COME AS A CHILD - LESSON 45 - LAW AND GRACE ABIDING IN THE SAME TENT

(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

When Sarai complained to Abram that Hagar’s attitude was his fault he looked at her and said “Hagar is your servant, deal with her as you please.” 

This was very true.  Sarai was the legal owner of Hagar, not Abram.  We know now that no person should EVER under any circumstances own another person and under God's grace we all are free people, but in those days this was not known and Hagar had been given to Sarai by Pharaoh, but also as the first and chosen wife of Abram,  Sarai by law would always be in charge of and over Hagar as the second wife/concubine through the customs and laws of the land at that time.  

Perhaps Sarai was just trying to see how much Abram really remembered this and took it to heart.  He had probably paid a lot more attention to Hagar than Sarai had expected.  Maybe she wanted to hear him say, “she is simply your servant, you are still my wife and the main woman in my life – I don’t care what happens to her; I only want you to be happy.”   Of course Abram didn’t state it exactly that way, but he made it plain to Sarai that she was in control of this situation that she had created with her alternative plan. 

The scriptures say that Sarai dealt with Hagar harshly.  To deal with someone harshly seems to imply abuse.  Was it possible that Sarai, who had always been known to be a kind, gentile and godly woman had abused someone because of jealousy?  We do not know for sure, but jealously can turn saints into sinners.

Jealousy often turns to hatred.  Hatred that is stored up in a heart will, in most cases, eventually cause a person to sin.   Suddenly these two emotions were more prevalent in the life of Sarai and in the life of Hagar.  Each woman was equally guilty.

Charles Spurgeon once preached an excellent sermon on this subject of Sarai and Hagar.  With the profound words he uttered way back in 1856 he pointed out  the differences between  a covenant of law and a covenant of grace.   He used the lives of Sarai and Hagar as examples to illustrate the characteristics of both covenants.  His exact words were:  “one of the most difficult things in the world is to discriminate properly between law and grace. He who knows the difference, and always recollects it—the essential difference between law and grace—has grasped the marrow of divinity. “  

Mr. Spurgeon used Hagar as an example of men living under the law.  As we all have seen, following the law is a very wise trait.  Many men seek to do so, and it becomes very apparent that those who chose to follow the law have much more quality to  their daily lives because of it.  We have noted that Hagar recognized the difference in the house of Abram and the house of Pharoah and chose to go live in the house of Abram.  In Pharoah's house there was not the same order, not an observance of the things of God that the law spells out for us.  Hagar chose to put herself under the law because she saw the good that comes of living under the law.  It was a wise choice, until she forgot herself to follow through till the end.   Adam in the garden had everything that he needed and wanted until He broke the one law that God had given to him:  “Do not eat from this tree or you will surely die.”  Everything is fine and dandy in keeping the law until one slips up, gives in to temptation and sins by  breaking  a commandment; then there is nothing but death to look forward to in the end.  

The next covenant God made with men after the one God made with Abram was the covenant of the law which was given at Sinai.  That covenant was conditional and totally depended only on what men did.  They could follow the law and live, or break the law and die.  This is so obviously illustrated by the life of Hagar.  She was a slave to the law of the land and the times in which she lived.  Everything depended on how she kept this law.  She prospered only from her own actions and the things that she did.  She could keep the will of the household of Abram and  Sarai and continue to live in peace and comfort, or she could rebel and suffer the consequences of the dangers of death in the hot and barren desert.  Everything that happened to Hagar depended upon her doing the right thing.  If she did right she would live, if she did wrong she would die.  She was a slave to the law that ruled over her.  This is a perfect picture of the covenant of the giving of the law that God later made with man.  It was all very conditional.  It had everything to do with what men did and absolutely nothing to do with what God did.

Abram, on the other hand, had already been given an unconditional covenant from God; one that involved a sacrifice and a promise of God’s unconditional love and grace.  Nothing depended on what Abram did; everything depended on what God did.  

As Abram's first and chosen wife, Sarai was living under this same covenant given to Abram.  She was living under grace, not law.  The sacrifice had been given to bear the sins and iniquities of Abram and Sarai long before Hagar had entered into the picture.   God had walked between the pieces of the sacrifices on the altar and made promises to Abram; promises that included Abram and Sarai but did not include Hagar (who would always be under the headship of Sarai which meant any blessings to Hagar would come indirectly through Sarai), even though God graciously cared for and showed mercy to Hagar because she too was now the second wife of Abram.  As the second wife, Hagar was living under completely different legal consequences than Sarai.  Hagar's consequences contained conditions.  Nothing about her fate depended on God, everything depended on what Hagar did.   She was in control of her own destiny.  It was to Sarai that the promises had been made.  These promises  to Sarai were unconditional.   Nothing about Sarai's fate depended on Sarai's actions.  Her destiny was totally out of her own hands and only in control of God.   Everything that happened to Sarai depended solely on God's mercy and kindness toward her.  

 Everything Hagar did depended on her own works and her own efforts; but everything that Sarai did depended only on the unconditional covenant that God had made with Abram to bless him and his family.  Sarai, though she sinned, would have pardon.  Hagar would also be blessed, but not in such an unconditional way.  Hagar would not be pardoned if she did wrong; she  would always be punished for her sins.

 Just as Sarai came into the story of Abram long before he ever knew of Hagar, we can also see that long before God gave the law on Sinai, He gave a covenant of unconditional grace to Abram, his family and all of his descendants.  We can see here that through God's wisdom grace actually came before the law, which is something that many overlook when they are thinking about God's covenants with mankind.  The picture of all of this is played out in this story of Hagar and Sarai and the covenant that God made with Abram. 

In God's original plan, Hagar (who represents the law) was never intended to be a wife.  She was meant only to be a handmaid.  This is a perfect picture of the working of the law among mankind.  Men were never intended to live under the law.  It (the law) was only supposed to be used as a servant to men, to help them, to guide them, like a handmaid.  

