Welcome back to PvBibleAlive, I am your host, Bruce Hays. I am the pastor of Parkview Baptist Church. And we are continuing in our study of Genesis, in chapter 15. We are in the middle of the story of Abram’s life. Abram is the father of the nation of Israel, and God called him out of Ur of the Chaldees to the land of Canaan off of the Mediterranean sea. God has promised to make him a nation of people. He promised that they will inherit the land, and that they will be blessed and a blessing.
But in today’s study we’re going to talk about doubt.
Let me meet you on the mountain, Lord,
Just once.
You wouldn't have to burn a whole bush.
Just a few smoking branches
And I would surely be ...your Moses.
Let me
meet you on the water, Lord,
Just once.
It wouldn't have to be on White Rock Lake.
Just on a puddle after the annual Dallas rain
And I would surely be...your Peter.
Let me
meet you on the road, Lord,
Just once.
You wouldn't have to blind me on North Central Expressway.
Just a few bright lights on the way to chapel
And I would surely be...your Paul.
Let me
meet you, Lord,
Just once.
Anywhere. Anytime.
Just meeting you in the Word is so hard sometimes
Must I always be...your Thomas?
Norman Shirk, April 10, 1981, KQ (Dallas Seminary)
Doubt is one of those things that is discouraged, or even called sinful in Scripture.
Jesus said to Peter when he began to sink after walking on water,
Immediately Jesus stretched out his hand, took hold of him, and said to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”
And James said,
But let him ask in faith, without any doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven by the wind and tossed.
So we get the impression that it is sinful to doubt. Jesus chastises the religious elites of his day because they were continually asking for a sign.
But what’s interesting is that some in Scripture doubt, and are reprimanded for it, and others doubt, and are not reprimanded. I’m not going to explore that here, but that brings us to our text for today. Abram seems to be expressing doubt in the promises of God. And God reassures Him by reiterating and reaffirming the covenant. So when is it okay to doubt? We’ll look at that question today.
Let’s look at chapter 15.
15 After these things the word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.
Now this is good news. Abram has just gone through a battle to retrieve Lot from the invading army of Chedorlaomer. He, along with two allies and his 318 servants, not only got Lot back, but was able to take back stuff that Chedorlaomer took from the cities he invaded. He has met and restored the stuff to the king of Sodom. He has sent Lot on his way. He met and was blessed by Melchizedek. It’s been a whirlwind event in his life. And it could have done two things; it could have reaffirmed his faith in God, because he was successful in Lot’s rescue mission. But these events may have shaken Abram some. You know, we say that we have faith in God to protect and keep us. And intellectually, we know that sometimes we will protect us through the storm, not from the storm. What do you mean?
Well take Peter walking on the water that I mentioned before. Jesus miraculously caused Peter to walk on the water of the sea of Galilee, and not sink. But there was still a storm going on around him. He had still been in a boat, fearful of drowning before they saw the Lord. And when he began to doubt, he began to sink, though the Lord pulled him up out of the water. He still had to go through the storm.
And sometimes we go through some pretty tough times. We see how the Lord led us through, got us through. But the tough times still shake us up a bit. I think that’s where Abram is. He has been 10 years in Canaan, and still has no child, and still owns no land. So we begin to see a little doubt on Abram’s part.
2 And Abram said, Lord God, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus?
3 And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir.
Isn’t that just like us? God has made promises to us. He has promised us heaven. He has told us that we are His children. He has promised that Jesus will return and set up His Kingdom, and in it we will be kings and priests. But right now we are strangers in a strange land. And we want things to change now. Not in the distant future. Today. So, when we see that God isn’t just dropping expected blessings on our heads, we think, maybe I need to do something.
Abram had been told by God that his children would be innumerable. But Abram doesn’t have any children and he is 85 years old. So he goes back to God and makes a statement. He says, “God, you haven’t given me any children. And the way it’s going, when I die, my chief servant, Eliezer of Damascus will inherit my estate, and carry on my name.”
Now I don’t know if this is a suggestion to God, or a kind of “Oh, woe is me” statement. But he wants to know specifics about what God is going to do to make him a great nation. I do believe there is some doubt from Abram here. But I don’t believe this is faith-shattering doubt. Abram still puts his trust in God. Abram is still a man of faith.
