Ishmael and Jacob . . . The New and the Old

So, before you start reading, let me give you a forewarning. This post is more of a writing just to get down a bunch of stuff that is in my head. I've recently read about Hagar giving birth to Ishmael, Sarah's birth of Isaac, and the consequent kicking out of Hagar and Ishmael. However, as the Old Testament is stuffed with symbolism tighter than my dad's belt after Thanksgiving dinner, we see that Ishmael and Isaac represent the old and new nature of the believer. Hagar symbolizes the working out of our salvation through works (Abram thought He could "help" God with His promise by having a son with Hagar) while Sarah symbolizes our salvation through faith in Jesus. All this is great, but leads to much theologicalizing (ya, that's a word now) when we see Hagar and Ishmael getting the boot after the birth of Isaac.

First, we see that the old self cannot live with the new. Genesis 21:9 states, "And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian . . . mocking [Jacob]." Galatians 4:29 tells us that Ishmael actually persecuted Jacob, which could mean that Ishmael may have wanted to even kill Jacob. We further see this when Sarah asks Abraham to "cast out this bondwoman and her son" - Genesis 21:10. Simply put, we must "cast out" our old nature and put all of our faith in Jesus and the Cross, not in what we can do ourselves.

However, I am not some high and mighty Christian just telling you to do this because Bible says so. The Bible itself tells us this is difficult to do: "And the thing was very grievous to Abraham's sight because of his son" - Gen. 21:11. The casting out of this bondage, that is salvation by works, can be very difficult, but God can never accept that which is the fruit of our own planning.

Finally, it is no wonder how, after Abraham casts out that was the fruit of his own efforts, (salvation through works) that Abimelech (the worldly/earthly/secular king of the region) came to Abraham. Abraham then settled a dispute over the ownership of a well, a major possession in those days. His dispute with the king was settled as Abimelech acknowledged Abraham's ownership of the well, he no longer needed to fear the king, and, in fact, 21:34 says, "And Abraham sojourned in the Philistine's land many days [in fact, until he died]. When we cast out our flesh, our personal abilities, strength, and effort, we need not fear whatever Abimelech may symbolize for us. We can then live in that land, in peace, for "many days."

FUN FACT!!!! Isaac is a type of the Christ. Isaac's name means "laughter:" that is, blessing, life, well-being, increase, healing. And since Isaac was a picture of Christ, we can see a name for Him as "laughter" as well.

OTHER FUN FACT! Genesis 21:21 - "And he [Ishmael] dwelt in the wilderness of Paran: and his mother took him a wife out of the land of Egypt." This is the beginning of the Arab people, that is, the nation that was promised by God to come from Ishmael. These people compose much of the Muslim population of the world today.

Sharing - Our 2nd Greatest Weapon

When we have questions, problems, or struggles, our greatest strength and hope come from God's great love for us. After all, we can cast all our anxiety on God because He cares for us (I Peter 5:7) and we can cast our burden on God, knowing His promises that He will sustain us and that He will not allow a righteous man (a man who finds his righteousness in God) to be moved.

However, one of Satan's tactics against us is convincing us that we can not, or should not, tell others about what we are dealing with. This is ridiculous. As Christians, we have a family of believers that are ready to talk to and pray for us whenever we need it. Everyone deals with questions, problems, and struggles in their life and in their faith, but so few seem willing to talk about them. God is our greatest source of help, but at times His source of help is those around us. So don't be shy, embarrassed, or concerned about what others think. When you open up, you may find yourself surprised at who has gone through similar situations and is ready and willing to impart a little knowledge to you.

So my challenge is to be open about your struggles. Ask the hard questions. Find someone; a parent, friend, teacher, or pastor to talk to. Heck, email, call, text, or talk to me - I would LOVE to help you out! Don't let Satan fool you into thinking you have to put on a fake front or everyone will think you're a horrible Christian. I can't speak for all, but I, personally, have respect for those who are willing to stop attempting to put on a fake bravado and be open and honest about what they deal with. No problem is too big or too "personal." "The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective" (James 5:16). The prayer of many righteous men can't hurt. Please share, you don't have to do it alone!

Pride

It is interesting to me that you can't spell the word "pride" without the letters D, I, and E. Pride can lead to death, both in a physical and spiritual sense. But pride is also something that needs to be killed in us. That little (or big) part of us that wants to do things, not because it is what God would have us do, but rather because we think someone will notice us (even a cute girl/guy if we're lucky). But pride is also something I have been thinking about lately and was even more confirmed when brought up to me by a co-worker. Pride is something I realize I need to work on. Far too often I find myself wanting to do the right thing, but for the completely wrong reasons. Maybe you can connect; if so, great! Maybe we can talk about it sometime :) If not, that's awesome too; I'm glad you do not struggle with it. One of the biggest challenges I have had is during a morning devotional here at camp. Our chaplain for the week read from the beginning of I Corinthians 13, where Paul writes about how our actions, and even faith, are meaningless if we do not have love. Everything we do needs to be done out of love. And doing everything out of love means sacrificing any selfish reasons we may have for doing said action in the first place. And the crucifying of this selfish nature is the eliminating of pride. I need to make some changes. But you know what? When God asks us to make changes, we can be confident it is out of love. Because even if I can't do a single thing out of love for God, everything He does is out of His love for me and others. What a wonderful thing!!!!

