Genesis 16: How Can You Believe So Deeply and Mess Up So Badly?

Welcome to chapter by chapter four year journey through the greatest book given to the human race, the Word of God, the Bible, and we get to go through it chapter by chapter seven minutes a day, seven days a week. Join us each day and share it with others so they can join the journey that will be life-changing. We'll stop at unexpected places on the journey and be challenged. Some verses will create awe-and-wondered, we'll have chapters that will be instructive, and others will find joy and comfort, and we will occasionally be convicted and want to change. But all in all, the journey will be worth it. Once in a while we may take a detour on the journey and hear from some of God's servants on their favorite passage from the scriptures and let them give you their insight. Every journey needs a small detour occasionally. The best way to get the most from this podcast is read the chapter we're discussing before or after. It's his word that transforms, and you'll find more and see more than I can ever articulate. Welcome to chapter by chapter and today's chapter is Genesis 16. In order to understand the magnitude of this chapter, you have to go back to a conversation between God and Abram in Genesis 15. The chapter starts out with these three very serious words after these things. The word of the Lord came to him. After what things? After Abram stood up to the king of Sodom who wanted to give him money for his recovery mission for rescuing Lot. Abram stood with conviction and said, "I will not take a piece of thread from you so you can say I've made Abram rich." Right after these things, God spoke. That's Genesis 15, 1 through 6, which says after these things, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision saying, "Do not fear Abram. I'm a shield to you. Your reward shall be very great." Abram said, "O Lord God, what will you give me?" Since I'm childless, and the air of my house is L.A.'s are of Damascus, and Abram said, "Since you have given no offspring to me, one born in my house is my air." Then behold, the word of the Lord came to him saying, "This man will not be your heir, but one will come forth from your own body. He shall be your heir." In verse 5, and he took him outside and said, "Now look toward the heavens and count the stars if you're able to count them." And he said to him, "So shall your descendants be." Then he believed in the Lord and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. What did Abram believe? That God would bring a miracle child in Abraham and Sarah's old age. God said, "A child will come from your own body." He said, "Look at the stars and try to count them. That will be your descendants starting with a miracle child from your own own loins." This conversation is what makes Genesis 16 a head scratcher. How can you believe so deeply, but mess up so badly? We are still reeling from the effects and consequences of Abraham and Sarah's Genesis 16 catastrophe. Let me explain. Genesis 16 is catastrophic. I don't use that word frivolously. We feel the effects of this chapter today. It's the birth of Ishmael. Ishmael is birth when you try to make God's promise happen faster than God intended. You try to manipulate God's calendar and it blows up in your face. This chapter started the Middle East chaos that we still feel today. Ishmael, who a billion Muslims believe to be the true son of promise, not Isaac. The natural child and the miracle child descendants are still in conflict. Ishmael being the representative for the Arabic nations and Isaac who will be born as the representative for the land of Israel. God foretold Heygar, Ishmael's mother. This child will be against everyone in Genesis 1612. Abraham was promised he would have a miracle child in Genesis 15. He believed God. Then another voice came in. Listen to 16 too. So Sarah said to Abram, "Now behold, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. Please go into my maid. Perhaps I will obtain children through her. And Abram, here it comes, listened to the voice of Sarah. The man who listened to the voice of God now started listening to another voice. It seemed that Abraham and Sarah looked at their old bodies and said, "Impossible. We need to help God make it happen." And they concocted this scheme that Abraham would sleep with their maid Heygar and that would be the miracle of God that they manufactured big mistake for them and for all of us today. I keep thinking how can you believe so deeply and mess up so badly? Those words from Genesis 156, he believed in the Lord and he reckoned it to him as righteousness keeps echoing in my soul. If the Father of faith can believe like this and mess up how vulnerable am I at this? Faith always gets attacked the moment it steps out and trusts God. Once you believe God, unbelief is around the corner. Our 16th president, Abraham Lincoln once said, "Faith is not believing that God can, but that God will." See, when you start believing God will, then you become a great threat to the kingdom of darkness. Hell will fight against that faith. Hell fights with sight because we were told in 2 Corinthians 5.7 we walk by faith and not by sight. The devil will make sight to seem bigger and clearer than the promises of God. This is so diabolical because now what God said to me and what his scriptures say to me gets blurry and what I see with my natural eye comes to the forefront. That's how the Genesis 15th belief got attacked. The old couple just looked at their elderly bodies. I love the words of the healing evangelist Smith Wigglesworth. He said, "I'm not moved by what I see. I'm not moved by what I feel. I'm moved only by what I believe." Because their belief was moved by seeing and feeling nothing but the wrong plan was decided upon. When you're walking by faith, you will walk and rest. You will not be in a hurry because faith doesn't just trust that God can and God will, but God knows how and when. True faith can rest and not panic. When you believe God, you will see things especially obstacles clearer and hear the negative voices louder. Those are the times to rest in God. The message says it like this in 2 Corinthians 5.7. It's what we trust in, but don't yet see that keeps us going. Keep going. Skip chapter 16, the promise is close when the battle is intense. Thank you for joining chapter by chapter. Every chapter from the greatest book, the Bible, the Word of God, seven minutes a day, seven days a week. We'll see you tomorrow.