Sarai, the picture of grace, was the actual first and chosen wife.  By bringing Hagar into a place where she was never intended to be, Abram and Sarai mistakenly and wrongly made a case for works instead of grace.  The laws of God did not need to be given to Sarai; she had them already hidden deep inside her heart.  They were not done out of duty by her or as a burden, but done in joy as a form of worship.  But things were different for Hagar.  Hagar had to be shown the laws of God; they did not come naturally to her.  She had to be taught, sometimes harshly, the things she did not know that were not natural in her spirit.  

This covenant of unconditional grace between God and Abram was made stronger and richer many years later through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.  This was a much greater sacrifice, a perfect sacrifice, one better even than the one of Abram and much better than the one from Sinai called The Law.  The law was never intended to save men; it was only designed to be a temporary handmaiden to the covenant of grace; a way to help men find salvation and mercy and ultimately; grace.   These facts are seen clearly in the details of the newer and better covenant of Christ.  

Had man never known the law, they probably would never have come to know Christ.  It was this imperfection of mankind, this inability to keep the law perfectly, that created the necessity of the sacrifice of Christ and which eventually drew mankind to Him.  The law has worked in all who know Christ just as the handmaiden, Hagar, worked in the life of Sarai.  Being the handmaiden was useful and helpful but it did not qualify her as the wife of the blessed child.  The law is meant to be helpful in leading to salvation, but it is not meant to bring the gift of salvation.  Sarai would always be the true wife.  Grace would always be and always has been the eternal gift of God to His people who seek Him with all their hearts.  We all try to follow the law and we all fail.  We need grace, there is no way around it.  It is the grace of God that brings us salvation and eternal life.    

When we know this and learn how to use the law properly; for the cleansing of our hearts, just as the handmaiden cleaned the tents of Sarai; we begin to see how to live in constant grace.  Sarai had to be responsible and put Hagar in her proper place in order to live in accordance with God’s perfect will.    Grace will always put the law into its proper place.  But the law will always strive to be the head mistress over grace,  just as Hagar struggled to lord over Sarai.  Sarai, like the grace of God, ruled her household with a firm hand.  The mistress of the law can never rise above the grace of God.  One will always be a mistress and one will always be a wife.  Grace always has and always will prevail in the end. 

Just as Sarai dealt harshly with the haughtiness of Hagar, we too must deal harshly with those who would live in the law minus grace.  We must take every step to keep grace in control of the household of our souls and law in its proper place underneath her.  

Sarai probably wanted Hagar to flee, to go to the wilderness.  Perhaps she even hoped to drive her out.  We too, who have known the beauty of the grace of God in all its fullness, must not surrender our way of life to those who would only live by works alone.  Works alone, without love and faith will not keep a house happy.  Grace must always prevail.  It has been the plan of God from the very foundation of the world when Christ first decided to give us the covenant of grace through His own precious blood.    Grace was the plan all along, long before any altar was even built.

Sarai treated Hagar harshly, and so will those of God who have to deal with those who only trust in the works of their own hands and minds and do not leave room for God's unconditional love.  

We have seen from the beginning of their story how Sarai and Abram were constantly reminding everyone who came and went as guest in their tents that ALL things came from God and nothing about Sarai and Abram was to be praised or thanked.  They would remind all who thanked them to only direct their thanks to God.  This is because God’s spirit lived inside both of them.  Their lives and all of their days were simply an act of worship.  If they breathed, they worshipped.  Not so with Hagar.   Hagar, in all her selfish ambitious learning had not even grasped this concept that was being lived out constantly before her eyes both day and night.  She thought that she had the power within her own flesh to make things legal and right.  Law can never completely do this, only grace is able to accomplish it.  Grace is a gift from God, no man owns it and only God can grant it.  To receive grace, one must seek God’s face and ask  for it. 

Sarai’s attitude, no matter how much she sinned, would always win out above Hagar’s.  Even though both Sarai and Abram had temporarily forgotten for a short time and made a huge mistake, they had before and after this time always sought the face of God.  If you belong to God His grace allows for mistakes in judgment, because in the end those who have the spirit of God living in them always return to God. 

As Spurgeon so eloquently put it; “law is the road which guides us, not the rod which drives us.”    The law, like the picture of Hagar in this story, is good and eloquent when it takes its proper place.  If Hagar had remembered her place, she would not have had any trouble with Sarai.  Her actions would have been totally different.  Grace will always show the law its proper place.  It is important to remember that Hagar (the picture of the law) was never a free woman, and Sarai (the picture of grace) was always free.  Works (such as Hagar brought to the table) will never set you free, but will always keep you a slave.  Grace (what Sarai brought to the table) will make you free indeed. 

It seems this is why Sarai was not criticized for dealing harshly with Hagar.  Still, you have to wonder what this concept of dealing “harshly” implied.  A concubine that had been made a wife could enjoy the pleasures of a wife until the baby was born without being treated like a servant.  Her position was honored and elevated at that point.  Sometimes she would never return to being a servant, but would help her mistress in raising the child which she produced.  This would be the most desirable and highest attainable position for a concubine.  It would require great humility.  This might have been what Hagar had anticipated and expected, but she lacked the grace and humility to carry it out.  This attitude that Hagar brought into the household was definitely not what Sarai had in mind at all.  

Hagar let this fleshly formed change of events with the twist of fate in her favor go straight to her head.  Some people do not do well in handling success, especially the first time that they taste it.  Hagar had to brag, and she had to flaunt her new found power.  She had to get into Sarai’s face with it.  She became very legalistic in her thinking.  That was her biggest mistake.  She went from being a sweet, humble, agreeable young servant girl looking up to her mentor to being a prideful, arrogant, boastful, haughty concubine. 

There are seven things the Lord hates; haughty eyes, lying tongues, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush to evil, false witness and the stirring up of dissention among brothers.  It would appear that perhaps Hagar had a lot of these traits lurking in her personality.  She had hidden them well up until this point in time, but they all came tumbling forth when she found herself pregnant with Abram's child.    

