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.
God of Foresight So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. – Genesis 1:27 Foresight is…
God of Foresight
So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. – Genesis 1:27
Foresight is another attribute of God that we will reflect on today. Upon deciding to create humans in His image and likeness, He also knew that He must factor in the ability to reproduce after their kinds in them; hence, His creating them male and female.
There has been much debate about the origin of humans, where from and how we originated as well as how humans were able to procreate if it was only the family of Adam and Eve that were the first set of humans. This piece is not about to join that debate or attempt to throw any light on it. Our focus today is only on the depth of thinking of God which accounted for how He factored gender into the equation when He was creating humans and other mammals.
With foresight, God knew that even though He was making creatures that would need to reproduce themselves, that would have been impossible if He did not embed a reproductive system in them which would help them to procreate and fulfill His design for them to be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth.
With foresight, God also knew that without this reproductive system in humans and other mammals, He would need to be creating them over and over again in order for them to increase; whereas, with a reproductive system, it would be easy for them to produce on their own with little or no assistance.
Foresight distinguishes the output of those that think before they start something from those who do not. It also plays a large role in determining the quality and sustainability of an entity. You just need to check out the universe and the living creatures that God had made from the beginning to see the important role foresight plays in quality and sustainability. Even with adverse climate, there have been more survivors among the creatures of God than those that went extinct.
If you also consider the physical outlook of the creatures, they keep looking finer and better as against worse with the turn of the ages. That is what working with the future in mind does for you. It helps to prepare for contingencies before they arise and to have plans in place to address them without adversely affecting the operations. Our God is a God of foresight.
Understanding God: The God of New Identity Then Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying: “As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you…
Understanding God: The God of New Identity
Then Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying: “As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. – Genesis 17:3-6
The attribute of God for our meditation today is His tendency to change the name of or ascribe a new identity to those with whom He has dealings in line with His plan for them. This is a practice that occurred a number of times in the Bible, but it began with Abram, whom God renamed Abraham.
After years of relationship between the two of them, God finally decided that He was ready to take Abram to the next level. For many years, Abram had been without a child, and when he eventually had his first child at the age of 86, it was an arrangement between him and his wife, as God was not involved in their design to have a child through the maidservant.
Therefore, when God was ready to fulfill His promise to Abram, the first thing He communicated to him was the new identity He was conferring on him. He changed his name from Abram, which means ‘a father,’ to Abraham, ‘a father of nations.’ The reason for this is that God, who knows the significance of names, wanted the new identity to sink into Abraham’s consciousness. By hearing himself being called and addressed as a father of nations, Abraham would naturally believe it, behave it, carry and comport himself in manners befitting his new identity.
There are a number of other individuals in the Bible whose identities God also changed based on His encounter with them, as well as His plan and purpose for their lives. He is a God who elevates the profiles of the people He chooses, and one of the ways He does that is by either giving them a new name or a new brand identity different from the ones they were hitherto known by or associated with.
He has not stopped doing this. He still changes people’s names and offers them a new brand identity to this day.
Understanding God: He is Quick and Dispassionate Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he…
Understanding God: He is Quick and Dispassionate
Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”— therefore the Lord God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life. – Genesis 3:22-24
The way God dealt with Adam and Eve on account of their fall, even after just attending to their welfare by clothing them, reveals another of His personality traits. He is quick in action and dispassionate in His dealings.
After ensuring that Adam and his wife were adequately clothed and protected from whatever hazard they could face by having their bodies exposed, God wasted no time in removing the couple from the garden immediately after. Why did He do this? Because He did not want them to go ahead and eat the fruit of the Tree of Life, as that would be more disastrous than them eating from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.
Eating from the fruit of the Tree of Life would make Adam and Eve, and perhaps their descendants, immortal. In their fallen state, this would have had far-reaching effects and distorted the agenda of God for humankind, as He had an ultimate plan of enjoying everlasting fellowship with humans in an innocent state, whereas no unholiness can stand in His sight.
Therefore, to prevent humans from self-sentencing themselves to a lifetime of impurity, God wasted no time banishing them from the Garden of Eden. He did not wait to legislate to see if they had really changed and might not repeat their mistake with the Tree of Life. He does not take such chances.
He also did not want to start considering the pros and cons of their remaining in the garden or being evicted from it. He knew what the odds were and so took a dispassionate decision to remove the couple from the garden, He also set an angel by the entrance to guard the garden in case they wanted to sneak in.
This scenario underscores the quick wit of God and His impassive disposition to matters, even when His love and affection remain unchanged. The way He dealt in the affairs of Adam and Eve was quick, decisive, and dispassionate. Leaving them in the garden could lead to unwanted consequences and He would not have that, so He did something about it.
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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