The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 10: Hagar and Ishmael (2022)

Episode Date: January 10, 2022

Fr. Mike reads Genesis 20-21, Job 9-10, and Proverbs 2:6-8 and shows us how we can strive for holiness, even in the midst of sin and suffering. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

Hi, I'm Father Mike Schmitz, and you're listening to the Bible in a Year podcast, where we encounter God's voice and live life through the lens of Scripture. The Bible in a Year podcast is brought to you by Ascension. Using the Great Adventure Bible Timeline, we'll read all the way from Genesis to Revelation, discovering how the story of salvation unfolds and how we fit into that story today. This is day 10, so let's get started. Today, we'll be reading from Genesis chapter 20 and chapter 21. We'll also be reading Job chapter 9 and chapter 10, and we'll dip back into Proverbs, Proverbs chapter 2, verses 6 through 8.

As you know, the Bible translation that I'm reading is the Revised Standard Version, Catholic edition. I'm using the Great Adventure Bible from Ascension. It's just fantastic. All the notes, especially as we journey through the narrative books and how everything fits together, there's some fantastic notes in the Great Adventure Bible from Ascension that is just super helpful. Also, regardless of what Bible you are using, if you want a Catholic Bible in a Year reading plan so you can see it and follow along and know what's coming up in the future, you can visit ascensionpress.com slash Bible in a Year reading plan so you can see it and follow along and know what's coming up in the future. You can visit ascensionpress.com slash Bible in a Year for this podcast. You can probably subscribe. That way you'll get an alert every single day when this podcast gets uploaded and also for more alerts. If you want to sign up for our email list, you can text the word Catholic

Bible. It's really two words, but we combine them together. All one word, Catholic Bible, to the number 33777. As I said, today we're going to be reading Genesis chapter 20 and chapter 21, the story of Abraham and Sarah at Gerar, the birth of Isaac, and the dramatic story of Hagar and Ishmael. Genesis chapter 20, chapter 21. From there, Abraham journeyed toward the territory of the Negev and dwelt between Kadesh and Shur, and he sojourned in Gerar. And Abraham said to Sarah, his wife,

she is my sister. And Abimelech, the king of Gerar, sent and took Sarah. But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night and said, behold, you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is a man's wife. Now Abimelech had not approached her. So he said, Lord, will you slay an innocent people? Did he not himself say to me, she is my sister. And she herself said, he is my brother. In the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands, I have done this.

Then God said to him into the dream, yes, I know that you have done this in the integrity of your heart, and it was I who kept you from sinning against me. Therefore I did not let you touch her. Now then, restore the man's wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you, and you shall live. But if you do not restore her, know that you shall surely die, you and all that are yours. So Abimelech rose early in the morning and called all his servants and told them all these things. And the men were very much afraid. Then Abimelech called Abraham and said to him, what have you done to us? And how have I sinned against you that you have brought on me and my kingdom a great sin? You have done to me things that ought

not to be done. And Abimelech said to Abraham, what were you thinking of that you did this thing? Abraham said, I did it because I thought there is no fear of God at all in this place and they will kill me because of my wife. Besides, she indeed is my sister, the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother. And she became my wife. And when God caused me to wander from my father's house, I said to her, this is the kindness you must do to me. At every place to which we come, say of me, he is my brother. Then Abimelech took sheep and oxen and male and female slaves and gave them to Abraham and restored Sarah, his wife to him. And Abimelech said, behold, my land is before you dwell where it pleases you. To Sarah, he, Behold, I have given your brother a

thousand pieces of silver. It is your vindication in the eyes of all who are with you, and before every one you are righted. Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, and also healed his wife and female slaves, so that they bore children. For the Lord had closed all the wombs of the house of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham's wife. The Lord visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did to Sarah as he had promised. And Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the time of which God had spoken to him. Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore him, Isaac. And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old as God had commanded him.

Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. And Sarah said, God has made laughter for me. Everyone who hears will laugh over me. And she said, who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would suckle children? Yet I have born him a son in his old age. And the child grew and was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. But Sarah saw the son of Hagar, the Egyptian, whom she had born to Abraham, playing with her son Isaac. So she said to Abraham, Cast out this slave woman with her son, for the son of this slave woman shall not be heir with my son Isaac. And the thing was very displeasing to Abraham on the count of his son. But God said to

Abraham, be not displeased because of the lad and because of your slave woman. Whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for through Isaac shall your descendants be named. And I will make a nation of the son of the slave woman also because he is your offspring. So Abraham rose early in the morning and took bread and a skin of water and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder along with the child and sent her away. And she departed and wandered in all the wilderness of Beersheba. When the water in the skin was gone, she cast the child under one of the bushes. Then she went and sat down over against him a good way off about the distance of a bow shot. For she said, Let me not look upon the death of the child.

And as she sat over against him, the child lifted up his voice and wept. And God heard the voice of the lad, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, What troubles you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the lad where he is. Arise, lift up the lad and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make him a great nation. Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water, and she went and filled the skin with water and gave the lad a drink. And God was with the lad, and he grew up.

He lived in the wilderness and became an expert with the bow. He lived in the wilderness of Paran, and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt. At that time, Abimelech and Phechol, the commander of his army, said to Abraham, God is with you in all that you do. Now, therefore, swear to me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me or with my offspring or with my posterity, but as I have dealt loyally with you, you will deal with me and with the land where you have sojourned.

And Abraham said, I will swear. When Abraham complained to Abimelech about a well of water which Abimelech's servants had seized, Abimelech said, I do not know who has done this thing. You did not tell me and I have not heard of it until today. So Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech, and the two men made a covenant. Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock apart, and Abimelech said to Abraham, What is the meaning of these seven ewe lambs which you set apart? He said, These seven ewe lambs you will take from my hand,

that you may be a witness for me that I dug this well. Therefore that place was called Beersheba, because there both of them swore an oath. So they made a covenant at Beersheba. And Abimelech and Phechol, the commander of his army, rose up and returned to the land of the Philistines. Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba and called there on the name of the Lord, the everlasting God. And Abraham sojourned many days in the land of the Philistines. Job chapter 9 and chapter 10. Job replies to Bildad. Then Job answered, Truly I know that it is so, but how can a man be just before God? If one wished to contend with him, one could not answer him once in a thousand times.

He is wise in heart and mighty in strength, who has hardened himself against God and succeeded. He who removes mountains and they know it not, when he overturns them in his anger, who shakes the earth out of its place and its pillars tremble, who commands the sun and it does not rise, who seals up the stars, who alone stretched out the heavens and trampled the waves of the sea, who made the bear and Orion, the Pleiades and the chambers of the south, who does great things beyond understanding and marvelous things without number. Behold, he passes by me and I see him not. He moves on, but I do not perceive him. Behold, he snatches away. Who can hinder him? Who will say to him, what are you doing? God will not turn back his anger. Beneath him bowed the helpers of Rahab. How then can I answer him, choosing my words with him? Though I am innocent,

I cannot answer him. I must appeal for mercy to my accuser. If I summoned him and he answered me, I would not believe that he was listening to my voice, for he crushes me with a tempest and multiplies my wounds without cause. He will not let me get my breath, but fills me with bitterness. If it is a contest of strength, behold him. If it is a matter of justice, who can summon him? Though I am innocent, my own mouth would condemn me. Though I am blameless, he would prove me perverse. I am blameless. I regard not myself. I loathe my life. It is all one. Therefore I say, he destroys both the blameless and the wicked. When disaster brings sudden death, he mocks at the calamity of the innocent. The earth is given into the hand of the wicked. He covers the face of its judges.