Perhaps Hagar even took every opportunity to embarrass Sarai publicly.   Perhaps she gossiped about her behind her back.  Perhaps she was angry and rebellious in her words and actions toward her.  Perhaps she openly stated to Sarai that she would never be the true mother of her child.  Who knows what could have gone on? Perhaps she threatened Sarai’s life?  Things would have really been easier for Hagar if Sarai accidently had a fatal fall and never recovered.

This is all speculation of course; no one really knows everything that went on in those tents during those days.   From everything we have read and studied about Sarai, it is clear that these situations were not common occurrences in her household before Hagar was with child.  The beautiful, peaceful, joyful atmosphere that surrounded Sarai’s tents as she baked her bread and welcomed her guest with extreme hospitality must have shifted a whole lot during this time.  A different kind of cloud must have settled over the area where these two women dwelt together, and Abram must have spent a lot of time looking after the flocks instead of sitting in the tents.   It is possible, in all of her years as the wife of Abram, that this might have been the first time Sarai had ever encountered pure rebellion, or anyone who hated her.  She must have stewed inside as she considered how to handle the situation that was causing great grief to her once well-run and peaceful household.  Making your own plan instead of waiting on God's plan will always steal your joy.  Grace always provides pardon, but sometimes we still have to live with the consequences of our own actions.  Grace just helps us to deal with the grief of our sins and allows us to keep on walking closer and closer to God as we do.

COME AS A CHILD - LESSON 44 - WHAT HAPPENS WHEN BAD LEADERSHIP AND UNCONDITIONAL GRACE COLLIDE

(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

Funny, when things didn’t work out just like Sarai wanted them to and Hagar despised her after she became pregnant; that Sarai’s comment to Abram was “this is all your fault.”

The whole scheme of using Hagar as a concubine to give Abram a son to fulfill the prophecy because Sarai had passed the years of child bearing  had been Sarai’s idea; but now it was Abram’s fault! 

Well, guess what?  It was!  

This was basically the same scenario that Adam and Eve had in the Garden of Eden when the woman came up with a plan that was not the plan of God and the man said “OK, Let’s do it.”

 Just as Adam did not consult God as he ate of the tree, neither did Abram consult God when Sarai gave him a plan that involved her handmaiden.  The end results both times brought uncomfortable consequences that had to be dealt with.  Isn’t this just the way of the world?   Both times the man could have consulted God and made a different decision.  Abram could have refused Sarai’s offer of her concubine, but you never hear of him making one argument against it.    

Women look to men to be their leaders but sometimes men forget to lead.  That is when things, no matter how equally guilty the woman is by presenting wrong and impatient plans and ideas, become the fault of the man.    If a man is totally tuned in to God and following His exact will, the woman living with him will always be better off in the long run because he will not make unwise decisions without consulting God in prayer.  This may bother a woman for a short while, but in the end she will find herself praising God for it.  

This quality in a man requires strength and wisdom and patience.  Every man alive should be praying for these three godly traits.  Every woman married to a man should be asking God to grant these special qualities to her husband.   Every unmarried woman should look for this in a husband, and every single man should develop these characteristics in his personality before he takes marriage vows. 

That God intended for men to be leaders is a serious charge and it is not to be taken lightly.  Does this put the woman underneath the man?  Certainly not, Sarai and Abram led together, side by side, not one over another.  

As we have seen over and over Sarai and Abram were only human just like all the rest of us.  They made their share of mistakes.  They had developed very  godly  traits early on, but slipped up as they grew older and accidentally set them aside in their old age in their impatience to see the promises of God fulfilled in their lifetime.  

Age should make one wiser and more patient, not weaker and less patient.  If the eyes are focused on God, this will be the case; but if you look away, even for a split second, it is easy to begin to operate in the flesh.  

As people age they often lose their focus and grow weak simply because they are looking at their age and their flesh instead of looking at God and how timeless He is.  The enemy of God looks for us to hit these weak points of time in life and then tries to break down our testimonies and destroy them by making us think we must hurry and do some things ourselves instead of waiting on God's timing.  

As we all grow older we must carefully seek for God to strengthen our focus and will-power to live kingdom lives and not be listening to the wrong voices that will present themselves to us and try to trap us into bad decisions and circumstances because we suddenly find ourselves aging.  Now, more than ever, it is important to keep our faith in God's ability to bring about the right and perfect plans for our lives.

So why didn’t God just walk away from Abram and Sarai when they forgot to wait on His plan and follow His will?  God had made an unconditional covenant with Abram.  God always keeps His promises and He never breaks His covenants.  

It is the same for us as we live under the covenant of the New Testament in Christ Jesus today.   We too, from time to time, will forget to follow God and we too will make our own mistakes; but God has given us an unconditional blood covenant as His people, and He will alway honor it.  

Just like Abram and Sarai, We will always have to live with the bad circumstances we create for ourselves when we sin, but God will never desert those who have given their lives to Him.  He will always see us through even the hardest of times, even when we make mistakes and try to change His plans for us.  We may take a detour in the plan, but He will bring us back on track in our journey and if we follow Him we will always find our way back home.  


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COME AS A CHILD - LESSON 43 - MAKING THE BIG ANNOUNCEMENT

(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

The world we live in today makes a big deal about making special announcements public, such as weddings and anniversaries, and of course; the soon coming arrival of a child.  I have to wonder what this would have been like if you were living in the ancient land of Caanan and you were the SECOND wife that had conceived the child with your Mistress’s husband. 

It must have been a bit strange to our way of thinking today. 

Would there have been a gender reveal?  Of course not, there was no way of knowing the sex of a child back in those days, but there must have been an “I’m going to have a baby and it belongs to Abram” public moment that came to pass in Hagar’s life.  How would this have transpired? 

It must have been the talk of the tents!  

How do you imagine Hagar went about telling Abram and Sarai the news?   Of course they would have been waiting and watching and expecting, but still, it would have been perhaps a bit strange and awkward.   

How do you think she was received when she did let them know the news?  I can’t help but wonder who she told first, Abram or Sarai.  I suspect she went to Abram first.  The scriptures leave much to our imagination.  We can only look at the history of women who became “second wives” back in those days and learn a little of what might have happened.

