May 13 - Prayer - Questions/Thoughts - Verses

 May 13

Heavenly Father, I am so thankful for heroes of the bible whose stories were written in truth so I can relate to them. I think about some of the people in the history of our own country who are shown to be so upright in the history books but when we go digging into their lives we see they made many mistakes and we think we should no longer consider them heroes, or somehow the good they did goes away because they were human. I love that Your history book, THE history book shows the flaws of the heroes of old. I think if I had to compare myself to a group of people that never made a mistake I would feel defeated before I every got started.

They are still heroes for the things they accomplished in spite of their mistakes and we can accomplish so much for You even though we have made mistakes and will continue to make mistakes. I'm so glad I have Jesus' example of a perfect person, but also the reality that He is God and I can't be perfect like Him, or I wouldn't need Him to rely on as a sacrifice for my sin. But, I can still focus on being obedient to You and leaving behind a trail that points to You as our Creator, comfort, guide, giver of mercy and grace, everything we need. That is what I can do to be a hero...live my life from here forward pointing to You as the focus of everything I do. Help me be worthy of being a hero for You, in spite of my humanness.

In Jesus' name.

Amen!

We look at Abram and Sarai as heroes of the Bible, but they made mistakes too.

Is it possible to identify the biggest mistake made in this situation?

Was it:

Sarai telling Abram to have a child with her servant?

Abram sleeping with the servant knowing God had promised him a son with his wife?

Abram abdicating his control over treatment of Haggar to Sarai?

Sarai’s treatment of the servant?

Genesis 16:1-6

16 Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children. She had a female Egyptian servant whose name was Hagar. 2 And Sarai said to Abram, “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.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. 3 So, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her servant, and gave her to Abram her husband as a wife. 4 And he went into Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, she looked with contempt on her mistress. 5 And Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done to me be on you! I gave my servant to your embrace, and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked on me with contempt. May the Lord judge between you and me!” 6 But Abram said to Sarai, “Behold, your servant is in your power; do to her as you please.” Then Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she fled from her.