Day 30--Promises

*post for Tuesday, January 24, 2012*

A few weeks ago I was reading the story about Sarah and Hagar in my devotions. I noticed several things reading through this account this time that I've never really paid attention to before. The first thing I noticed was the humanness of all the characters. I think sometimes we imagine Bible characters as characters from a fairy tale, but in reality they are, or were, real people just like us. As I was reading I kind of felt sympathy towards Hagar. After all, she was only doing what her mistress had told her to do and yet even her blessing was somewhat of a curse. I also kind of sympathized when Sarah when she dealt harshly with Hagar. Let's face it...2 women and 1 man NEVER ends well in any situation. I can imagine Sarah was extremely jealous of the fact that Hagar had conceived when she hadn't been able to. And Sarah was probably jealous of the fact that another woman had part of her husband. I mean, wouldn't any of us be jealous and react harshly if another woman was with our husband for any reason??
I think the most important lesson I've learned from this story though is that God has a plan for each of us individually. When we think of the covenant God made with Abraham we tend to just think of it including God, Abraham and Isaac. But in reality, Sarah was very much a part of the promise too. Hagar did have a son and if God had chosen He could have fulfilled His promise through Hagar's son, but He didn't. God fulfilled His promise to Abraham through Sarah. Sarah had been hurt a choice that she foolishly made and a choice that both Abraham and Hagar followed through with, but yet God still fulfilled His plan and His promise to Sarah. The thought that has really impacted me the most is this...the same God that fulfilled His promise to Sarah is the same God I serve today. He's the God that promised me that He has good plans for me and plans to prosper me and give me a future and a hope. People may hurt me and consequences from my own actions may hurt me and leave me devastated, but in the end my God will still fulfill His promises to me. I just need to trust Him and stop trying to do things in my own strength. I truly believe that God in His providence allowed me to read this story a few weeks ago so I would already have it in my head and my heart when my current circumstances arose. This particular truth has been one that I have clung to in the past few days.