The technical word for second wife was “concubine.”   The concubine was always of inferior status to the first wife.  If the husband wished to perform a veiling ceremony she could obtain the name of “wife” but she would still be considered the inferior wife, the second choice with the first wife always being over her and in charge of her. The husband was in charge of the first and chosen wife, but he WAS NOT in charge of any wife after her.  Any subsequent wife was totally under the charge of the first and chosen wife.  Hagar's welfare remained in the hands of Sarai even after she bore a child of Abram's.

Much of these concubine relationships materialized when the first wife discovered she was barren.  The concubine was a way of securing an heir for the family name if the first wife simply could not bear a child.  Many ancient marriage agreements had wording stating promises from the wife that should the wife be unable to bear an heir she would secure a concubine to have her husband’s children.   These heirs would hold unless the first wife later and unexpectedly bears a child.  The concubine’s children were always inferior to the chosen first wife’s children.  This was true for everything concerning a child in the family, but especially true when it came to inheritance. 

Because of these situations in the culture, the laws of Israel that came later were very careful to provide rights safeguarding the Hebrew girls who found themselves being sold as handmaidens. 

It seemed that when a concubine was going to be provided as one who would bear the children for her mistress, it was usually done by taking a very strong and healthy young handmaiden (often bought in the market of slaves) that the mistress could train as a child and supervise as she grew into a young girl.  The young girl would be brought up to serve the household.    Usually before the child was born the handmaiden would become wed to the one who had purchased the handmaiden. 

Some people have been very upset thinking that Abram sinned with Hagar by committing adultery.  Well, we have already discovered that Abram was an ordinary man and very capable of sin just as any other man; but in this case he was innocent.  He was simply following the legalities and civil laws that were in place in his days and in the culture where he lived.   At that time in that culture it was perfectly legal for Abram to take a second wife.  Sarai's giving Hagar to him would have signified that she was being chosen as a second wife for the purpose of bearing a child to Abram.  Notice the word "wife."  Even though Hagar was a second, inferior wife, chosen only for the sake of bearing children; she was in fact legally married to Abram.  You cannot commit adultry with someone who you are married to.   Even if they had not been married, the law (the ten commandments) had not yet been given, so it was hard to break a commandment that God had not yet officially commanded.  This argument that Abram sinned doesn’t really stand, and for once Abram is let off the hook.  That is also not to say that Abram did the right thing.  Abram should have consulted God before agreeing with Sarai in this plan.  Does anything about this sound familiar?  What if Adam had consulted with God before agreeing to eat the fruit that Eve offered?  The devil's tactics never change, they are always the same and usually quite predictable when you think about it.  

Also, that isn’t to say that God did not intend for men to have only one wife and for women to have only one husband.  Once again, He set the example for us with Adam and Eve way back in the garden.  He showed us the better way from the start.  It was man who came up with the other less than perfect ways of living, and hence mankind is always dealing with the circumstances of their own mistaken choices.   God later addressed this issue when He wrote down the ten commandments and gave them to Moses. 

The picture of Sarai and Abram making their own decisions here instead of waiting on God to bring about His will for them is a perfect lesson and example of how things are better when you do things the best way; God’s way.  In all life situations there is a choice between the way that SEEMS right to men, and God's way.  It seems that Abram and Sarai rushed God’s plan because they got all caught up in their own importance instead of God’s.   If Abram sinned at all, this would be where it happened.  Now, for the rest of his life, the relationship of Abram and Sarah and their beautiful love story would have a shadow of a handmaiden and another son named Ishmael.  The focus of complete joy would forever be diverted  from the eventual promised child because of the responsibilities brought on by wrong human decisions that were way lower than God's original purposes.  

God allows us to grow in and from our mistakes.  This happens because He doesn't produce a magic wand that instantly corrects everything that we have done wrong.  He lets us live with the circumstances that we bring upon ourselves and He is still kind and merciful and loving to us through it all.  He takes our mistakes and turns them for good eventually, even if the "good" is just to teach us to be more careful and more diligent to seek His guidance.  

If the handmaiden went through the child bearing process and boar a child for her mistress and then sought to place herself on an equal footing, she normally could not be sold to anyone else (this kept the man’s child living within his own household even if the relationship with the woman went sour); although she could be reduced again to the status of a slave.  There were civil laws and provisions spelled out in the Code of Hammurabi stating certain conditions where the slave-concubine and her child could even be expelled, but only on the advice of divine oracle.  This too plays into the story of Abram, Sarai and Hagar as we will discuss later.

All of the above is interesting to note as we look deeper into the story of Hagar, Abram and Sarai.

The scriptures tell us that Hagar bore a male child to Abram and even while she was pregnant with him she began to despise Sarai. 

Hagar had been with Sarai since that dreadful time in Egypt when Abram had almost let Pharaoh marry Sarai without telling him she was his wife.  God had intervened in that time and the truth had been revealed.  When Pharaoh sent them away he gave Hagar to them, but it is said that she had requested to go saying:  “One day in the house of Abram and Sarai is better than many days in the house of Pharaoh”  Perhaps Hagar, even as a young girl had entertained the thoughts of being the wife of Abram and bearing his children.  Perhaps she had looked at the life that Sarai led and said “that is for me – I’ll take it!  I want to be just like her!”  There again is another commandment - "Thou shalt not covet" - that had not yet been written down in stone or spelled out for the world to see.  We don’t really know, but it is quite possible that Hagar coveted the life of Sarai. 

Maybe Hagar was simply a child used in a sneaky political move.  Perhaps Pharaoh, secretly wishing to promote the growth of Egypt beyond its borders thought to himself; “I’ll send one of the daughters of my concubines with them and even though they gain great wealth when this child gives birth to another child we will be able to put an Egyptian claim onto all the lands that they come to possess."  Ancient cultures were known for devious acts such as this.  Every kingdom was about power and greed in those days.  Now, this is only imaginative thinking, no one knows what really went on behind the scenes and why Pharaoh allowed one of his princess/daughters to become the handmaiden to Sarai, but it is a thought worth entertaining. 