I think he is just asking for some clarification. 10 years have passed since God first called him out of Ur. And God hadn’t yet given some of the details about how all of these promises were to be fulfilled. God had simply said that He would make him a great nation and would give his “offspring” the land of Canaan.
So after 10 years, as Abram grows old, he begins to wonder if maybe he should adopt an offspring. It was a common practice, if a person had no heir, to take a servant and adopt him as a son. And that’s what Abram asks God.
4 And, behold, the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir.
God says, let me lay it out to you in a way that there will be no doubt. No, you’re not going to adopt a servant as your son, you, yourself will have a son. And then God reaffirms the covenant with a visual illustration.
5 And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.
Now this is a conversation I would like to have seen. Somehow, God is literally talking to Abram, which should have been confirmation enough for Abram. I mean, I can read the Bible and have some doubts, because I am so far-removed from its source. But Abram is hearing directly from God. Many of us envy that kind of response for our prayers. We’d like to be able to ask God for something, and have Him answer us directly. But God doesn’t just directly answer. He brings him forth abroad. He took Abram outside.
It’s as though God puts His arm around Abram’s shoulders, and says, “Come outside Abram, let me show you something.” And when they get outside, God points to the sky, and all its stars, and I’ll bet God made that sky clearer than it had ever been and the stars brighter than they had ever been for Abram. And God said, start counting stars Abram. If you can count the stars, you will also be able to count how many offspring you will have.
And the point is not that Abram’s offspring, will be the same number as the stars, but that it’s an impossible task to count those stars. It would be an impossible task to count Abram’s offspring. That number is incalculable.
How many offspring did Abram end up having? That’s an interesting question so let’s try to answer it. Well there are two ways to calculate that. First he had physical offspring. Isaac was Abram’s son of promise, Ishmael was his son by Hagar his servant, and he had sons by Keturah after Sarah’s death.
Genesis 25 King James Version (KJV)
25 Then again Abraham took a wife, and her name was Keturah.
2 And she bare him Zimran, and Jokshan, and Medan, and Midian, and Ishbak, and Shuah.
Now Isaac had two sons, Jacob, who became Israel, and Esau who became Edom. And Ishmael had 12 sons.
Genesis 25:13-17 King James Version (KJV)
13 And these are the names of the sons of Ishmael, by their names, according to their generations: the firstborn of Ishmael, Nebajoth; and Kedar, and Adbeel, and Mibsam,
14 And Mishma, and Dumah, and Massa,
15 Hadar, and Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah:
16 These are the sons of Ishmael, and these are their names, by their towns, and by their castles; twelve princes according to their nations.
So if we wanted to trace the physical lineage of Abram, and number his descendants, we would need to trace the lineage of each of these children and grandchildren of Abraham.
The children of Israel, the Jews, would be simplest, because people today still identify as Jews, even though they are spread around the world. I read a population number from 2018 of 14,606,000 living Jews in the world.
Now when we get to the descendants of Ishmael and Keturah it becomes more difficult to determine how many there are today. Ishmael had 12 sons, and Keturah had six sons by Abraham and they didn’t all retain identities as his descendants through the centuries. There are some Arab people who identify as Abrahams descendants. They can be numbered at 423 million today.
So, all we have to do is add these two numbers together and we have Abram’s physical descendants right? No, because that only counts his living descendants, not all those who have lived and died in the 4000 years since he was here. It also doesn’t take into account two major factors in counting. First, many Jews and Arabs alike have intermarried with other people through the millennia, and so there are and were many people who are or were physically descended from Abraham, who don’t even know it. Second, traditional Old Testament genealogies only traced the history of sons. We don’t know how many daughters came in each succeeding generation. So really, you can see how difficult a task it is to find and count the children of Abram.
But there is another way of numbering Abram’s descendants. You can also number his spiritual descendants. Paul said in Galatians
Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.
And since it is the Word of God that calls Christians the children of Abraham, we have to know that when God showed Abram those stars, that He was counting followers of Christ as children of Abraham.
So how many Christians have there been throughout history? Well, 2.3 billion today, call themselves Christian. That doesn’t count those who have died through the thousands of years since Christ. But the problem with that number is that Christianity is a condition of the heart, not found in the DNA.
