Do Not Depart

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Not-So-Happy Endings

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The story of Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar is the stuff of which Lifetime movies are made.   It’s a heartbreaking tale of what happens when we don’t rest our faith in the Lord but instead try to accomplish His plan through our means.

Perhaps it’s because I have made my own fair share of supremely bad choices but I always find myself drawn into Hagar’s part of the story.  I wonder what it must have been like for her … being a servant in the family of the man who was to be “father of nations.”   Was she captivated by the faith of Abraham?   Was she envious of the beauty of Sarah?  Did she jump at the chance to become her master’s concubine or did she feel used by the very idea?   Was her contempt of Sarah really jealousy in disguise?   How deep was her heartache at being sent away and knowing her son had been rejected by his own father?

So many of these questions will never have an answer, I suppose.  But I’m certain I am not alone in feeling a kinship with Hagar sometimes when life doesn’t end up quite like I had planned.   Today, let’s take a quick peek into Hagar’s story.   And perhaps we can learn what her greatest heartache must have been.

Sarah gave Hagar to Abraham in her own misguided attempt to fulfill the Lord’s promise to them for a child … and then when Hagar conceived, Sarah and Hagar had “issues.”   In fact, we find that Hagar “despised” Sarah (Genesis 16:4 NASB).  But Sarah responded in kind.  In Genesis 16:6 we find that Sarah “dealt harshly with her, and she fled from her” (ESV). This, however, is not the end of Hagar’s story, rather it is the beginning.

The angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur.  And he said, “Hagar, servant of Sarah, where have you come from and where are you going?”  She said, “I am fleeing from my mistress, Sarah.”  The angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress and submit to her.”  The angel of the Lord said to her, “I will surely multiply your offspring so that they cannot be numbered for multitude.” … So she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, “You are a God of seeing,”  for she said, “Truly here I have seen Him who looks after me.”  {Genesis 16:7-10, 13 ESV}

Hagar understood God’s promise to her.  In fact, she understood it so well that she is the first person mentioned in Scripture who gives God a name:  El Roi, the God who sees me.   And God’s promise to Hagar is the same as His promise to each of us today … He sees us.  When life is overwhelming, circumstances are frightening, and we feel as though we are slipping under the tides of sorrow and despair, El Roi remains faithful to us.

I don’t know where you are on this journey of motherhood but I know this:  God sees you!  And He is tenderly watching over you and your family.

Hagar’s story doesn’t have a happy ending.  Though she had heard from the Lord and acknowledged that He saw her, she never embraced Him as her own God, never developed a personal relationship with Him.  And yet, He is faithful, always.  Even when she was sent away again and left to die with her son Ishmael, the Lord spoke to her again and reminded her, “Fear not” (Genesis 21:17 ESV).

Ultimately we know this about Hagar, her son was also made a father of nations and his descendants are as numerous as the sands.  Yet, just as Ishmael lived in conflict with others, so his descendants, the Arabs, remain in turmoil to this day.  Hagar had a promise from God – that He saw her.  And yet she never embraced the God of that promise.

What about you?   Have you embraced not just the promises of God, but God Himself?   Do you have a living relationship with God of Life?  If you are unsure or unclear about what it means to have a relationship with God, please email me at scipturedig (at) comcast (dot) net.  I’d love to share with you how you know not just the promises of God but God Himself.

Mother of all the Living

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There’s a reason why little girls hoard stuffed animals, women want to hold babies, and stray puppies see a bulls-eye on a female of any age. In Genesis 3 God broke the news that life would be hard, even ugly, since God’s plan was rejected.  Adam had named Eve “woman,” because she was taken out of man (Genesis 2:23). After their sin, he gave his wife a new name:  “Eve,” meaning “Mother of all the living” (Genesis 3:20). This name means “life giver” and is a clue that all women would follow Eve as caretakers for life.  Our times pose challenges to this calling, but it’s more important than ever that, as women who follow Jesus, we love and look after “life.” 


In recent weeks we’ve watched people around the world and in our own nation experience profound suffering due to natural disasters. As the world groans, people need women to offer the kind of tender care woven into the fabric of who we’re created to be.


Recently, abortion rights language changed to “a woman’s right to reproductive health and a woman’s right to privacy.”  Some states have legalized assisted suicide. Legislation is underway to withdraw protection for end of life and beginning of life care. Privately, economic pressures have prompted increases in domestic violence. The greater the pain, the greater the need for the Eves of today to love and nurture life.

Google Imagesrture life.


Eve fell into the trap of questioning God’s goodness. The sin she shared with Adam trickled down quickly, as their own son Cain took the life of their Abel. Her mother’s heart, the heart of a life giver,  must’ve grieved for the lost life of her boy, but it must’ve also grieved for their sin that brought suffering into the world.  A close look into the eyes of those near us and into the images of destruction proves that natural disasters and personal needs stir the need for women to minister to the living.


