January 9, 2022: Hagar and Ishmael Not Forgotten Sunday School Lesson
Injustice and Hope - Genesis 21:8-20 Standard Lesson Commentary
Staying faithful when everything is going well for us is easy. But staying faithful to God in turbulent times, as we find Abraham doing in our lesson this week is hard. His wife and her handmaid were quarreling with each other, and Abraham’s heart was torn between the two sons he had, Ishmael and Isaac. Our lesson this week shows how God can use strife-ridden situations and turn them around for any chosen and faithful person. Abraham is that person in our lesson.
PRACTICAL POINTS FOR DISCUSSION:
1. God can use any of our emotions to complete His plans, even anger (Genesis 21:8-10).
2. Serving God in obedience does not mean we won’t show normal emotions (Genesis 21:11-13).
3. God’s will often requires doing the hard thing and leaving the results to Him (Genesis 21:14).
4. Being under God’s protection does not guarantee the absence of suffering (Genesis 21:15-16).
5. God answers those who cry out to Him and rescues them in His time and in His way (Genesis 21:17-18).
6. God remembers and keeps His promises even when men do not remember them (Genesis 21:19-20; see also Genesis 16:11-21).
In this lesson, we have seen how Abraham’s life turned around when he chose to obey God under all circumstances and realized that His plans for him were best. God has special plans for each of us. When we look to God, we will see that He can take our worst situations and use them for our good and for His glory (see Romans 8:28).
Hagar and Ishmael Are Sent Away
8 When Isaac grew up and was about to be weaned, Abraham prepared a huge feast to celebrate the occasion. 9 But Sarah saw Ishmael—the son of Abraham and her Egyptian servant Hagar—making fun of her son, Isaac.[a] 10 So she turned to Abraham and demanded, “Get rid of that slave woman and her son. He is not going to share the inheritance with my son, Isaac. I won’t have it!”
11 This upset Abraham very much because Ishmael was his son. 12 But God told Abraham, “Do not be upset over the boy and your servant. Do whatever Sarah tells you, for Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted. 13 But I will also make a nation of the descendants of Hagar’s son because he is your son, too.”
14 So Abraham got up early the next morning, prepared food and a container of water, and strapped them on Hagar’s shoulders. Then he sent her away with their son, and she wandered aimlessly in the wilderness of Beersheba.
15 When the water was gone, she put the boy in the shade of a bush. 16 Then she went and sat down by herself about a hundred yards[b] away. “I don’t want to watch the boy die,” she said, as she burst into tears.
17 But God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven, “Hagar, what’s wrong? Do not be afraid! God has heard the boy crying as he lies there. 18 Go to him and comfort him, for I will make a great nation from his descendants.”
19 Then God opened Hagar’s eyes, and she saw a well full of water. She quickly filled her water container and gave the boy a drink.
20 And God was with the boy as he grew up in the wilderness. He became a skillful archer,
Ronald Jasmin Assistant Pastor of Corona Baptist Church in Mt Juliet, TN and Cornelius Hill Pastor of Ephesian Primitive Baptist Church Nashville, TN Christian Business Connection
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