Read: Genesis 16:1-16, 21:8-21

The Westminster Confession defines the “principal acts of saving faith” as “accepting, receiving, and resting upon Christ alone…” This confessional understanding helps us identify how and where our faith can falter. Even those with great faith, like Abraham or Peter, have moments of faltering faith. Both accepted what the Lord had said and received the promise with faith, but he struggled with resting in God’s means and timing to fulfill the promise. But no matter how bad it gets, God is not done working. God sees and hears us in moments of our greatest weakness. Like Peter, when we sink beneath the waves, we find it is the grace of God in Christ that saves us.

1. Genuine Faith Falters

The setting of the story (16:1-3) highlights a problem: God’s promises are not coming to pass as Sarah and Abraham had expected. Sarah accepted and received the promise of many descendants, but when she remained barren after living in the “land of Canaan ten years” (16:3), there was no resting in God’s plan. Sarah felt the weight of emotional pressure (she wanted a child), social pressure (she was expected to have a child), and theological pressure (it was God’s will for her to have a child). Abraham is under pressure too, but this section leaves out details other than “Abram agreed to what Sarai said” (16:2). In despair, Sarah blames God for her barrenness: “the Lord has prevented me from bearing children” (16:2). The emotional, social, and theological pressure was too much.

This is a low point for both of them and as the story progresses, it worsens. It is worth remembering that Sarah and Abraham have genuine faith and struggle to live out that faith in actions of trust and obedience. These are two realities that reflect our experience today. Like Sarah and Abraham (and Peter), even when we accept the truth of the gospel and receive God’s grace in Christ, we still struggle with “resting on Christ alone for salvation.” A changed life is not automatic; we don’t one day wake up and have it all figured out. As a living sacrifice, we tend to crawl off the altar only to depend on ourselves once again.

2. The Way that Faith Falters

Because Sarah feels this immense pressure—because she is not resting in faith—she devises a plan to accomplish it on her own. Sarah tries to accomplish God’s plan in her own way and timing by offering her maidservant, Hagar, to Abraham to “build” her family (16:2). Notice that Abraham has been completely silent and goes along with the plan. His misguided compliance is cast in the same terms as Adam’s obedience to Eve in Gen 3:17. The point is that Abraham is as guilty as Sarah—they both fail to rest in God’s promises and take matters into their own hands. Both Eve and Sarah “took” and “gave” something (an apple or Hagar) to their husbands (Gen 3:6; 16:3). Doing it “my way” is the way that faith falters.

Sarah’s scheme works exactly how she planned, and it is a disaster. The temptation is clear: to get the promise (a good thing) on my own terms (a bad thing). When Hagar learns she is pregnant by Abraham, she becomes proud. Hagar looks at Sarah with contempt. According to Paul (Gal 4:22-25), Hagar’s contempt represents the judgment that works-righteousness brings down upon those who try to plot their own way forward into the promises of God. No condemnation is more severe than the lofty path one has set for oneself as the means of salvation!

Sarah tries to drive her failure away by making Hagar’s life miserable, but she cannot put Hagar away. Repentance draws fault near by accepting responsibility and asking for forgiveness rather than trying to drive fault away. Sarah cannot cover her actions, just as we cannot put away the consequences of our sin by driving them out of our memories and into the wilderness of forgetfulness. Regret alone accomplishes nothing. Only repentance leads back to wholeness again.

3. The One Who Rescues Faith that Falters

Though Hagar fled, the Angel of the Lord found her. It gives the impression that the Lord sought Hagar, not vice versa. We may think that we found Him, but the reality is: He found us. We were lost and confused, wandering away from Him. He came looking and found us! Hagar could flee from the presence of Sarah, but she couldn’t flee from the presence of the Lord.

The angel of the Lord comforts Hagar, “The Lord has heard your cry of affliction” (Gen 16:11). The angel speaks of “the Lord” (Yahweh) as a separate person, and it seems that the angel is speaking on behalf of Yahweh. Yet, Hagar refers to this angel as God: “You are El-Roi” or the God who sees me” (Gen 16:13). This is a story of how God himself comes near to the lost and broken. God came near to Hagar. He sought her out in the wilderness and found her.

And the Lord sees you, he hears you, right now, today. He has come near to you as Christ became a man and took on flesh, like the angel of the Lord, Jesus. Christ alone is the one who sees and hears and rescues faltering faith. Do not take matters into your own hands, but accept, receive, and rest in Christ for salvation! Whether for the first time or the hundredth, let Peter’s cry be yours: “Lord, save me!”

QUESTIONS

What about the sermon most impacted you or left you with questions?
What are some examples of emotional, social, and theological pressures that challenge your faith? How can wrestling with our faith through pressure reveal that we have genuine faith?
Is it more difficult to rest in our faith than to accept and receive God’s promises for us? How does accepting, receiving and resting in God’s promises look in our life?
What might we learn about ourselves from the experience of Sarah and Hagar?

Can you think of a time you took something into your own hands, and it went as you planned, but you still failed to achieve what you expected? Did you shift any of the blame?
Have you ever participated in someone else’s plan only to find yourself full of contempt by the end? Did you hide or run away from these feelings?

What does this story have to do with works-based righteousness? Do you ever fall back into this mindset? Why or why not?
Hagar refers to God as El-Roi, “the God who sees me.” How does God’s intervention in this story give you hope and point you to the Gospel regardless of where you have been? How does this impact the way you treat others?
When we are struggling, what difference would it make for us to know God hears and sees us?
Where in your life do you need to say, “Lord, save me?” Has your faith faltered recently? Have you trusted in your own plans? Have you refused to come near to the God who sees you? Take time to confess this to the Lord and encourage someone else if they share this with you.

Listen to the sermon on SoundCloud here.