Life in our world is under attack.  God loves life.  As Creator, life glorifies Him. Jesus conquered death to make way for life.  Our world must see that we not only love and value life, but we’re willing to step up and protect it. More than ever women of God, “Mothers of all the living,” need to be champions of life! 


How do Christian women deal with the causes of the ill, aged, unborn, suffering, and vulnerable?

  • Teach our daughters to love life; practice with her stuffed animal or that stray puppy.
  • Be an example of a woman who reaches out to the frail and physically weak.
  • Respond with love to needy children, hurting adults, and unwed or overwhelmed mothers.
  • Reach out to those affected by disaster.
  • Pray for our lawmakers, and voice your love of life when given opportunity.

Let’s ask God to use us to love life on His behalf, and be ready to act on that love.

How are you being a “life giver” to people near you?

Has God used a woman in your life to be a nurturer in your life?

God’s unchanging plans… and unexpected ways

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Christmas always hits me a little differently when I am pregnant. As I write this post I myself am nine months pregnant, feeling mysterious kicks and turns, anxious for my sweet baby’s arrival, dealing with the nagging anxiety that every expectant mother faces about what lies ahead. I frequently find myself wondering what that first Christmas was like for Mary – a young virgin in her teens, carrying the promised Redeemer, the Word in flesh, the God-man. What did she reflect on as she journeyed uncomfortably for days on the back of a donkey, heavy with the weight of the child in her womb, heavy with the weight of the responsibility entrusted to her? Did she share her ponderings with Joseph? Did she even know him that well? Was she afraid as she began to feel those first twinges of birth pangs? Did she weep in an unfamiliar town, on the floor of a dirty stable, without her mother or a female friend to comfort and counsel her through the overwhelming process of giving birth to her firstborn – the Son of God?

God’s plan to redeem the world from sin and death did not unfold as anyone might have expected. So today we ask along with Mary, “why?” Why the manger?

Throughout the Old Testament, God gives us glimpses of His unfolding plan. Back in the Garden of Eden, as the first man and his wife stood shameful and naked in their sin and receiving the worst news mankind would ever hear, God did not leave them hopeless – He promised a Redeemer: a seed of the woman who would crush the serpent and make everything right once again (Genesis 3:15). Adam and Eve just could not have understood the amazing intricacy of God’s plan and the depth of His love – God rarely does anything in the ways we expect.

Years later, one man named Abraham received an impossible three-fold promise from this Creator-God: Abraham, an elderly man without children to carry his name, would have unimaginable numbers of descendants who would form a great nation, God would give them a land to call their own, and through this people, all the nations of the world would be blessed (Genesis 12:1-3). Through this man and his family, God would bring the promised Redeemer, the Seed of Eve that had been promised many years before. God rarely does anything in the ways we expect.

God did give Abraham the child he had longed for. Isaac, named after the joy and disbelief-filled laughter of his parents, and those after him indeed became numerous. And once again, God did not form this great nation of promise in an expected way. He allowed them to be enslaved in a foreign country, despised and segregated from the surrounding culture, insulated to a great extent from outside influences as the generations flourished and became great in number. And in a way that only God could plan, He purchased them out of captivity and taught them vividly through the night of Passover that the only way of safety was to be marked with blood of a spotless lamb, to be set apart to Him alone.

To be continued…

The Idol of Perfection

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Let’s be honest, yesterday when you looked around the table, was it exactly everything you hoped it would be? Was everyone getting along perfectly? Did you have everyone you love around the table? I think everyone of us would have to say no. Sarah in Genesis chapter 21 had many things to be thankful for. The blessing of her long-awaited son Issac, a loving and devoted husband, a promise from God that her family would out number the stars in the sky. But she also  may have looked around her table and thought, “My life would be perfect if…”

How did Sarah get to that point? Let’s quickly review her story. Sarah was first named Sarai which means “to contend.” Her husband Abram (later Abraham) was called of God to father a great nation. Sarai was also part of this plan. God told Abram, “I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; you shall be a blessing” (Gen. 12:2). Because God promised Abram he would father a great nation, Sarai knew she would bear children. But years and years went by without an heir. Abram asked God if one born in his household would become his heir and not one actually born to him (Gen. 15:2). But God again said Abram would personally father a child and said, “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them… So shall your descendants be.” Because Sarai was still barren, she thought of a plan. If her handmaiden, Hagar, had a baby by Abram, the baby would also be Sarai’s. According to pastor and author John MacArthur, “Sarah apparently reasoned that since she owned Hagar, if Abraham fathered a child by Hagar, it would in effect be Sarah’s child.” But God designed marriage to be between one man and one woman. So this polygamy was sinful and would not have the outcome Sarai wanted. In fact, after Hagar conceived Ishmael, Sarai began to hate her (Gen. 16:4).

