Sarah continues

Ladies Bible Study July 21^st- Study of Sarah

We continue in the first section with question #4

We read chapter 16 of Genesis, with question 4, Sarah, Abraham and Hagar all had their part in sinning.

Sarah didn’t wait upon the Lord; she tried to “help” God.  There was a divine promise and she tried to engineer it.  Her sin still affects us today with the peoples in the Middle East and the warfare that continues there today.  But, God in his sovereignty uses this in his plan.  We too can be easily influenced by family and friends, the custom of the day.  We need to be careful of opinions and turn to God’s word for guidance.  They knew the culture around them; God had to remove them from the culture.  They still had the influence from their culture and had to “re-learn” to follow God.

Reference was made as to “Who are we dancing for?” Who are you following, do you “dance” for idols or do you dance for the Lord? Looking at the culture of home lives and work, or school, are we careful to follow the right path.

p.28 The consequences of such a carnal life nearly tore her life apart and leaves a scar on our personalities.  Through our trials, others see the hurt and circumstances in our lives and wonder how we hold fast to God.  They need to see our faith through trial.  People assume that God allows the bad, but Adam through the fall of man brought sin into the world.

How do we feel about Sarah’s response and behavior to what was happening with Hagar? We don’t understand the cultural circumstances that led Sarah to this decision.  Sarah was holding on to this promise, but ignore other scriptures.. like man should cleave to his wife and become one flesh.  We need to be careful to not ignore God’s word! Are you reading God’s word?

Looking at historical facts of Abram, we know that there were worshipers of God at this time, but we don’t know exactly how they worshiped.  Noah’s Law – a man of true faith, he had laws: Not to worship other idols, not to blaspheme, to follow laws, and not to commit adultery, not to kill, and not to rob. They were descendants of Noah and they knew of God.

Abraham sinned in that he offered his wife as his sister, opening his marriage to give her to another man as the other man’s wife for fear of his own life.   Abraham could have refused to take Hagar as his wife. The fruit of sin is bitter, but God is sovereign in his dealings with us.  He was torn as a father and seeing the strife in their family and sending his son away when he was 16, even though he did come back.

God still says that they were faithful, God looks at us and says precious and treasure.  God said faithful.  Even when we act the same way that Sarah did, God still judges us. We are his and he knows our hearts just like he knew hers. 

Hagar- her sin, she had bitterness and contempt. Contempt= to make little.  Hagar placed Sarah as beneath her.  But Hagar was a servant, she wasn’t a wife, was she looked on with contempt from the other servants? She didn’t have a choice in becoming Abraham’s “wife”.  Her fruit was to return to being a servant.  God restored her to her position.  She called God “the God of seeing, truly here I have seen him who looks after me”, knowing that God was watching over her as well.  

We need to keep our eyes on God.