Title: Our Faith
Content Title: Our Faith
Bible: Genesis 16:1-5
Among the characters in the Bible, choose a representative person who has good faith.” If you ask him, perhaps, you cannot leave out Abraham.
So, apart from Abraham, "Sarah." So what do you think? First of all, "Abraham's wife" right? Since Abraham is so famous, I can't think of any other explanation other than "Abraham's wife", but it is a name that is quite familiar to us through the Bible. Then what was the family of Abraham and Sarah so famous? Do you think it must have been such a blessed family where they first built an altar to God whenever they moved from one place to another, and told God about anything and always walked with God every day? Of course, there is no such aspect. However, Abraham's family did not serve God on a completely different level from ours from the beginning. They, too, made mistakes and had shortcomings. In this time, we hope that it will be such a blessed time that we will not repeat the same mistake by examining how Abraham and Sarah made mistakes and what they lacked.
The problem of Isasa was right here with Abraham's problem. Obviously, he experienced God's grace, but just because he experienced grace did not mean that his problems were completely resolved. In front of this reality, Sarah makes a mistake first. He does not try to solve problems caused by God with God, but overcomes them through human efforts. In today's text, verse 16, verse 2, it reads: "Sarai said to Abram, "The LORD has not allowed me to bear fruit, so please sleep with my maidservant, lest I may have children by her." Abram listened to Sarai. "The Lord has not permitted me to produce, so he says that the reason he has no children is from God.
God clearly wants to bless us. However, in today's text, Sarah does not give what she asked for. And Sarah is relentlessly trying to get things that God has not yet allowed. Why the hell is this happening? Why are our thoughts and God's thoughts different? In short, it is because the happiness you think is different from the happiness God wants you to give.
Second, at first glance, the fact that Hagar existed may have been the cause. Abraham at this time could think so. Perhaps the problem was that there was Hagar. At this time, Abraham said, “God, why did you make me a servant named Hagar? Wouldn't it have been an accident?" Would this make any sense if you protested to God like this? It is the same question as why we now ask why God created the tree of knowledge.
I wouldn't have made a mistake without Hagar, but I made a mistake because of Hagar. no. Absolutely not.
So is God. He gives us freedom and waits until we choose God in that freedom.
Third, in today's text, we can see the failure of Abraham, whom we praise as the father of faith.
I hope that all of you who are attending this worship service today will live like that. If God does not help, I hope you will live in this world like a person who would be destroyed today. Wasn't Abraham like that in today's text? There was a promise from God to give me children. But she stopped sleeping with Hagar. Even so, they really had a child named Ishmael. What you so desperately wanted has come true. Our God is far greater than our worries. So, the fact that you have troubles, this is not the problem, but that you can't see the God you should see because of those troubles, that's the problem. You have to overcome this world with the grace you have received without destroying your grace. Jehovah Nissi, the God of victory, is watching over you even today.