Quit Trying

When was the last time the soundest advice you heard on a subject was "quit trying?" Well, that's exactly what it was for me after a talk with my dad a couple weeks ago. You see, I had gotten caught in the trap that far too many Christians fall into. I had a problem and I was trying to get out of it. I thought I needed to trust God more, you know, have some more of that F-word we're all so keen on. So I thought if I read the Bible and saw where God could be trusted that I could muster up enough to move on . . . too bad it didn't work that way. I was trying so hard to do (and do it myself) what I thought God wanted me to do. But then I received some interesting advice: "Quit trying." It still seems weird to me, but it also has appeared to be Biblically sound. I needed to quit trying so hard to do things myself and allow God to show me His faithfulness and show me that I could trust Him. It seemed weird to me at first, even wrong, but the Bible is FILLED with examples of God proving his faithfulness and love to people. He showed it to Moses (before and after the Exodus), the 1st gen. of Israelites, Joshua, the 2nd gen. of Israelites, Noah, everyone Christ provided miracles for, and the list goes on. I needed to quit trying. We don't have to become superChristians that build ourselves up to God's standards. We can let God show Himself to us and build us in our faith through how He provides for us. The most basic of all Christian commandments, loving God, can only be done because of what God did for us first - I John 4:19 "We love BECAUSE He first loved us."  It's not hypocritical or blasphemes; it's letting God be the center of our faith . . . and sometimes that seems weird for us in a culture where we've moved so far away from it. 

If You Don't Want to Think, Don't Read This

Where does your joy come? Ok, now that you've given yourself the Christian answer of "my joy is in Christ," I want you to think about it. Why do you have joy in Christ? I would guess that about 100% of you (and that might be an understatement), when you really think about it, will realize that your joy comes from your circumstances, or "more Christianly," from what God had blessed you with. I know that is what it was like for me. I had joy in what God had given me, but when God took that, where was I left? So now that you're spiritual mind is running at about 3000 RPM, we can move on.

True joy, true fulfillment and contentment, comes from the development of Christ-like character in us. Remember the beatitudes; remember how you can re-phrase them to "happy are the meek, poor in spirit, etc?" Well, who was the gold standard for all those things -- Jesus was. So, if you are happy in your circumstance, or in what God has blessed you with, good for you. But ask yourself the question. If God all of a sudden took these things away, would I still be happy? I'm afraid the scary answer for most of us would be "no" because we think that the "joy of Christ" is those things. Focus on letting God develop what He wants within you and let true joy, contentment, and fulfillment flow from that. Can't say I've experienced it yet, but God is working it in me.

Trusting in His love and goodness,
Alex

Interesting Thought

So, for a camp thing, we all watched a movie called "Magdalena." Basically, it is the Gospel story told with Mary Magdalen as the narrator and is shown in Muslim countries where women are oppressed and mistreated because of the Islamic faith. But one thing I noticed was when Mary (not Magdalen) was told she was pregnant with Jesus. The interesting thing is that she was told her sister had also become pregnant through God and was 6 months into the pregnancy. Why did this happen? I think it shows something of God proving Himself to Mary in a situation where He was telling her something that was hard to believe and comprehend. And not because He had to, but because He chose to. Throughout the Bible, we see multiple examples of God proving Himself to people, rather than having them blindly trust Him, which He has every right to do. He proved Himself to the Israelites (over and over); He proved Himself when He called Nathaniel under the fig tree and He proves Himself in creation. God doesn't just tell us how powerful He is, He proves it to us. I see a God who is willing to prove Himself to us when we need it. Are there times when He calls us to have a faith or do things without any extra proving - I think yes. But is He above proving Himself to us at other times? Absolutely not.

Doing It For God's Glory

"Do everything for God's glory," "Do everything for God." These are all things we hear, maybe on a daily basis. Are they biblical (and therefore true)? Yes. But what does it really mean? What does it mean that we were created for God's glory? These are questions that I have been probed to investigate and work on. Do I have the answer yet? No. But I do have a few initial thoughts that may differ from what we normally hear. 


First of all, I had to deal with the sense that these truths made it seem as if God was selfish. Well, God's not! God is holy and perfect. NOTHING we can do can bring God more glory. Nothing us imperfect, sinful, righteousness-as-of-filthy-rags humans can do can make God more holy, glorious, and perfect. You can not do enough for God!!!! I'm sorry if that has been your life goal, to do enough for God, but you cannot! What Jesus did for YOU is what makes you righteous in God's eyes. Jesus is our advocate, and He intercedes for us before God. You cannot do enough for God; you deserve hell and nothing less and it is what God did for you that makes what you deserve the opposite of what you receive. 


And that leads to the second thing. We cannot lose track of what God wants to do for us. To be a Christian simply for the things God can give you is wrong, but we cannot lose track of God's awesome love for us that wants the best life possible for us. God WANTS to bless you and lavish His love on you. Please don't lose track of that and become a Christian self-deniest that shuns away all blessing because "you live for God." 

"If we were not allowed to speak of what we value and celebrate what we love and praise what we admire, our joy would not be full. Therefore, if God is truly for us, if he would give us the best and make our joy full, he must make it his aim to win our praise for himself. Not because he needs to shore up some weakness in himself or compensate for some deficiency, but because he loves us and seeks the fullness of our joy that can only be found in knowing and praising him, the most beautiful of all beings.

God is the one Being in all the universe for whom seeking his own praise is the ultimately loving act. For him self-exaltation is the highest virtue. When he does all things "for the praise of his glory" as Ephesians 1 says, he preserves for us and offers to us the only thing in all the world which can satisfy our longings. God is for us, and therefore has been, is now, and always will be, for himself." 

By the way, I didn't say or think of that . . . John Piper did in a sermon in August 1980. That'll mean something to some of you.