Title: Genesis 21:8-21
Contents <Text> Genesis 21:8-21
<Meditation>
1. Abraham held a feast on the day Isaac was weaned.
According to Israeli tradition, a baby is breastfed for three years. How precious and pampered would you have been breastfeeding for three years?
It has been proven that breast milk is better than formula (cow's milk) for the health of the child as well as for the reason.
Abraham and Sarah must have had a dreamlike life while the baby was breastfed.
But verse 9 brings sorrow.
2. The result of the unbelief that Abraham and Sarah sowed is expressed in sorrow
Sarah witnesses Ishmael, who was obtained while trying to obtain descendants with human thoughts, mocking Isaac.
By the time we were weaned, Isaac was three years old, and Ishmael was seventeen. He persecuted and despiced Isaac because the inheritance right that was given to him through the birth of Isaac passed to Isaac.
When Sarah sees Isaac being harmed, she proposes to drive him out of the house, and Abraham hears this and falls into sorrow.
The consequences of unbelief came with sorrow.
In the end, they decide to let Hagar and Ishmael go out according to God's word.
There was a heartbreaking pain, but it was a pain that I had to endure because it was the fruit that was obtained as a result of making a fleshly choice.
He showed that if we sow a human mind and fleshly seeds, one day we will reap the fruits.
Nevertheless, Abraham obeys God's command.
Only the Word of God can solve human anxieties.
3. The human mind instrumentalizes God.
When Hagar and Ishmael, who had been driven out, were crying in sorrow and dying, God heard the child's voice and promised that they would make a great nation, provided water, and spared the mother and child.
God tolerates even Abraham's mistake and allows Hagar and Ishmael the opportunity to become spiritual people again. God takes responsibility for even human errors. God was with Ishmael.
Nevertheless, they fell more deeply into the life of the flesh.
Asmael grew up and lived in the wilderness to become an archer in the wilderness of Paran, and Hagar took a woman from the land of Egypt to be Ishmael's wife. Hagar sees that, despite receiving God's love and grace, she has not given up on her human thoughts and methods.
It shows that as long as the fleshly life continues, God will be reduced to an instrument.
Therefore, faith is the right choice and the right application.
<Prayer>
1. Help me to overcome my worries and worries with the word of God.
2. Do not stand in the foolish place of instrumentalizing God.
3. Give me the faith to receive God's grace with thanksgiving.