If it is not he, then who is it? My days are swifter than a runner. They flee away. They see no good. They go by like skiffs of reed, like an eagle sweeping up on the prey. If I say, I will forget my complaint, I will put off my sad countenance and be of good cheer, I become afraid of all my suffering. For I know you will not hold me innocent. I shall be condemned. Why then do I labor in vain? If I wash myself with snow and cleanse my hands with lye, yet you will plunge me into the pit and my own clothes will abhor me. For he is not a man as I am, that I might answer him, that we should come to trial together. There is no umpire between us,

who might lay his hand upon us both. Let him take his rod away from me, and let not dread of him terrify me. Then I would speak without fear of him, for I am not so in myself. I loathe my life. I will give free utterance to my complaint. I will speak in the bitterness of my soul. I will say to God, do not condemn me. Let me know why you contend against me. Does it seem good to you to oppress, to despise the work of your hands and favor the designs of the wicked? Do you have eyes of flesh? Do you see as man sees? Are your days as the days of man or your years as man's years? That you seek out my iniquity and search for my sin,

although you know I am not guilty and there is none to deliver out of your hand. Your hands fashioned and made me and now you turn about and destroy me. Remember that you have made me out of clay and will you turn me and destroy me? Remember that you have made me out of clay, and will you turn me to dust again? Did you not pour me out like milk and curdle me like cheese? You clothed me with skin and flesh. You knit me together with bones and sinews. You have granted me life and mercy, and your care has preserved my spirit. Yet these things you hid in your heart,

I know that this was your purpose. If I sin, you mark me and do not acquit me of my iniquity. If I am wicked, woe to me. If I am righteous, I cannot lift up my head for I am filled with disgrace and look upon my affliction. And if I lift myself up, you hunt me like a lion and again work wonders against me. You renew your witnesses against me and increase your vexation toward me. You bring fesh hosts against me. Why did you bring me forth from the womb? Would that I had died before any eye had seen me and were as though I had not been carried from the womb to the grave. Are not the days of my life few? Let me alone that I may find a little comfort

before I go from where I shall not return to the land of gloom and deep darkness, the land of gloom and chaos, where light is as darkness. Proverbs chapter 2 verses 6 through 8. For the Lord gives wisdom. From his mouth come knowledge and understanding. He stores up sound wisdom for the upright. He is a shield to those who walk in integrity, guarding the paths of justice

and preserving the way of his saints. Father in heaven, we give you praise and glory. Thank you so much for your word. Oh my gosh, Lord, you work your wonders. You are so mysterious in how you reveal yourself to us. Once again, Father, you have revealed to us the way in which you work through brokenness. You work through people who are fickle. You work for the ways that we try to get out of things and the ways that we try to just understand your will, your heart. You are more than we ever could imagine. You are more than we ever could understand or grasp or hope for or long for, but you are God, living and true, and so we thank you for sharing your word with us today. Help us to understand your word, to receive it,

to receive the parts that are hard to understand and to allow our lens to be shaped by your revelation, by the revelation of your heart working in our lives this day. In Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen. In the name of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Amen. So they call Abraham the father of the faith,

the father of our faith. In fact, not only our Jewish brothers and sisters, but also in the catechism of the Catholic church, there's a whole section on prayer where it refers to Abraham as the father of faith. And yet, what do we see in so many of these early stories about the life of Abraham? We do see him walking in faith, but we also see him faltering in faith, right? We see him walking

in faith where, yes, he submits to the circumcision, he enters into the covenant with the Lord God, but also on at least two occasions now, when he went to Egypt and now with Abimelech, Abraham seems to kind of falter in his courage. He seems to falter in his faith where he passes off Sarah as his sister, or as I guess we'll say now merely his sister and not also his wife twice out of fear. And there's something that really is true when it comes to following after the Lord. It is so often that we can be walking in faith like nine times out of 10 that's doing well and just choosing the Lord. And then that one time, that one time out of 10, we just fall flat on our face.