Who knows what secret thoughts Hagar held in her heart as she grew up in the tents of Abram?  It is in many ways like the story of Esther in reverse. 

It appears in every segment of Hagar’s story that her greatest characteristic was her ambition.  She held on in very hard circumstances determined to succeed in spite of all obstacles.  But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.  What we really know at this point is Hagar was Sarai’s handmaiden and Sarai gave her to Abram to bear a child and Hagar became pregnant and despised Sarai when she did. 

One cannot help but wonder if this word “despise” is a way to describe that green-eyed monster common among women called jealousy.  Let us consider that a bit as we think of Sarai and Hagar and this situation.  They were probably both equally jealous for very different reasons.  

Hagar probably craved the power and control and possessions of Sarai as Abram’s wife, including the love of Abram.  Can you imagine the pain of knowing that another woman would take the child born of your flesh into her arms immediately after birth and raise the child as its mother?  No matter how Hagar worked at her ambitions to replace Sarai, Sarai was ALWAYS going to be in the picture and always going to have control of the destiny of Hagar's child.   

Sarai, on the other hand,  probably felt pain and sorrow to have another woman bearing the child of the one man she had always loved with all of her heart. No matter what she did from this point forward, Abram's loyalties would always be divided and distracted away from her toward this son of another woman.  It must have been humiliating to Sarai to have to make the choice to allow another to give birth to her husband's child and sit helplessly by and watch as the world around her changed daily with this new development.  

Before Hagar's pregnancy Sarai and Hagar had most likely been very close friends.  They would have by this time spent hours and hours and days and years side by side in the household of Abram.  They would have been a team in all that had happened so far.  We can read in the legends of the sages stories of  Sarai entertaining royalty in her tents and recognizing and addressing Hagar as a royal princess instead of her slave among the guests.  Perhaps there were many, many times that these two shared the everyday moments of womanhood in the family together, laughing, talking as close friends, emphasizing with one another over the things that all women go through.  Hagar had most likely been a close friend, confidant and supporter of Sarai.  Now all of that was destroyed between them.  The whole landscape of their relationship and friendship totally changed when Hagar made her famous announcement.   These were real life-changing times for both of these women.   

By the time that Hagar was pregnant and despised Sarai, Sarai knew that she had acted in haste with her decision to give her to Abram and she most likely regretted it terribly.   It must have come  clear to her like a hammer over the head that she had not sought this out through prayer and had not consulted God at all.  She would have had to see the look of concern on Abram’s face every time Hagar winced when the baby kicked, and she would have not been used to the tender way a man would have treated a woman bearing the child of his loins.  Some of the tender loving care that Abram had always given to Sarai would naturally go now to the mother of his child.  This all must have been an eye-opening experience to Sarai and her grief could have easily turned to a huge mountain of bitterness and hate. 

So what do you do when you have gone against the wishes of God even after He has promised you nothing but great blessings and a perfect destiny and has made your life so fulfilling and abundant up until that point?

Wouldn’t we all love to know what went on in the mind and hearts of Sarai and Abram during this time that Hagar was pregnant?  

It must have been a very strange time indeed.  What should have been a time of sheer joy was  now touched and stained with the human traits of anger, bitterness, jealousy, hate, regret, uncertainty, fear and a million other human emotions.  It was all unnecessary, but God lets us make our own choices.  The thing is – once made – we have to live with them.  

It isn’t completely bad though, this is how we learn grace and how we can learn to love deeper and with more intention.  Ironically, pain often brings gain.  Eventually the fog lifts and God shows us the detour that our decisions have brought to our journey.  Detours are not always smooth paved roads, they can get rocky and hard to travel.  We have to just keep moving until we get back to God’s original destiny.  Sometimes it takes a very long time. 

Both Hagar and Sarai had made some bad decisions.  Hagar in choosing to leave her life as the princess she desired to be in her heart all along, and Sarai in choosing to let another woman into her marriage and giving her the right to bear the child to Abram.  Abram too had allowed things to happen without questioning or correcting the errors.  They all had detours cropping up on the radar.  It was going to be a much different and harder journey from here on out.  Some days the only thing left to do is to just keep on walking.

In spite of Abram and Sarai’s mistakes and humanness, God was with them through it all.   He was still pouring out His blessings on them as well as looking after Hagar and her child.     

God is good - all the time.

COME AS A CHILD - LESSON 42 - THE BEST LAID SCHEMES OF MICE AND MEN

(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

I cannot think of the next chapter in the life of Abram and Sarai without considering the line of Robert Burn's  Scottish poem called "To A Mouse."   One quote is rendered:  "the best-laid schemes of mice an' men gang aft agley, an' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain, for promis'd joy!"  

The author is pondering how the little mouse's winter house is all in ruins because of being hit by a plough.  He thinks of how the mouse carefully planned ahead for winter and worked so hard to make such a nice little nest, which the plough just goes right over and destroys in an instant.  Then he considers the act of men making plans and how often, no matter how well laid-out they are; they are destroyed by the unexpected or get terribly off course and messed up along the way.  He thinks how mice at least live in the present moment where men are always looking forward or backward, trying to fix things they have no control over.  

Often when considering this I've thought Robert Burns might have had the same problem as Abram and Sarai with his outlook on life.  He might not have invited God into all the big, life-changing decisions.  Perhaps if the little mouse had consulted God on where to build his nest the plough would not have happened.  There are also certain places that men would not go - had they consulted God about their future.  It is only human to forget this from time to time, and Abram and Sarai were just that - only human.

You would think after all the trouble that God went to in confirming the

covenant with Abram that he would be completely reassured of God’s promises and just begin to wait patiently to see it all come to pass.

Not so.  Abram was inside of time and God was outside of time and their perspective on the passing of time was completely different.  God was and always is looking at the perfect clock and waiting on the perfect time for everything that evolves in his plan for mankind.  Abram was inside of time worried that things were not happening fast enough. 

