatever that might be, but how can I begin until I know what I am beginning on? Reading about Abraham has helped me understand this more. Abraham stepped out in faith not knowing where he was going, but knowing that God was sending him. Maybe I have already started down the journey by offering myself and by starting down the path of searching for God's will. I just pray that I have the courage and faith of Abraham as God's path opens out before me.