What happens when what you think will happen doesn’t? Abraham had been promised since he was 75 years old that his descendants would have the land of Canaan. Yet, here he was in his mid-80s with no child. Sarai had yet to birth a child. They had been living in Canaan for 10 years with no heir in sight. So Sarai comes up with a solution. In Genesis 16:2, she says, “Behold now, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. Go in to my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children by her.”

Before we jump the gun and blame anyone, let’s take a look at the situation. It’s tough. How do you reconcile the problem? God has a history of no always following conventions when it comes to fulfilling promises (see: Jesus). It shouldn’t take a large stretch of the imagination to understand how difficult this predicament is.

So Abraham is presented with a tough decision. Listen to Sarai and use her servant Hagar as a surrogate or just keeping waiting for God? Abraham decides to go with Sarai’s advice, which in all honesty would not be that uncommon in this day and culture.

Abraham does have a son, but it’s not the one God had promised to him. Abraham has a son, and it immediately creates a wealth of strife that would not go away anytime soon. Sarai immediately becomes jealous of Hagar since she could not conceive herself. She later convinces Abraham to send Hagar away with her son. Moreso, Abraham’s son Ishmael becomes the father of the Islam nation while Isaac fathers the nation of Israel. That strife still exists today.

It’s easy to condemn Abraham for not following God, but would we be any different? I don’t think I would. It’s like the story of the man caught in the flood at the top of a tree. I don’t know that I’m always able to know exactly what God is doing in my life. That’s why it’s so important to continually read the Bible and communicate with God through prayer. Just like the post I wrote about Joshua, Abraham doesn’t consult God before he makes a decision.

Have you ever been caught in a tough decisions? How did you handle it?