It is a grace that we have the sacrament of confession. It is a grace that we know that the heart of the Lord is mercy. And so we even have this grace that God appears, the Lord God appears to Abimelech in a dream and says, you stay away from Sarah. Basically, he is Abraham's wife, not his sister, like he told you. And even that grace that he extended, God says to Abimelech, he says, I kept you from her so that you didn't sin. Like what an incredible gift.

Man, how many times have we been kind of following the Lord or just kind of doing what we've been doing? How many times does God preserve us from that fall? We don't even know it. We don't even realize it. We think we might not even notice. We might not even have any awareness until we get to heaven of all the times that the Lord has held us back from falling when we didn't even know. And yet there are times when he allows us. He allows us to stumble. He allows us to fall like Abraham. He allowed him to fail so that Abraham could learn more deeply to trust

because it's one thing to be perfect. I imagine. I have to imagine that. It's one thing to be perfect. It is another thing to be imperfect, to fail and to learn what it is to be loved in your failure. Learn what it what it is to be loved in your failure. Learn what it is to be lifted back up in your failure.

To learn what it is that your failure doesn't disqualify you. And this is one of the things for Abraham today. His failure to trust, his failure to have faith did not disqualify him from the covenant. This is the same thing is true for you and for me, that we might fail any given day, but that failure does not disqualify us. The Lord continues to call us back to himself. Even if that road is hard to understand is one last word, because we're going to continue to follow our friend Job. We have to call him our friend. He has to be our pal, not just our pal, our friend. He has to be a true friend, Job. Because today in these chapters in the book of Job, he says things that many of us have wondered. Maybe we've said them out loud. Maybe we've been too afraid to say these things. Where basically he's saying, yeah, here's God. I don't

get it. I don't get it at all. Why would he bring me forth and call me into existence? He's so good, but why would he abandon me like this? And I can't even argue with him. I can't even stand up. And even if he listened to me, like, no, you're God. You got it. You have all the answers. You're not going to be wrong.

I'm going to be wrong if I'm going to get into a fight with you, God. And he just feels so powerless because the question keeps creeping up in his heart. God, are you actually not on my side? Even though I'm trying to be righteous, it seems like you don't care about the righteous. You don't care about the wicked. You don't care about anybody because I'm hurting so badly. And that could be us so many times, but that's the cry of Job, which is God, do you not care? Do you not care that I'm hurting so much? Do you not care that I'm trying? I thought that by living righteously before you and relationship before

you, I thought that that mattered to you. And now it seems like it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter at all. As we continue walking with Job through his pain, this question, we're going to find that this question has a particular kind of an answer, but we're not going to rush to the answer yet. I think it's important for us to stay with our friend Job and to go journey with him in his pain and in his feeling abandoned. The quick answer is what we found in Proverbs, which is, oh, if you're just, you get blessed. And if you're wicked, then you don't get blessed. That is part of wisdom.

A deeper other kind of wisdom is God causes the rain to shine or rain to fall on the good and the evil. He causes the sun to shine on the just and the unjust. And there's a mystery there for all of us. So as we continue this journey through the Bible, walking with Abraham and Sarah, walking with Job, our friend, and walking in the wisdom of the Proverbs, we just come before the Lord and thank him for his word, knowing that there's so much we do not understand about this life, but the more and more we don't run from God, but the closer we stay to him, the more wisdom that we grow in, the clearer we see things, even in the midst of pain.

I know that you, many people listen to this and do this on this journey with us. You're in the midst of pain. Job is your friend. Job is your friend. He can say words, he can pray words that you long to pray, and you can let Job's prayer be your prayer and let us be your brothers and sisters. Truly, this is a community of people who are reading the Bible, going through this Bible all together right now. And so let's lift each other up.

Let's pray for each other, especially for those who are united, closer than anyone else maybe, to our friend Job. My name is Father Mike Schmitz, and I want to let you know I'm praying for you. If you want to get text alerts and whatnot, you can just text the word Catholic Bible to the number 33777, or you can subscribe to this podcast and just know I am praying for you today.

Please pray for me, and let's pray for each other. God bless.