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.
Men in the Bible: A Man of Considerable Goodwill Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. And Ishmael his son was thirteen…
Men in the Bible: A Man of Considerable Goodwill – How leadership trust made obedience possible for an entire household
Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. That very same day Abraham was circumcised, and his son Ishmael; and all the men of his house, born in the house or bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him. – Genesis 17:24-27
Our meditation today shall center on the character of Abraham. He was a man of great and considerable goodwill. Why was this so?
When God told Abraham to circumcise himself and all males in his household as a sign of the covenant with Abraham and his descendants, Abraham was already 99 years old at this time. Imagine the kind of pain he must have endured for days, if not weeks, after cutting his foreskin. His whole body must have been shaking in pain, seeing that there were no pain relievers and anesthesia in those days.
As if that was not bad enough, God also asked Abraham to circumcise all the male members of his household as well. Imagine how easy it was for Abraham to inform his 13-year-old son, Ishmael, and the other male adults and youths in his house about what he was going to do to them. Circumstance them all by cutting off the foreskin of their penises. Even the most loyal of the men in his household must have been alarmed at the announcement.
On a good day, such an announcement was enough for all the males in the house to conspire to kill their master for what he was about to do to them, or, less extreme, they might have run away from the house and town to go settle down somewhere else.
However, interestingly, we did not find any account of such an occurrence. From the young Ishmael to all the male servants, everyone calmly waited their turn to be administered the painful cutting of circumcision. There was no complaint, no cursing, no revolt. Everyone cooperated and calmly endured the pain.
Let’s bear in mind that the circumcision was a sign of God’s covenant with Abraham and his children. There was no talk of the slaves and servants being partakers. So what might Abraham have told his staff to make them cooperate? That no one rebelled and rallied the others to resist the inhuman treatment Abraham was about to subject them all to.
If there is anything, this shows that Abraham had a considerable goodwill with his staff and members of his household, such that no one refuted him or rejected his overtures for them to be circumcised, but they all bore the pain with grace. If he did not enjoy goodwill in their eyes, it would have been difficult, if not impossible, for him to get them all to participate.
The esteem with which they all regarded him helped to make the exercise bearable and the experience less stressful for everyone, Abraham more than anyone, as he would be grappling with his own pain whilst trying to rally them for their own circumcision.
Men in the Bible: Cain – The Profile of A Fratricide Now Cain talked with Abel his brother; and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that…
Men in the Bible: Cain – The Profile of A Fratricide
Now Cain talked with Abel his brother; and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him. – Genesis 4:8
We are still exploring the character of Cain, the son of Adam and Eve. This term, we will be shining the spotlight on him as the first murderer and fratricide in recorded history, as seen in the Holy Bible.
Our meditation will not be on the details of his heinous act per se. Rather, we will try to explore the inner workings of his mind as they culminated into him deciding that taking someone else’s life was the best solution to calm his frayed nerves, something that no other person had done until then.
So, what could have led to Cain succumbing to the emotion that drove him to the edge? Let us examine some of the profiles below:
He was not rigorous
One of our early introductions to the person of Cain was when he was to offer a sacrifice to God. While we do not know the details of the sacrifice he offered, we know that he offered from his livestock, since he was a shepherd. We can also infer from the developments that followed the offering that Cain did not offer the same kind of quality sacrifice that his brother offered to God, and that was why he was rejected.
Now, how he picked which livestock he would offer to God betrayed that he was neither painstaking nor rigorous in his ways, and that would explain why he did not choose the choice ones among his animals as sacrifice to God.
This carefreeness on his part also betrayed a character flaw that later culminated in him committing a fratricide. Because he was not deliberate or painstaking in doing things, he also lacked the moral fortitude to control his emotions and deal with the anger and sorrow that were welling up in his heart.
Adam – A Man of Easy Persuasion So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable…
Adam – A Man of Easy Persuasion
So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, – Genesis 3:6-7
For someone whom we had earlier discussed as firm and resolute in his ways when considering his encounter with God during the partner searching episode, Adam proved to be a man of easy persuasion not many encounters later during his interaction with his wife, Eve, who got him to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil at the center of the garden.
Perhaps, some may be disappointed at Adam, and many still blame him to date, for easily succumbing to the request of his wife. From what we had earlier read, even Eve put up a semblance of resistance in her engagement with the serpent by trying to make it realize why they were not supposed to eat the fruit from that tree. However, immediately she took it for herself and ate, it was a no-brainer that Adam was going to follow suit.
It is pertinent to note that Adam was the one God expressly forbid not to eat from the fruits of both the tree of life as well as the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:15-16). There was no record of God telling the woman this as she was not around when God was making the garden and putting Adam in charge. This presupposes that Adam should have shown more responsibility in his stewardship of the first warning God communicated to him.
However, perhaps he felt more affinity towards the woman whom he spent more time with than God, or because the woman’s pressure proved too unbearable for him, we may never know. What we do know is that Adam allowed himself to be persuaded into fouling the instruction of God and acting in disobedience. And that proved costly not just for both of them, but for their offspring after them from that time onward.
By not demonstrating leadership in what he was persuaded to do by his partner or responsibility towards a charge God committed to him concerning the trees, Adam painfully failed his first test of obedience and leadership. By benefit of hindsight, he must have later learned that it was not everything his partner pressured him to do that he should do, particularly when such was in direct violation of the command of God. We live life forward, but learn it backward.
Men in the Bible: A 99-Year-Old in Great Pains and the Power of Forbearance
So Abraham took Ishmael his son, all who were born in his house and all who were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham’s house, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskins that very same day, as God had said to him. Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. – Genesis 17:23-24
Today, we will look at the exemplary forbearance of Abraham, such that at the ripe age of 99, he was still able to obey a very difficult instruction of God for Abraham to circumcise himself and all the male members of his household, freeborn or slave born.
To take their relationship to the next level and make it a generational institution, God needed to enter a covenant with Abraham, and the terms of that covenant involved the circumcision of the foreskin of Abraham and every male in his household.
Now, circumcision is not a fun thing to do for anyone at any age. It is a very painful process, as it involves cutting off the flesh. While it may be a less painful experience in this age due to advancements in medicine with anesthesia, pain relievers and other instruments in place to eliminate or reduce pains, this was not the case in Abraham’s time. Circumcision must have been done with crude, sharp tools that must have been very painful for anyone who was being circumcised.
However, even with a full knowledge of the kind of pain he would be subjecting himself to being circumcised at the age of 99, Abraham still obeyed God and went ahead to circumcise not just himself but the entire men under his roof. That was a classic case of forbearance. While the experience might have been easier on the younger males in his household, imagine the kind of pain Abraham’s 99-year-old body would be like after completing his circumcision.
His body would probably be shaking in pain from the experience. Such pains are enough to kill anyone at that age. The thought of it alone should have discouraged him, but Abraham went ahead with the plan and fulfilled it to the letter, his personal pains notwithstanding.
Abraham did not use the popular parlance that “wisdom is profitable to direct” to excuse himself from being circumcised alongside other members of his household. On the contrary, he led the line and did his own circumcision, thus leading by example.
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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