Daily Thought

The psalmist tells us that ‘as for God, his way is perfect’, Ps. 18. 30, but we cannot always see the perfection of His plan for our lives. Sometimes we have to exclaim, ‘Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself, O God of Israel, the Saviour’, Isa. 45. 15, and this only serves to emphasize that ‘we walk by faith, not by sight’, 2 Cor. 5. 7.

Abraham did not doubt the promise of God that ‘in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed’, Gen 12. 3, and had been assured that ‘he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir’, Gen. 15. 1-4. But Sarah was barren, and since, in any case, she had not been named as the mother of the promised heir, the birth of Ishmael seemed the logical answer to God’s promise. It was thirteen years later (compare Genesis chapter 16 verse 16 with chapter 17 verse 1) that God told Abraham that a son would be born to Sarah, and emphasized it by repetition, ‘I will bless her and she shall be a mother of nations Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee’, vv. 16, 19, 21. After all those long and painful years, Abraham could now see God’s perfect will! He saw it on earth and in time; we may have to wait until heaven and eternity.

But the narrative does suggest that Abraham still had some difficulty in accepting that Ishmael was not the promised heir; ‘And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee!’. After all, ‘shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear?’. But God was gracious to his elderly servant, and there was no recrimination when the promise was reiterated, ‘and God said, Nay, but Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son’, v. 19 RV.

There is another way of looking at Abraham’s prayer, ‘O that Ishmael might live before thee!’. He had just received a wonderful promise from God. Against all odds, Sarah was to bear a son, and in his joy, Abraham could have completely overlooked the welfare of Ishmael. But there was no selfishness in Abraham. There was none in the Lord Jesus: He was the perfect example of the exhortation, ‘Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others’, Phil. 2. 4-8. There should be no selfishness in our prayers either.