So, all that just illustrates how true it was when God showed Abram the stars, and said, if you can number them, you will be able to number your descendants. But that display was enough for Abram, because verse 6 says
6 And he (Abram) believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness.
This is a very important statement.
6 And he (Abram) believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness.
What it means is that God saw Abram’s faith, and it was enough to make Abram right with God. That is really who the children of Abraham are today. As Paul said,
Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.
And it’s encouraging to me that this high point of belief in Abram’s life, this moment when he looked up into the night sky and believed. And he believed to the extent that God made note of it, and counted him righteous. This moment came out of a time of doubt for Abram. The chapter started with Abram wondering if he would ever have a child of his own.
So, if we return to our original question, when is it okay to doubt? I think the answer here lies in Abram’s desire. Abram’s doubt was doubt seeking an answer. It was doubt that wanted to believe. There’s a man in the New Testament who says to Jesus, “Lord I believe, help my unbelief.”
There is another kind of doubt. There is a doubt that doesn’t want to believe. It is the doubt that is just looking for a reason not to believe. These people are all around us. They’ve got their worldview all nice and tidy, wrapped in a little box. And even if you answer their objections to belief in God, or Jesus, they’ll just come up with new objections.
But Abram believed God.
7 And he said unto him, I am the Lord that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it.
8 And he said, Lord God, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?
Whoa! “How shall I know I will inherit it?” Is Abram doubting again? It would seem so. But I want you to look at this in a different light. This point in Abram’s life, seems to me to be one where he is closer to God than any time prior. Abram is called in other Scripture, the friend of God.
And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.
This evening, when God showed Abram the stars, and counted his faith as righteousness, seems to be a moment of that great friendship. And so I imagine it as a time of intimacy, a time of great felt love between them. What better time than that for Abraham to express some of his doubts? What better time to have his questions answered? And what’s beautiful about it is, that God didn’t chastise Abram. He encouraged and answered him, like a friend would.
That’s why I believe this passage answers our question, “When is it okay to doubt?” We have all had close relationships; maybe a spouse, sibling, parent, or friend. And we knew that that relationship was strong enough, that we could approach that person with our doubts, our insecurities, even our sins. Because we knew they wouldn’t quit loving us. And they would want to reassure us. That’s when it is okay to doubt God. When you are seeking an answer, not to accuse God, or to have evidence to deny Him, but when you want to deepen your friendship and love toward Him.
Now look at what God does to reassure him.
9 And he (God) said unto him, Take me an heifer of three years old, and a she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.
10 And he took unto him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another: but the birds divided he not.
11 And when the fowls came down upon the carcases, Abram drove them away.
Now what in the world is going on here? Well God has essentially offered to enter into a covenant, or a binding contract with Abram. In that time, if two people were going to enter into a significant agreement, they cut a covenant. They took animals, killed them, and divided them in two, and used them to border a pathway between the pieces. Then both of the parties who were entering the agreement, walked between the pieces. It was their way of binding themselves to a curse, if they didn’t hold up their end of the agreement.
In this case, God says, if you want to know how you can know for sure that you will inherit this land, get ready for cutting a covenant. But God does something profound in this covenant which we’ll talk about in a second. But first, Abram prepares the animals, drives birds away from their carcasses. But first God gives Abram a glimpse into the future of the nation he will father, and his own future.
12 And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him. (He was asleep, but experienced a great terror while he slept.)
13 And he (God) said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;
(We know this happened. At the end of Genesis, the Jewish people, numbering 70 at the time, go down to live in Egypt. And in the generations that follow, they end up as slaves to the Egyptians.
14 And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance.
(Lord willing, we will study the book of Exodus next. That book chronicles God judging Egypt, and bringing the Jews back to Canaan.)
15 And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age.
God assures Abram that he won’t see any of that affliction himself.
16 But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.
We’ll touch on this later, but when God brought the nation of Israel out of Egypt, and back to Canaan, he used the invasion of the Israelites as a judgment against the people of Canaan. The people of Canaan, by that time, had become vile, corrupt and violent. So what God is saying here, is that they still have four hundred years before they get so bad, that He will send judgment against them.