 He believed; of course he did!  He believed every word that God spoke to him, but he probably kept wondering if maybe he missed some little instruction or something more.  Nothing was happening and he was getting to be old.  Maybe God had told him something to do that he had forgotten.   Those voices that often pop up in the heads of humans to add to confusing times kept repeating themselves.

Perhaps it was up to him.  Perhaps he needed to think of a way to bring God’s will about in a timely manner.  Abram, like all humans before him and after him, began to rationalize about things that were supernatural in nature and tried to make them happen in man’s way instead of waiting on God’s way.  All the time Abram was pondering this; but still he kept impatiently waiting.

Abram might have waited a lot longer and been a lot more patient if Sarai had not been involved.  He had shared the news of the covenant with her and she had believed it too.  She pondered the timing of things just like Abram.  She, after all, WAS a big part of this picture and she was getting older, much older. 

She had heard Abram tell the stories of the covenant over and over.  It was like a dream that they shared together, but why wasn’t it happening?  Sarai must have kept asking herself what was so wrong in her that she could not conceive a son to grant the greatest wish of her husband.  She was deeply troubled in her waiting.  It seemed that her destiny had been put on hold forever.  Why?  Sarah was always wondering why.  She wasn’t one to sit and mope and she did not like this constant never-ending waiting. 

She probably kept telling herself over and over again that she had so much to be thankful for.  She should just be patient, but everything was just taking way too long. 

Was there a sin within her holding this miracle back; too much ingratitude, too much pride?  Not enough humility?  Was she too selfish?  If it was her, what could she do about it?  Was there a way she could be less selfish and give a son to Abram?  Sometimes we look at ourselves and receive doubt instead of looking at God and finding hope.

She pondered this night and day for a long time.  Question after question haunted her thoughts as she spent her hours of waiting.  She was now well past the age of childbearing.  Maybe God was trying to make her think of another way to accomplish this?  Was He?  Anyway – what else was there to do? 

Sarai looked around and glimpsed her beautiful young handmaiden going about her daily chores.  How she wished to be young and healthy again, like her.  Envy has been the fall of many a great woman.  Hagar had been a good servant so far.  She had actually chosen to come with Sarai and Abram from the house of Pharaoh.  She had been one of Pharaoh’s daughters from a concubine.  She had so admired Sarai that she had said as a very young girl “Better to live as a servant in the house of Sarai and Abram than to be a royal princess in the house of Pharaoh,”  Her father had quickly granted her request and sent her off to be Sarai’s handmaiden.  

Since Hagar had chosen her position in life, and been a good servant to her, Sarai felt she could trust her with anything.  The girl had a simplicity about her and she looked up to Sarai and mimicked her every move.  It was very flattering.  Flattery has also been the downfall of many a great woman.  She would always be loyal, wouldn’t she?  She listened when Sarai spoke and took in all of the wisdom she had gained in her years of living in Abram’s tents.   Hagar had learned a lot from Sarai.

The more Sarai pondered this the more Sarai wondered if the answer to

her troubles was living and breathing right inside her own tent.  Perhaps she could trust Hagar to bear a son for her and Abram.  It displeased Sarai to think of Abram with another woman, but she might be able to bear that just once in order to give him the son of his desire.  Surely he would only respect her more for being so unselfish in fulfilling his desires?  Many women thought nothing of this.  

Of course, it would mean that Hagar would have to be considered a second wife.  Sarai would still be the first and honored wife, but Hagar would be taken as a second wife in order to give the family name to her son.  She would be more honored in the household than she was now, but she would still be under Sarai’s charge and she would still tend to Sarai’s needs.  Maybe it meant not much would change. 

Sarai realized she might have come up with a way to heal the only part of her marriage that suffered – the fact that she was childless.  She began to have visions of her tending to a son that Abram loved and Hagar being humble and kind in letting her do so.  Like Abram, she began to rationalize the plans of God instead of waiting to see what God would bring about.  

The scriptures never mention once that Sarai consulted God in this; and that is because SHE DID NOT.  She had become so comfortable in her blessings from God that she just took for granted that He would approve of her plan.  Isn't that the most human thing you have ever known?  

She made a horrible mistake in thinking that this was a question that she had the right to answer. 

It wasn’t.  

Haven’t we all been guilty of the same?  

We go right on making huge life changing decisions on our own because we think we have come up with a brilliant plan and we never consult God who knows how un-brilliant some of our plans can turn out to be.

Sarai talked to Abram and Abram agreed to the plan.  God was there all the time.  He was waiting too.  As He waited they proceded with the plan they had devised on their own.  God will let this happen if you chose to create your own trap.  Sometimes the only learning tools that work are the tools created by our own mistakes.  God is graceful, loving and kind.  He did not leave them or forsake them when they left Him out of the equation.  He simply kept loving them and let them suffer the consequences of their own mistake.  They just assumed that God would be in agreement.  Isn’t that such a human trait? 

 It wasn’t long before Hagar was with child and the pleasant tents of Abram began to take on a new and altogether different atmosphere.  

SEASONS: THE SOUNDS OF THANKFULNESS

(These are musical selections by various artist selected for the Thanksgiving Season by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

Have you ever thought about the sounds of Thanksgiving?  
They are all around us all the time, all we have to do is open our ears and enjoy them.  Of course I can't take credit for any of these old favorite musical selections.  Go to You-Tube to select your own favorite versions. 

Whatever your style of listening, some of these will definitely help to get you into a thankful holiday mood!  You can play them while you cook for Thanksgiving this year.  It will definitely get you into the spirit of the holiday.

 Now I'm off to thaw my turkey......

Enjoy!

COME AS A CHILD - LESSON 41 - SERVING A COVENANT KEEPING GOD

After Abram was blessed in the valley by Melchizedek, whom Abram also broke bread with and drank wine from and gave one tenth of his possessions to as a tithe; God spoke to Abram again. 

