Stories from the Bible - Ep 3 Waiting for God to Keep His Promise (Genesis 16)

Episode Date: October 20, 2021

In the previous episode we heard how Adam and Eve wanted to decide for themselves what was right and wrong. They thought they could find good for themselves apart from what God told them, but guess what? Their actions did not bring anything good. Things went from bad to worse for the human race. God could have justifiably left humanity in the mess they'd made for themselves - but he didn't. He made some promises to a certain man that one day things would be better. But trusting God to keep his promises wasn't easy, as we find out in this episode. The Scriptures quoted are from the NET Bible® http://netbible.com copyright ©1996, 2019 used with permission from Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. All rights reserved

Beauty, perfection, desire, deception, rebellion, judgment, hope. You're listening to Stories from the Bible. Bible stories told in order, using the words of the Bible, with introductions to give a recap and provide context. At the end of each story, you might want to pause and take a moment to reflect on what you noticed in the story, things you liked or didn't like, something the story showed you about God or about people. Don't worry if not everything makes sense. Keep listening to each episode and sit with the journey.

I'm stoked to have you on the ride. Today is story number three. Before we begin today's story from the Bible, let's recap. In story one, we heard how God created the world. He made light, the sky, land, the plants, the seas, the sun, the moon, the stars, and all living creatures. Last of all, he made the man and woman in his image to rule over all the plants and animals and all of his creation. Everything was good and in perfect harmony and order, and the first man and woman, Adam and Eve, had everything they needed to be happy. But then, tragically,

they listened to the suggestion from the snake and chose to believe that God was not entirely good, that he was holding something back from them. They decided it would be a good thing to eat from the tree of knowledge, even though God had given them a direct command not to. They decided to go with what they thought was good, rather than trusting what God had told them was good. They rebelled against God as their ruler and, in essence, decided to rule their lives the way they wanted, following the rules they made up themselves. And their rebellion, surprise, surprise, did not bring anything good. It destroyed the peace they

had previously enjoyed between themselves and God. The perfect harmony between the man and the woman was broken, and the harmony between the humans and the rest of creation was also messed up. Death and brokenness entered the once very good world. Adam and Eve didn't immediately fall down dead. But like cut flowers that continue to bloom after they've been cut from the plant, which look alive but are actually dead because they've lost their source of life, Adam and Eve continued living for a time, but having cut themselves off from God the source of life, death was inevitably their reality. Adam and Eve had many children. One of their sons, Cain,

killed another of their sons, Abel. This was the first of many more acts of violence committed by humans. Generation followed generation, and evil and wickedness spread as people chose to ignore what God said. Eventually, God sent a great flood to wipe out humanity and start again with one man, Noah, who did listen to and follow God's words. Noah's sons had sons, and those sons had sons, and eventually there was a descendant called Abraham. Abraham lived in the land of Babylon, the country that we now know as Iraq. God said to Abraham, Leave your country, your people, and your father's household, and go to the land I will show you. I will bless you and make you into a great nation.

I will make you to be a blessing, and your name will be great. I'll bless those who bless you, and curse those who curse you, and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you. So Abraham obeyed. He took his family and all he owned and set out for the land of Canaan. At that time, he was about 75 years old. Today's story from the Bible begins here. When Abraham and his wife Sarah had been living in the land of Canaan for about 10 years, Sarah had still not had any children. But she had an Egyptian maidservant called Hagar Sarah said to Abraham

Look, since God has stopped me from having children You should go sleep with my servant Hagar Perhaps I can build a family through her And Abraham agreed with Sarah's plan. So Sarah took her servant Hagar, gave her to her husband Abraham, and Abraham slept with her. Hagar became pregnant. When she realized she was pregnant, Hagar began to despise her mistress Sarah. So Sarah said to Abraham, Abraham said, She's your servant. Do what you want with her.

So Sarah began to mistreat Hagar so that Hagar ran away into the desert. Now the angel of the Lord found Hagar near the spring on the way to Shur. And he said to her, Hagar, servant of Sarah, where have you come from? And where are you going? She said, And the angel said to her, And then he added, The angel of the Lord said to her, So she named the Lord who spoke to her,

That's why the well is called Be'er Lehar Roy. It's between Kadesh and Bered. So Hagar gave birth to Abraham's son. And Abraham named his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael. Abraham was 86 years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to him. The story ends here. Thanks for joining us for today's story. You can read it for yourself in Genesis 16.

Will the promises to Abraham come true? Stay with us to find out. You've been listening to Stories from the Bible. I'm Jen, and I look forward to sharing more stories with you. 한글자막 by 한효정