But back to the story with Abram. Now remember that Abram has been put to sleep.
17 And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces.
Now I want you to notice two things. The first is just a question. How did Abram see this happen if he was asleep? Well there are basically 3 possible answers; first, God told him about it later, 2nd he was waking from his sleep when this happened, or 3rd he saw it happen as a part of the dream he had. I really don’t have a problem with any of those explanations
The second thing I want you to notice is that normally, when a covenant was cut, both parties walked between the pieces. But here, only God passes between them. Abram is asleep, or waking. It doesn’t say Abram passed between the pieces. Why? Because there were no stipulations in the agreement for Abram to adhere to. All the covenant said was; Abram, I’m going to make you a great nation and give you a land. What was Abram’s part, to say, “Okay, I believe you.” And that wasn’t even a part of the agreement. God didn’t say, “If you will believe, I will make you a great nation,” He just said, “I’m going to make you a great nation.” So God bound Himself to this covenant. He swore by Himself to do this.
Hebrews 6: 13 For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself,
14 Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee.
18 In the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:
19 The Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites,
20 And the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims,
21 And the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.
So Abram asked for two things from God; details and confirmation, and God gave him both. Talk about details. Here God tells Abram the future boundaries of the land that will be his nation. I can’t adequately describe the promised nation here. You can do an image search online by typing the words “Land promised to Abram” in your search engine. But suffice it to say that it is far larger than what we know as Israel today. Verses 19 through 21 describes that territory for Abram by listing the tribes that occupied it at the time.
As we begin chapter 16 in Genesis, let me remind you of the theme under which I categorized these two chapters. I described them as times of doubt for Abram. Now chapter 16 has to be the greatest example of doubt and sin from the life of Abram. And what he does here has far-reaching effects on his life, and on the life of the nation he would beget.
16 Now Sarai Abram's wife bare him no children: and she had an handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar.
2 And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, the Lord hath restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her.
What was Sarai doing? She is doing what was common practice in that day. She had an Egyptian handmaid named Hagar. She was their slave. They may have gotten her when they went down to Egypt during the prior famine. But because Sarai has been unable to have children, she offers her servant to Abram as a concubine. Now how did this conversation come about?
Well it’s possible that Abram came home after his covenant with God, and told Sarai, or Sarai overheard as Abram told someone else, the promises that God reiterated to him. And Abram had been told by God that the seed would be his own, not an adopted slave.
So this does nothing but depress Sarai. She has been unable to have children. She is over 75 years old now. And what is amazing is that Abram has been faithful to her. You see, at this point in history, polygamy was common. It was also common that if a wife didn’t produce children, the husband would get another wife. But Abram is over 85 years of age, and he never takes a second wife. Maybe he is being faithful to God’s original word to Adam and Eve.
Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
But now God is telling Abram, you are going to have an heir, your own offspring. And Sarai may have thought, “Well it’s obviously not going to be by me!” Maybe she thinks that Abram isn’t seeing the obvious, that he needs to find another woman. So, I think, with a note of sadness, and from her perspective, practicality, Sarai offers her maid as a concubine.
And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai.
Now why do I call this a great moment of doubt on Abram’s part? Because Abram doesn’t do something that he should have done. Abram just had a wonderful personal experience and revelation from God. In that time, God answered his questions and doubts, and gave details about how these promises would be fulfilled. So when Sarai comes to Abram with this maid, what should Abram do? Abram who has been faithful to Sarai for 85 years? He should have gone to the Lord in prayer, and asked God if this was the right thing to do.
Don’t you think that if he had done so, God would have answered and told him, no, the son you will have will be by Sarai?
But instead, he just listens to Sarai’s reasoning and sleeps with Hagar. And this is not going to end well.
3 And Sarai Abram's wife took Hagar her maid the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife.
4 And he went in unto Hagar, and she conceived: and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes.
Hagar got pregnant. And the relationship between Sarai and Hagar changed. Now that Hagar is pregnant, she may have begun to think of herself as superior to Sarai. After all, Sarai was cursed with barrenness, and she seems to have gotten pregnant pretty quickly. Doesn’t that mean she is blessed by God, and Sarai is cursed? And what’s more, Sarai’s accommodations are likely much more luxurious than Hagar’s. Just to be clear, because of their nomadic lifestyle, they all lived in tents. But Sarai’s tent, and clothing, and authority, and favor with Abram would be vastly superior to that of a slave girl. But yet this slave girl became the wife of Abram, and was pregnant with his child.
