Understanding God: A Balancing Act And He said, “Hagar, Sarai’s maid, where have you come from, and where are you going?” She said, “I am fleeing from the presence of…
Understanding God: A Balancing Act
And He said, “Hagar, Sarai’s maid, where have you come from, and where are you going?” She said, “I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai.” The Angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit yourself under her hand.” Then the Angel of the Lord said to her, “I will multiply your descendants exceedingly, so that they shall not be counted for multitude.” And the Angel of the Lord said to her, “Behold, you are with child, and you shall bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael, because the Lord has heard your affliction.” – Genesis 16:8-11
Another lesson we can learn from God is His disposition to a balancing act. He is not a God of extremes. Even though some who profess to follow Him go to extremes in His name or make extreme claims on His behalf, extreme is not a label that one can pin on God. He balances the acts.
From the passage above, we can see how the angel of God asked Hagar to do a very difficult thing – she should return and submit herself to her mistress, Sarah, who had mistreated her so badly that she had to flee for her life. It was this same Sarah that God was now asking her to return and submit to. Who does that?
Meanwhile, as much as the move would have been difficult for Hagar to follow, God sweetened it for her by letting her know what she stood to gain by obeying His instruction. He told her, “I will multiply your descendants exceedingly, so that they shall not be counted for multitude… Behold, you are with child, and you shall bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael, because the Lord has heard your affliction.”
This promise of the great things that God would cause to be through her son and descendants was a sweetener or balancer for Hagar that would make the tedium of returning to the place of her torment a manageable prospect. God communicated this to Hagar the same way He usually handed commands to the people in the Bible, with each command promising blessings when obeyed and consequences when ignored.
By sharing with her what she stood to gain by obedience, God did not just ask Hagar to do a difficult thing but also provided an incentive for her to do it. He does not just ask you to give up something without adding something back to you. Similarly, He would not ask you to undertake a tasking expedition without a promise of what is in it for you if you accomplish it. That is his standard mode of operation. He is a God of balance.
Understanding God: He is Not Moved by Sentiments And when Sarai dealt harshly with her, she fled from her presence. Now the Angel of the Lord found her by a…
Understanding God: He is Not Moved by Sentiments
And when Sarai dealt harshly with her, she fled from her presence. Now the Angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur. And He said, “Hagar, Sarai’s maid, where have you come from, and where are you going?” She said, “I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai.” The Angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit yourself under her hand.” – Genesis 16:6-9
Another lesson we can learn from the personality of God is that sentiments do not move Him. Therefore, He cannot be deceived into making a wrong judgment or call, as humans tend to do.
From the scenario that played out in our reference passage above, we see how Hagar painted a picture of her horrible mistress, Sarah, who was mean to her and treated her so badly even in her pregnant state until she had to flee the house in fear for her life. Considering that this was a period when the climate was harsh and there were not many of the comforts of life that we are used to today, Hagar must have cut a very pitiable sight indeed: a pregnant woman, in tears, looking tired, haggard, sitting alone by a spring and telling about her wicked and jealous madam who constantly terrorized her because she, Hagar, was pregnant something that Sarah had not been able to achieve.
Anyone who listened to her tale of woes would have immediately condemned Sarah and her husband for mistreating a helpless pregnant woman the way they did. Abraham and Sarah would undoubtedly have made the news headlines for being an abusive couple who mistreated their poor maid-turned-surrogate.
However, despite her very moving story, the angel of God was not impressed by the sheer pathos of it. Rather, his response to Hagar was short and direct: “Return to your mistress, and submit yourself under her hand.”
Who would have guessed that was how God would respond to such a matter? God that some have turned into a swooning, sentimental Being who gushes and croons at human dynamics.
However, the angel’s words offered us an insight into God’s mindset. He goes directly to the point and is not beclouded by sentimental shows and other charades that we put on to gain mileage for ourselves. He told Hagar, “Go back home and submit to your mistress.” Period. End of story.
Why? Because He had all the facts of the matter and knew what led to Hagar having to flee the house in the first place, and He was not going to allow her pathetic sight to taint His own judgment. We can all learn from that before jumping to conclusions and passing judgment over matters and people whose details we know little about.