It is important to notice that this High Priest of God, The King of Peace, The ruler over Jerusalem named Melchizedek laid the ground work and prepared Abram’s heart to hear from God. He fed Abram wine and bread from Heaven.  He blessed Abram and reminded him that it was God who had won the battle for him.  He received Abram’s offerings in The Name of The Most High God.  Are you getting a glimpse of who Melchizedek really is?  The offerings were received and taken because Abram had not given of the spoils of war, but he had given of the best that he possessed.  This has been the pattern with every man that God has called righteous, all the way back to Abel.

Now we notice the progression and emphasis of this worship of Abram when we hear of a new character in the story named Melchizedek.  Who was this High Priest of God Most High?  We shall see more and more of His truth as our stories of Abraham unfold.  This very necessary High Priest took care of the things that were required for Abram to meet with God.   At that time no other way was available.  At that time certain conditions must be met for a man to actually be in the presence of God.  These conditions were strict and must be carried out with caution and detail.   Melchizedek paved the way for Abram to meet with God.  He laid the groundwork and made the preparations for all things to be done properly and in order. 

This was a very special time and Abram needed to be ready.   Abram had asked a question of a God who loved him very much.  God had spoken with Abram before, but this time was different.  God was going to give Abram the sign that he had requested to know for sure that God was going to keep His promises of giving him a son from his own flesh and blood of which nations of descendants (as many as the stars of the heavens) would descend from.  God was also promising to make the land where Abram was living come into his possession and the possession of his children.   God’s words were:  “I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it.”

Once again Abram was puzzled but believed.  He did not know how it would happen and he asked God how he would know that he would gain possession of the land.  The act of covenant that followed was God’s answer to that question.  The Hebrew word for covenant is” karath berith.”   It means “to cut.”  

In those days a covenant was the most significant legal document you could have.  It was “to cut” an agreement out with someone.  There were different types of covenants, but the most significant and binding covenant was a blood covenant.  That is what God was making with Abram in this portion of the story.  They were cutting an agreement in blood.  A blood covenant was the highest, most significant covenant that could be made.  It was a visual symbolic enactment of a promise and an oath.  The animals were slaughtered and cut in half and laid out with a pathway between each half.  The parties involved would usually walk through the path between the two parts of the cut or divided slaughtered animals to say:  “May this be done to me if I do not keep my oath.”    A blood covenant was a very serious oath between two parties.  In this case, as we will see later, the agreement was all from God.  Abram did not have to do a thing.  God was saying “I will keep my word to you unconditionally – no strings attached.”

The Lord told Abram to bring Him a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old along with a dove and a young pigeon.  Does that sound like an odd request?  What if God spoke to you today and told you to bring such things; would you? 

What were these offerings about and why were they required? 

First of all notice that three offerings were required as the offerings for the cutting; the heifer, the goat and the ram.  God would have Abram to cut the heifer, the goat and the ram into halves and then God would come and walk through them.  Usually both parties walk through the cutting, but in this agreement Abram did not walk, only God. 

Not only were there three animals to be cut but each of them were to be three years old.  Two threes here remind us of the age of Christ when He died on the cross and became our resurrected Messiah.  The sacred number of three is also the number of the Holy Trinity.  There were also two other offerings – a turtledove and a pigeon.  These were not cut.  The 3 cut offerings and the 2 uncut offerings totaled five animals.  In Hebraic thought five is the number that represents the grace and goodness of God poured out in His works.  It is the number that stands for redemption and is almost always associated with the coming of the Messiah.

In case you were not raised on a farm, a heifer is a female cow.   If you want to get technical many do not understand that once a heifer has a calf they are no longer called a heifer, but they are then called a female cow.  It is not good to breed a heifer early, so three years old is a pretty safe time to know that a heifer is ready and fit to deliver a calf without any problems.  If you breed too young, there may be problems.   Heifers were never used for plowing.  They were used for calving until they passed that stage then they were used to tread out the grain.  The male oxen were used for plowing, but these female cows, once they had given birth to calves and passed the time of birthing calves and raising them, were used for treading out the grain of the harvest.  Much like human beings, even a cow has different seasons of life for different functions.  At three years old the heifer would be at the most physically fit stage of their life; strong and healthy and ready to become most useful to their owners.  This would be the stage where the heifer is the most fertile. They raised their calves, then they were yoked to a board attached to a tread wheel and walked around in circles grinding the grain of the harvest with their constant motion of pushing the wheel.  A feeding trough was set in front of them on the part of the wheel they were harnessed to and they ate from it as they did their work of turning the wheel.  This latter part of being a female cow wasn’t hard.    A three year old heifer, however would have been untrained and not have had a yoke applied to her neck yet.  A three year old would not have given new life yet, but would be ripe for this time to happen.

Heifers eventually became known as the symbolic animal sacrifice offered for the national sins. This was a foreshadowing of the red heifer that would be used in temple times to show God’s love and mercy and forgiveness for the people of the congregation as a whole.   The heifer in Abram’s covenant was provided for the purification of Abram and of the people who would become his descendants.  Remember that Israel was not yet a nation.  God had told Abram that nations would come from his flesh.  Because of the fact that there was not even one son, let alone one nation yet, one could go out on a limb here and say that the heifer was offered for the purification of all the nations that would come from Abram.   If you wish to read more of the meaning of the red heifer that came to be symbolic of this at a future time in the temple click here: http://dancinginseason.blogspot.com/2014/10/pieces-of-puzzle-mysterious-story-of.html

In this time of this covenant the law had not yet been given.   Men knew what was righteous and good before God in a natural way, but it had not been spelled out in writing and written down in stone.  This covenant sacrifice was based on faith alone and always pointed toward the pure obedience of men’s hearts toward God.  This was an offering that began in a time before mankind knew the grace of perfect atonement.  It was a foreshadow of the coming of the law and eventually an even better way.  This was the first glimpse of how the ashes of the red heifer would be used later.

The second animal G0d told Abram to bring was a three year old goat.  Leviticus 9:15 tells us that a goat was used as a sin offering.  The heifer was for cleansing and the goat was for bearing the sin that was removed and cleansed.  There cannot be any cleansing unless the sin is removed.  The goat was used to bear the sins of the people of Abram and to carry them away.  This is a first glimpse of the Azazel goat we know about that came to be sacrificed during the Day of Atonement.    

