No Shortcut to God’s Promise

Genesis 16:1-16 

1 Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children. And she had an Egyptian maidservant whose name was Hagar. 2 So Sarai said to Abram, “See now, the Lord has restrained me from bearing children. Please, go in to my maid; perhaps I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram heeded the voice of Sarai. 3 Then Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar her maid, the Egyptian, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan. 4 So he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress became despised in her eyes. 5 Then Sarai said to Abram, “My wrong be upon you! I gave my maid into your embrace; and when she saw that she had conceived, I became despised in her eyes. The Lord judge between you and me.”  6 So Abram said to Sarai, “Indeed your maid is in your hand; do to her as you please.” And when Sarai dealt harshly with her, she fled from her presence.

7 Now the Angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur. 8 And He said, “Hagar, Sarai's maid, where have you come from, and where are you going?”  She said, “I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai.”  9 The Angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit yourself under her hand.” 10 Then the Angel of the Lord said to her, “I will multiply your descendants exceedingly, so that they shall not be counted for multitude.” 11 And the Angel of the Lord said to her:
    “Behold, you are with child,
    And you shall bear a son.
    You shall call his name Ishmael,
    Because the Lord has heard your affliction.
    12 He shall be a wild man;
    His hand shall be against every man,
    And every man's hand against him.
    And he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.”
13 Then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, You-Are-the-God-Who-Sees; for she said, “Have I also here seen Him who sees me?” 14 Therefore the well was called Beer Lahai Roi; observe, it is between Kadesh and Bered.  15 So Hagar bore Abram a son; and Abram named his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael. 16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.

Since Sarai was seemingly barren, she took a shortcut to get children from her servant with Abram.  This of course did not accomplish what she wanted, but only made the situation worse because the servant then looked down on her because she now had the child the wife could not.  Abram should not have given in to this idea in the first place; it would have been wise to trust God’s promise of an heir and endure patiently instead of listen to his wife, for he repeated the sin of Adam in heeding Eve instead of God’s word.  Sin runs deep in us.  Sarai then seemed to harass and most likely beat Hagar until she ran away and almost died.  God intervened and promised many descendants through her son Ishmael, but not the blessed line of God to come through Abram’s son of promise.  Indeed, Ishmael would prosper numerically, but be wild and the adversary of others around him.  We see the consequences of this played out through history.  God saw the suffering of Hagar and brought relief in a lesser promise, but this was not the promise to Abram nor for the deliverance of all God calls; those who say Ishmael was the son of promise call God a liar and themselves are His adversaries.  We learn to trust God’s promises and patiently endure for their fulfillment (Hebrews 6:13-19).  There are no shortcuts to His promises without dire consequences.