Maybe Hagar looked around and found very little elevation of her circumstances, even after she became pregnant. Maybe the other servants reminded her that she was still a slave.
But regardless of how it happened, she began to despise Sarai. And probably Sarai could see the change in her demeanor toward her. She may have even had an exchange of words, or surly comments with her.
And, of course, we don’t know if Sarai may have felt some jealousy toward Hagar, and become more terse with her.
But somehow, something happened that drove Sarai to bring the issue to Abram.
5 And Sarai said unto Abram, My wrong be upon thee: I have given my maid into thy bosom; and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes: the Lord judge between me and thee.
Now doesn’t it sound to you like Sarai is blaming Abram for this? Wasn’t she the one to suggest it to begin with? Yes, but in Scripture God gave the husband the role of spiritual leadership in the family. Plus, in many cultures men had the final say in the home. Now you may not consider that right, but what it meant was, not only did Abram have spiritual authority, he also had spiritual accountability. He was responsible because it was his decision to make. He could have said no to Sarai. But he didn’t.
6 But Abram said unto Sarai, Behold, thy maid is in thine hand; do to her as it pleaseth thee. And when Sarai dealt hardly with her, she fled from her face.
So Hagar must have done something more than give Sarai a dirty look. I think she must have disobeyed her, or maybe she was talking disrespectfully to her, openly, or with the other servants, undermining Sarai with the other servants. So Sarai punishes, or has her punished.
What does that mean? Well it might have been some sort of physical punishment, but her pregnancy would limit what that involved. It could have been some sort of shaming, or loss of some privileges. Whatever it was, Hagar decided to run away, rather than submit to it.
7 And the angel of the Lord found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur.
So she flees. And by the place she ends up, some think she may have been trying to return to Egypt. But that’s a long journey for a lone pregnant woman. So she stops at this fountain on the way, and the angel of the Lord appears to her.
Now who is the “angel of the Lord.” The actual name is the angel of Yahweh. So some propose that this is a theophany. That is, the angel is God Himself, appearing as an angel. I lean toward that interpretation because the angel blesses her child in a similar way as God blessed Abram.
10 And the angel of the Lord said unto her, I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude
And because of what she does after the meeting is over,
13 And she called the name of the Lord that spake unto her, Thou God seest me: for she said, Have I also here looked after him that seeth me?
So this is what the angel of the Lord said to her,
8 And he said, Hagar, Sarai's maid, whence camest thou? and whither wilt thou go? And she said, I flee from the face of my mistress Sarai.
9 And the angel of the Lord said unto her, Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hands. Go back, why?
10 And the angel of the Lord said unto her, I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude.
11 And the angel of the Lord said unto her, Behold, thou art with child and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the Lord hath heard thy affliction.
12 And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.
The angel says to her that God has a plan for her son, and it involves their staying there. So go back
13 And she called the name of the Lord that spake unto her, Thou God seest me: for she said, Have I also here looked after him that seeth me?
14 Wherefore the well was called Beerlahairoi; behold, it is between Kadesh and Bered.
15 And Hagar bare Abram a son: and Abram called his son's name, which Hagar bare, Ishmael.
16 And Abram was fourscore and six years old (86), when Hagar bare Ishmael to Abram.
So back to our original question, when is it okay to doubt? Abram showed by a negative example with Sarai and Hagar that it’s okay to doubt when you want to believe, when you are seeking information. But Abram didn’t seek any wisdom from God in regard to Hagar. He just reacted to Sarai, and went with his gut. Faith means more than just reacting to life. Faith means you believe God loves you, and has direction for you. So you ask Him for help, you go to Him for directions, you voice your doubts to Him. Do we always get an answer? No. But we do as it’s stated in
Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.
Well we’re going to stop there. The story of Hagar and Ishmael doesn’t end here. This turns into a disastrous faithless act on Abram’s part.
Let us pray,