Understanding God: He is A Creator In the beginning God created… – Genesis 1:1 It is instructive that “create” is the first word associated with God as we become acquainted…
Understanding God: He is A Creator
In the beginning God created…
– Genesis 1:1
It is instructive that “create” is the first word associated with God as we become acquainted with Him in the Bible. That word also sums up His personality and underscores one of His main attributes. He is a Creator. This is not to be interpreted loosely, particularly in the light of our contemporary use of the word. God is the ultimate Creator, as He created all things, even the ends of the earth (Isaiah 40:28).
Another word copiously used to describe God in the Bible is “the Maker.” He is the Maker of all things (Jeremiah 10:16, Jeremiah 51:19). He created both male and female, the high and the low, the big and the small, the mighty and the minnow, the poor and the rich (Jeremiah 51:19); He created the heavens, the earth and everything in them (Isaiah 51:13).
This therefore leaves us with two lessons as takeaway from this meditation. Firstly, out of everything that God created, it was humans that He decided to make in His own similitude, to think, speak, act, and function just like Him. By extension, that means every human has the creative ability of God.
If you stretch your imagination to consider the magnitude of creation, you would appreciate the kind of power with which God has endowed humans. We are wired to be creators just like Him. Little wonder that after God created all things in their natural state, humans, His co-creators, are entrusted with recreation, which has led to the discovery and invention of all manners of things. This is merely humans exercising the power of agency that God conferred on them at creation when He created them in His own image and likeness (Genesis 1:26-27).
The second lesson to take away is that it is important to go about our creative power in synch with God. Inasmuch as there are many good human-made creations that have graced the earth across the ages, there are also some man-made creations that God would not approve of, particularly to the extent that such defaces or deforms His original design and other fundamentals. In this regard, wisdom is profitable to direct.
That said, it is heartwarming to see how humans have evolved and come up with the beautiful innovations and developments we have around today which are not just helping us to understand our world and environments better but also helping us to live a more fulfilling and comfortable life. The power of creation.
In the beginning God… – Genesis 1:1 There is no better way to begin this journey of exploring the people and entities in the Bible than to start with God….
In the beginning God…
– Genesis 1:1
There is no better way to begin this journey of exploring the people and entities in the Bible than to start with God. He is not just the beginning but is the origin of all things. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. He sees the end of everything from its beginning. That is why He is called the Omniscient, the all-knowing God.
He is also not just omniscient, He is likewise omnipotent, all-powerful, and omnipresent, He is everywhere and is ever present. He is God over all.
While our reference scripture today is about to start acquainting us with the history of creation, perhaps we can also borrow a leaf from it by consciously resolving to make God part of all our beginnings. That is by inviting Him into the foray before we start anything of note or surrendering all our new experiences, happenings, and developments to Him.
Doing this will not only ensure that we have a formidable ally on our side as we proceed in our various endeavors in life, but it will also guarantee that our works are sustainable and can stand the test of time.
Why is this so? The universe is believed to be about 13.8 billion years, while the Earth, the part of the universe where we humans live in, is believed to be about 4.54 billion years old. There is no other entity around older than the universe created by God. In the same way there is no other creature on Earth older than the Earth itself. It was the story of how the universe and the Earth came into being that we are about to read in Genesis 1, and they all started with, “in the beginning God…”
Therefore, God is the God of all beginnings. That we acknowledge Him or not in our beginnings does not remove Him from such beginning, it only deprives us of His partnership. The more reason we must deliberately invite Him before we start anything and consciously involve Him as we continue with them. Doing so does not increase His stature; it only enhances our chances of succeeding thereof.
Women in the Bible: A Paragon of Beauty - Exploring the Radiance, Influence, and Legacy of Abraham’s Wife
Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to dwell there, for the famine was severe in the land. And it came to pass, when he was close to entering Egypt, that he said to Sarai his wife, “Indeed I know that you are a woman of beautiful countenance. Therefore it will happen, when the Egyptians see you, that they will say, ‘This is his wife’; and they will kill me, but they will let you live. Please say you are my sister, that it may be well with me for your sake, and that I may live because of you.” – Genesis 12:10-13
The woman in the Bible whom we shall consider today is Sarah, the wife of Adam. Much has been said about Sarah’s virtues and qualities. She bested all other women before her in stature to be the first matriarch of note in the Bible. Of course, there were several women before her, but she was more prominent than they all. However, another side of Sarah that is often lost in the narratives about her is her comeliness. She was a paragon of beauty.