The third and greatest covenant was represented by a three year old ram.  The great significance of the ram will be revealed to Abraham later in the story of his life a very graphic way.  He will see this because he was an obedient servant of God.  The Ram is symbolic of The Messiah, The Christ, The Son of God, The Savior of The World.  The heifer was for cleansing, the goat was for bearing away sin and the ram was for atonement of sin.   

Now we see that God told Abram to take all three of these sacrifices and cut them into.  The word covenant means “to cut an agreement.”  So the three covenants were “cut” or “made.”  

The dove and the pigeon are not cut.  The other offerings happened in time periods of history where if they did not happen men would be cut off from God.  After Christ came men were no longer cut off from God by their sins.  The perfect atonement had been made and freely given.  These two animals represent what came after the perfect atonement of Christ.   They represent the future prophetic progression of this covenant which God will keep with Abram and all nations.  The dove represents the giving of The Holy Spirit at Pentecost.  The pigeon represents The Word of God and the spreading of the gospel throughout the earth before end times come.

Abram laid out all of these sacrifices and birds of prey came to try to take them away.  They were open laying opposite each other with the insides visible to the eye, except for the two birds.  The insides of the two birds could not be seen with the eye.  This is a picture of how all sin will one day be laid out and revealed before God.  There will be no hiding it.  This is the picture of the three cut animals.  The two birds represent the divine attributes that cannot be seen with the eye when The Holy Spirit and The Word of God come to live inside of God’s people.  Faith, love, hope – these things are very necessary and important but are not visible to the eye.  These were all laid out and the vultures passing by wanted to take them and consume them.  Abram had to stand guard and chase them away.  The same is true for all practicing the faith today.  If you do not stand guard over the things that God puts on your heart to do and if you are not careful to guard your heart the devil and his demons will come and try to steal, kill and destroy the sacred things of your life.  Abram gives the perfect example of standing guard.

Then a great darkness came and Abram fell into a trance in which God came and walked through the cut pieces of the covenant.  Abram falling into a deep sleep or a trance is a picture of how Christians must all die to their selves in order to receive the higher promises of God. 

God ratified the covenant by walking through the blood as a burning torch and a smoking oven.  The torch represents the flame of The Holy Spirit that God’s covenants with man would bring about.  The Smoking Oven represents the glory of God that would fall on His people in that day.  The burning torch and the smoking pot are a picture of how incense is used at the altar of the temple.  This is a picture of the prayers of the people, a sweet aroma going up to heaven as the smoke of God’s peoples prayers are presented at His altar throughout eternity. 

The fulfilling of each piece and part of the covenant is all very progressive.  Significant things evolve and unfold slowly and in perfect step with God’s timing and His plan to bless mankind through Abram.

God laid it all out for us all the way back in the days of Abraham, knowing how fickle and hard-hearted men can be.  God knew how long it would take us to turn.  He wanted each man to have all the time he needed to make his heart ready for life in The Kingdom of God. 

This steady progression of the fulfilling of God’s covenant reveals all things in their own glorious light in such a perfect way.  Men’s hearts are not strong enough to absorb all of God’s majesty at once, so He broke it down for us into little doses, a miracle here, a miracle there, a revelation now, a revelation later.  Our Creator knows how we respond to things.  He deals with us like a lover would deal with someone they were lovesick over.  He is blind to our faults and patient with our short comings.  He waits for us to see the surprises and treasures He has hidden for only us.

Here is another example of how the number three in this passage plays out.  It will also be in the symbolic “third day” or a day when we should be living out the truth of resurrection, that the covenant opens up to act out its five-fold ministry that we read about in Ephesians 4:11.  God’s word and the ministry of His saints will be raised up under the power of the covenant promises.  We read about this in Ephesians 4:12-13, "For the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ."   

Because God was careful and thoughtful to lay out the pattern way back in the days of Abraham, we have the opportunity NOW to live this out.  All of the animals together, the total of five of a heifer, a goat, a ram, a dove and a pigeon, represent a five-fold ministry that God has destined for mankind to participate in that will usher in the fullness of The Kingdom of God.

And you thought the passage about the covenant sacrifices was dull and confusing and antiquated?  Well, so did I until I prayed and asked God to reveal His word and make some things clear.  He came through in a million little ways to help me see this.  There is SO MUCH here that it could go on for days and it would be impossible to write it all down.  Remember this passage of the story because thoughts of it will come back to you as we continue to study more of the life of Abraham.  More of the truth of this covenant will be revealed throughout the whole of the scriptures.  It is noticed over and over in story after story.  The longer you let your heart dwell here the more you will see.   

 The point is that we all must realize how important covenants are to God.  He started with Adam.  He kept it up with Noah.  Now we see Abraham is also receiving a covenant.  We will go on to look at Moses and David and eventually the very best – Christ.  God loves and keeps covenant with His people.  Never, ever forget this. 

In the story of Abram we are reminded again and again of the fact that as he faithfully brought the elements of  the covenant as God had directed and laid it all out exactly as requested, vultures came down and tried to steal it away.  This will happen every time God is doing something important and significant.  As previously emphasized, the vultures  are symbolic of the demons of Satan that come to kill, steal and destroy.  The scriptures tell us that Abram ran off the vultures.  He guarded the things of God and chased off anything that wasn’t supposed to be in his life.  That is what we must do also.  Guard your covenant with God.  Guard it with all your might.  Chase away any person, place of thing that the devil sends to destroy your promises to God.  Don’t let the vultures steal your joy.  Abram knew this and did not let them near.

How important was this ancient covenant that God made with Abraham?  It is amazingly important.  Everything that happened afterward in the history of mankind and God reflected it in some way.  When the people of Israel were in the wilderness and sinned by making a golden calf God almost decided to rid the world of the descendants of Abraham and start over with the descendents of Moses, but Moses quickly reminded God of this covenant and God changed his mind and had mercy on the people.

Covenant is one of the ways of God.  We live in mercy and forgiveness because we serve a God who keeps covenant with His people.