There was a time when everyone could acknowledge that "Father knows best," but in our story today I'm not sure that was the case.Our story begins in Genesis Chapter 12. Many people today think of the characters in the Bible as people who lived in a different time that have nothing in common with us today. While it is true that the people in the Bible lived in a different time there are still a lot of things that people in the Bible have in common with us today and that includes having really dysfunctional families or as I like to think of them: there just regular people with Krazy Kinfolk!
At the beginning of our story, Abraham was called by God to leave the land he knew as home and travel to a place that would be revealed to him later. This unknown place would be settled by his family and would lay the foundation for a blessed nation (Gen 12). Abraham obeyed God and left his homeland with his wife Sarah and nephew Lot and their humble possessions.
During their travels they encountered the Pharaoh of Egypt who was quite taken by the beauty of Sarah. In an attempt to save his own life, Abraham lies about his wife and says she is his sister (Gen 12:10-13). Abraham essentially sold his wife to Pharaoh in exchange for a large dowry. As a result Abraham became quite wealthy. After he was discovered as a liar, they all fled from Egypt. The wealth gained by Abraham was so great that it caused quarrels between Lot and Abraham – money and wealth will do that. So, they agreed to split company (Gen 13:11-12). You can’t make this up --- well you could, but it would be a late light soap opera --- perhaps you would call it something like Dallas?
Now, God reminded Abraham of the promise of the riches that he had promised (Gen 15:1). Abraham argued with God that they would be no good if he had no offspring to inherit the riches. God promised him a son, an heir, who would bring forth a nation to large to count (Gen 15:5). Sarah, his wife, who was unable to have children convinced Abraham to have a child with their servant girl, Hagar (Gen 16:1-2). How else would this promise of God come to be?
The birth of the son created a rift between Sarah, Hagar, and Abraham – You think? Sarah became physically and mentally abusive towards Hagar. Hagar would eventually run away to escape only to return later for more abuse. All the while, Abraham remains silent. Interestingly Abraham will speak up in defense of Sodom and Gamorah - go figure?
Throughout all this, God remained faithful to the promise and Sarah became pregnant 14 years later at age 90. Abraham at the time was nearly 100. The son was to be named Isaac which meant “laughter”. The laughter would soon become tears. To celebrate the news of this impending birth the custom of circumcision was begun. This included every male – I am sure they were all thrilled at the news of the pending birth! BTW, the nephew Lot ran into some trouble in Sodom and Gomorrah and also fathered children with his 2 daughters. --- You can’t make up these stories --- Wouldn’t this make a good episode on Maury or Doctor Phil?
While traveling, Abraham encounters another king who is again quite taken with his wife’s beauty who was nearly 90 at the time! Abraham again lied about his wife’s identity assuming the king was not God fearing in order to escape (Gen 20:11-13). The end result is another large gift of livestock and land. I’m telling you – Sarah must have been the most beautiful woman to ever live (except for my wife - of course! ).
Sarah eventually gives birth to a baby boy and they calls him Isaac. As the boy grew, his older half brother teased him and this upset Sarah, his mother, so she planned to have him and his mother killed. The end result was that Hagar and her son, Ishmael, left and grew up in Egypt and God continues to watch over both of them (Gen 21:20-21).
To summarize: Abraham repeatedly lies to protect himself; He twice jeopardizes the honor and life of his wife; He has an illegitimate child with a servant woman; He abandons his out-of-wedlock child; stood passively by while his wife abused Hagar; constantly sought God’s assurance that God would keep His promises; plus there's the whole ordeal where Abraham plans to sacrifice his son Isaac – now that's gotta leave some emotional scars!
Abraham is a mistrusting father, has a wife of ill-rhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifepute, has a broken and quarreling family, is given to a propensity to lie, as a result his family tree is filled with countless problems and dysfunction. Yet, and don’t miss this “yet” - God was and still is in control.
And no matter how broken, how desperate your life may seem it is never too late to trust God. God can use all the failings and broken parts and can still work something beautiful. All that happened in Abraham’s life, all the mistakes, all the failings, all the lies, all the deceit; everything came together in this one moment in time.
Through all the brokenness and dysfunctionality of this family, God is able to provide THE PICTURE of faith and grace for all the future generations (Genesis 22:1-19). This one moment in time gives us the picture then of what would be later – God supplying the perfect sacrifice to save us all – Jesus Christ.
This complete wreck of family, this less than perfect father gives us the picture of sacrifice and love – a loving father willing to give his son and a loving God supplying a perfect lamb in his place. I hope this story provides hope for you and your family. No matter how broken or imperfect you might be – God can use you to provide a picture of love and grace to this world – If you will let Him.
One final thought from this dysfunctional family:
They got things together and returned to Beersheba. Abraham settled down in Beersheba. Genesis 22:19b The Message
Scripture says after all of this (all of the dysfunction) that Abraham settled down. I like that phrase settled down. It is comforting. It is peaceful. I believe it is what we all desire – the ability to settle down – to be at peace with our lives.
When we become willing to surrender our desires, our bent for control, our appetite for now, when we let go of all of that and give all that we have and surrender our desires to God – it is then that we can discover the joy that is only found and described as settling down.
And perhaps in discovering peace and contentment for ourselves, our families will discover it as well even to the next generation.
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