WHEN GOD ISN’T SPECIFIC
The suggestion that Sarah came up with shocks us. But polygamy had been standard practice in Sarah’s background, and was widely practised in the culture in which she lived. Notice that Hagar the servant was selected for the task; she had been added to Abraham’s entourage when he was back in Egypt. Sometimes our deviations from the right path create more problems than might be obvious at first glance. If Abraham had not taken that terrible detour, there would have been no Hagar on the scene.
Notice too how Sarah justified her little plan. She blamed her lack of a child on God, not realising God was working to a different timetable. Not only is she like so many of us, who justify many of the things we do by insisting the Lord is somehow responsible, but there was an unfair indictment on God’s character here too.
Does this story sound familiar? Remember that when Satan tempted Eve, he did so by questioning the faithfulness and goodness of God. I can see a similar pattern in my own life. When life whispers that God is indifferent to my pain or that of others, or when I feel that He is endlessly rebuking me, I can lose hope, and then lose the clarity needed for the faith trek. When we lose hope, our commitment to holiness is likely to be eroded.
Once again Abraham assumes a passive role. Just as he apparently had made peace with the idea that Sarah could live in Pharoah’s harem, so he seems unwilling or unable to challenge Sarah’s thinking. Perhaps he found the opportunity for an affair with young Hagar (one sanctioned and indeed suggested by his wife!) too appealing to resist. Whatever the reason for his easy compliance, the results were terrible.