From the Bible passage we are considering today, we see how Abraham, in preparation to migrate to Egypt because of the famine ravaging the land of Canaan, prepped his wife as to how she would present herself to the Egyptians. The interesting thing about this is that Sarah was already in her mid-60s at this time. How did we know she was in her mid-60s? The Bible tells us in a later passage that she was 10 years younger than Abraham (Genesis 17:17). Also, Abraham left Haran for Canaan at age 75 (Genesis 12:4), stayed in Canaan for a while before the famine broke out, and he relocated to Egypt.
So, imagine how remarkably beautiful Sarah must have been that not only her husband, who was in his late 70s or early 80s, acknowledged her beauty at that advanced age, but even the courtiers of Egypt, the greatest nation of that time, also took notice of her charm and recommended her for Pharaoh, the undisputable leader of the world then, to marry. She must have been a stunner.
So it was, when Abram came into Egypt, that the Egyptians saw the woman, that she was very beautiful. The princes of Pharaoh also saw her and commended her to Pharaoh. And the woman was taken to Pharaoh’s house. He treated Abram well for her sake. He had sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male and female servants, female donkeys, and camels. – Genesis 12:14-16
It did not end there. Even when she was more advanced in age in her early 90s, Sarah was still an epitome of beauty, as the Egypt scenario played out again when she and her husband had to relocate to Gerar, and they had to lie again about her relationship to Abraham so that they could enjoy friendly reception, not to mention the fact that Abimelech, the king of Gerar also came for the hand of Sarah. Men could not resist the woman, and these were not men of small means. They were men with quality options.
And Abraham journeyed from there to the South, and dwelt between Kadesh and Shur, and stayed in Gerar. Now Abraham said of Sarah his wife, “She is my sister.” And Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah. – Genesis 20:1-2
Now, we do not know what kind of beauty treatments Sarah used to make her look so radiant, with a face and skin that were rare for anyone to miss. But from all indications, she was a paragon of beauty, and her beauty was not just in outward appearance alone; she was also beautiful inside. Moreover, her beauty was a leeway that paved the way for her family to be accepted in Egypt and a lifeline that helped them recoup some of the losses they might have incurred due to the famine in Canaan, as Pharaoh lavished Abraham with plenty gifts as a potential in-law.
Another lesson we can learn from God is His disposition to a balancing act. He is not a God of extremes. Even though some who profess to follow Him go to extremes in His name or make extreme claims on His behalf, extreme is not a label that one can pin on God. He balances the acts.
Understanding God: He is Not Moved by Sentiments
Another lesson we can learn from the personality of God is that sentiments do not move Him. Therefore, He cannot be deceived into making a wrong judgment or call, as humans tend to do.
Understanding God: He is A Creator
He is a Creator. This is not to be interpreted loosely, particularly in the light of our contemporary use of the word. God is the ultimate Creator, as He created all things, even the ends of the earth (Isaiah 40:28).
Understanding God: God of the Beginning
There is no better way to begin this journey of exploring the people and entities in the Bible than to start with God. He is not just the beginning but is the origin of all things.
Women in the Bible: A Paragon of Beauty
What made Sarah’s beauty so compelling that kings and nations took notice? Explore the deeper layers of grace, favour, and mystery surrounding one of Scripture’s most unforgettable women — and discover why her story still provokes wonder today.
Men in the Bible: A Man of Ambition and Adventure
Terah may not have reached Canaan, but his courage to start a life-changing journey laid the foundation for Abraham’s destiny. Discover how ambition and bold steps mark a life of significance.
Men in the Bible: An Impetuous and Impudent Man
A revealing glimpse into a man whose choices exposed deeper issues of character, showing how hastiness and entitlement can quietly shape a destiny, and why his story still speaks to us today.
Men in the Bible: A Man with Little Foresight
Sometimes what looks like a smart choice can hide the seed of a mistake. This reflection from Scripture invites us to think again about how foresight — or the lack of it — shapes a man’s story.
Men in the Bible: The First Man to Tithe
Before laws, temples, or traditions, one man honoured God with his substance. Abraham’s tithe was not commanded, demanded, or enforced. It flowed from reverence.
Fathers in the Bible: A Destiny-Shaping Father
What makes a man a truly aware father? Discover how one man’s prophetic foresight shaped his son’s destiny and changed generations forever.
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