Dear brothers and sisters in Christ:
Surely you have heard of “Tiger Moms” and of “Helicopter Parents.” Well, apparently, there is something new on the scene. There is a new type of parent pushing their way through the schoolyard – and they will stop at nothing to ensure their child’s success. Yes, this new style of parenting is called “snowplow” parenting.
These “snowplow” parents are intent on removing any obstacles in the way of their child, in order that their child does not have to face pain or difficulty on their way to success. If their child struggles, “snowplow” parents will take matters into their own hands and accomplish those challenges on their own, thinking that they are helping their child without realizing the long-term consequences of their approach. We can possibly understand this to some degree. For example, have you ever gotten impatient with your child when you have helped them with their homework? Wouldn’t it be much easier to just give them the answer rather than have them struggle to find the solution on their own?
We all tend to want to take matters into our own hands when something is not going quite right or taking too long. In fact, that’s the situation we find Abraham and Sarah in Genesis 16. Abraham had received the promise of God that he would be the father of many and that through his descendants God would bless the whole world. Abraham and Sarah both believed God’s promise.
But that promise was made many years ago. Abraham and Sarah weren’t exactly young when God gave them His promise. And they certainly weren’t getting any younger. Plus, Sarah was still without a child. Maybe they needed to take things into their own hands and force the issue.
So, Sarah comes up with a plan. Maybe, just maybe, Abraham was the only one needed for the promise to be fulfilled. So, she offers up her servant, Hagar, to Abraham that he might obtain children from her. Abraham listens, and Hagar becomes pregnant! It worked!
Or so it seemed. This situation only caused issues in Abraham’s household. Hagar, who was blessed with child, began to look with contempt upon Sarah, who was unable to conceive. Hagar’s behavior got so bad that Sarah treats her badly in return, which caused Hagar to flee. But after that all gets cleared up and God convinces Hagar to return to Sarah, and Hagar gives birth to Ishmael, God makes it clear to Abraham that, despite Abraham’s efforts, Ishmael is not the son that God promised.
“You will have a son by Sarah,” God tells Abraham, who is now 100 years old, while Sarah is 90. So Abraham replies, “Oh, that Ishmael might live before you!” Abraham is trying to demonstrate to God that He has already taken care of having a son. “No,” God says, “Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac.”
It turns out that Abraham and Sarah did not have to take matters into their own hands to have a son. They did not have to kickstart God’s plan of blessing. God was going to take care of fulfilling His promise in His own way and in His own time.
When it comes to the blessings and promises of God, we also often think that we have to take matters into our own hands.
We imagine that we have to activate God’s promises by showing Him how sincerely and earnestly we believe. We think we can manipulate God by our good works and force His hand to pour blessings upon us. We become impatient with God as we wait for His promises to come to fruition, so we try to take our relationship with God into our own hands and trust in ourselves to get the job done. In order to maintain our status as God’s children, we imagine that we’ve got to prove ourselves to Him over and over again.
Often, we would like to exchange the free gift of the Gospel for works of the Law. Rather than living under the freedom of Jesus’ words “It is finished!” (John 19:30) and trusting that it truly is, we live under the Law, which says “Do more! Try harder!”
In his letter to the Galatians, the Holy Spirit inspires Paul repeatedly to demonstrate the foolishness of this thinking. In Galatians 3, Paul writes, “For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse … Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for ‘The righteous shall live by faith’” (Galatians 3:10a, 11).
In Galatians 4, Paul supplements his argument with an illustration: the story of Hagar and Sarah. “Now this story may be interpreted allegorically,” Paul says. “These women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar … She corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother” (Galatians 4:24-26).
In other words, Hagar represents the Law given at Mount Sinai. All those who submit to the slavery of the Law are children of Hagar. They are Ishmaels. And what eventually happened to Hagar and Ishmael? Paul asks: “What does the Scripture say? ‘Cast out the slave woman and her son’” (Galatians 4:30). Ishmael was not the son of the promise. He was the son produced by Abraham’s efforts, a work of the Law. And he was rejected, as ultimately all will be who rely on the Law.
But God called Abraham and Sarah to trust in His promise and live by faith. God would take care of it. And though it seemed impossible, Sarah gave birth to a son, the son of the promise, Isaac.
“Now you, brothers,” Paul explains, “like Isaac, are children of purpose … we are not children of the slave but of the free woman” (Galatians 4:28, 31). Those who live by faith, not by works, are also sons of the promise, sons of Abraham, and receivers of God’s blessings.
But it is not faith in Isaac that brings the blessings of God’s salvation. It is faith in the true Son of Abraham, the Son through whom the whole world is blessed, the Son whose work sets us free from slavery to the Law.
As our loving heavenly Father, He removed any obstacle between us and our salvation because He knew we could never do it on our own, no matter how hard we tried. He sent His only-begotten Son into this world and called Him Jesus, for “He will save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21).
This Son would also be born through miraculous circumstances, not through an old, barren woman, but through a young virgin. This Son would also walk up a mountain to be a sacrifice, but unlike Isaac, God did not stop the hands that placed a crown of thorns on the head of Jesus, His own Son, and plunged nails into His wrists and ankles. Jesus completed the work of the Law, suffered the consequences for our sins and lack of faith, and won our freedom as He declared, “It is finished!”
Jesus is the true Son of Abraham whose eternal blessings are received only by faith. “For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith,” Paul writes to the Galatians and to you. “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ … And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise” (Galatians 3:26-27, 29).
You and I are sons and daughters of the promise, children of Abraham, children of God, through the true Son of Abraham and Sarah – Jesus, the Son of God. Amen!
The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.
+ SOLI DEO GLORIA +
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