When we catch up to Sarah in chapter 21, God has blessed her with a son. Isaac, which means “he laughs,” was born to Sarah when Abraham was 100 years old. Sarah said, “God has made me laugh, and all who hear will laugh with me” (Gen. 21:6). Elizabeth George writes, “This definitely was an occasion for joy. Isaac was Sarah’s reward. He was the child of her own body, the child of her old age, the child of God’s promise, the fruit of tested faith, the gift of God’s grace, and the heaven-appointed heir.” But even in her joy, Sarah was bitter because of Hagar and Ishmael. And her bitterness ruined her joy. She may have thought, “My life would be perfect if only Hagar and Ishmael would just disappear. Sure it was my idea to make them part of our family, but now that I have Issac, I change my mind.”

How do we avoid the bitterness Sarah experienced? Don’t let your plan for perfection become an idol in your life.

When you look back at pictures from your Thanksgiving celebration, don’t dwell on what should have been or could have been. Focus on the blessings that were present. Don’t focus on the burned rolls; remember the joke your brother-in-law told that had everyone rolling. Don’t comment again to your husband that you can’t believe your sister would wear such an awful shirt; but be thankful your kids were able to hang out with their cousins (who they only see twice a year).

You must let go of your idea of perfection. Learn to appreciate, enjoy, love, and savor your reality. Remember, “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” 1 Thessalonians 5:18

Oh the Consequences!

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Consequence:  the effect, result, or outcome of something occurring earlier.

Looking back over my life I realize that seldom have I understood the full consequences of seemingly meaningless choices.  I could never have known how the poorly-considered decision to disregard truth about purity would lead to the most devastating event of my life just five years later.  But neither could I have begun to predict that the casual choice to attend a concert on June 12, 1995 would lead to a marriage that has now celebrated more than 14 years together.

“She took of its fruit and ate, and also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.” ~ Genesis 3:11 ESV

Such a tiny, little thing.  Something we do every day without a second thought … she ate and then she shared with the one beside her.  And yet that tiny, little thing had such consequences.  Not just in her life but in all our lives.   It wasn’t the bite … it wasn’t the sharing.  Those were outward.  The issue was the heart.  Both Eve’s and Adam’s.   The issue wasn’t about following the rules ~”Don’t eat from that tree.”  The issue was far deeper ~ They didn’t trust the nature of God and so they acted in opposition to it. {Read Kristi’s post yesterday for more on this idea of the deeper issue of sin.}


And because they … and we, every day since … chose opposition to God’s nature, sin, we live in the results, the consequences of that very choice. We have traded God’s nature for our own and in doing so have also made the following trades.

Trading Confidence for Shame

In the garden they walked with God, sharing an intimate, face-to-face relationship with Him.  They lived in the truth of being created in His image, unbroken fellowship with Him.   But after their choice, they hid from the God who called to them (Genesis 3:8-9).  Why?  Because they had given up the confidence they had in their relationship with God for shame.  Verse 7:  “Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked.  And they sewed fig leaves together and make themselves loincloths.”

“They knew that they were naked.”   This sentence speaks so clearly of the assurance Adam and Eve had in their relationship with God and with each other.   They had been unaware of and unashamed by their nakedness … What a vivid picture of trust.  We trade our confidence in God for shame before Him as a result of our sin.

Trading Love for Blame

Created specifically for each other, Adam and Eve enjoyed a communion with each other unlike any human relationship since.  A perfect love, fulfilling every description uttered in all of Scripture.  Likewise, they lived in the fullness of God’s love for them.

Until … “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate” (v. 12)  and “The serpent deceived me, and I ate” (v. 13).

Blame.  Oh that sad result of sin!  His fault, her fault.  Someone else’s fault.  In our culture refusing personal responsibility has become an art form.  “The victim mentality” has taken firm grasp on the hearts and minds of people – believers and unbelievers alike.  And we have even blamed God … “If God was really loving, He wouldn’t have …”

In our quickness to assign blame, we have lost the beauty of love. This kind of love:

Love never gives up.  Love cares more for others than for self.  Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.  Love doesn’t strut, Doesn’t have a swelled head, Doesn’t force itself on others, Isn’t always “me first,” Doesn’t fly off the handle, Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others, Doesn’t revel when others grovel, Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth, Puts up with anything, Trusts God always, Always looks for the best, Never looks back, But keeps going to the end.  ~ 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 MSG

Trading Wholeness for Pain

Unbroken communion with God, each other and all of creation.  That’s what they had. The only two humans to ever have experienced on earth what will be again in the new Jerusalem:

“Behold the dwelling place of God is with man.  He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be their with them as their God.  He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” ~ Revelation 21:3b – 4 ESV

This description of what will be in Heaven is also a description of what was in the Garden.  God dwelling with them, walking with them.  And yet, the choice to reject His nature led to this one devastating result –  life with pain. The spiritual pain of separation from God, the emotional and social pain of difficulty in human relationships, and the physical pain of hardships in all of life … The results of trading wholeness for pain.

It’s so easy to focus on the behaviors and outward consequences of sinful choices … But it is always those deep truths of the heart that bear the deepest wounds of sin’s results.   How I pray that I’ll be always mindful of the sorrow-filled results of trading an obedient, G0d-seeking heart for a sinful, God-rejecting one.

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