Ep. 133 | Fork in the Road | Genesis

Listen in as Pastor Eddie Blalock shares today’s daily devotional featuring Genesis 16:1-6. Let’s be Formed by The Word together!

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SPEAKER_00 0:01

Every one of us eventually reaches a place where we have to decide. Will I trust God even when I can't see where He's leading? That's not a new question. It's one of the oldest questions in the Bible. No one illustrates that journey better than Abraham. Welcome to Forms by the Word, where we open God's Word not just to study it, but to let it shape our hearts and transform our lives. Sometimes our journey of faith leads through familiar places. Other times it leads into the unknown. There are seasons of joy and seasons of waiting, moments of great faith and moments of painful failure. Genesis 11 through 25 tells the story of an ordinary man called to an extraordinary walk of faith, and in the process helps us discover that God still leads ordinary people, like us, into an extraordinary walk of faith. So whether you're driving, working, exercising, or simply enjoying a quiet moment with the Lord, I invite you to open your heart and let's learn to trust the God who always keeps his promises one step of faith at a time.

SPEAKER_01 1:11

Most roads at some point will lead to a fork that forces you to make a decision. Which way do I go? Well, well, GPS has certainly made those decisions easier, but maybe you've been driving and your GPS suddenly tells you that there's a major traffic jam ahead, and then you realize that there's an exit coming. I've had this happen several times. Now you've got a decision to make. Do I stay on the road I've been traveling and chance a long wait on the interstate, or do I take the exit and try another way? Sometimes the alter on that route works, but sometimes you get 20 minutes down that road and realize, eh, I should have stayed on the road I was on. Well, life too is filled with forks in the roads, and so is our journey of faith. Sooner or later we'll find ourselves at a place where God's way seems slow, difficult, uncertain, or jammed with traffic, and then another road appears that seems faster, easier, and completely reasonable. Which way do we go? Which way should I go? Well, that's where Abram and Sarai are in Genesis sixteen. They've been walking this road of faith for ten years now. God has promised, and they waited. Nothing has happened. So they wait. Nothing has happened. Now they reached a fork in the road. Do we continue down the road of faith or do we take matters into our own hands? Hmm. That's a pretty good question. Have you been there? I think our text today can help. We begin in verse one of chapter sixteen in Genesis, and the first thing we observe is the fork. The fork in the road. Here it is, it says, Abram's wife Sarah, had not borne any children for him, but she owned an Egyptian slave named Hagar. Sarah said to Abram, Since the Lord has prevented me from bearing children, go to my slave. Perhaps through her I can build a family. And Abram agreed to what Sarah said. Now it's important to notice that this fork in the road was created by the tension between God's promise and their circumstances. This is the tension I want us to see today. God had promised descendants, but Sarai had not borne any children for him. There's the tension. God's promise said one thing, but their circumstances seem to be saying something else. I've been there, haven't you? We believe God, but the circumstances appear to be saying God's not answering, God's not moving. Ten years matters. This wasn't Sarai getting impatient after ten days or even after ten weeks or even ten months. It's been ten years. It's easy for us to criticize Sarai because we know the story and we know that she will finally give birth to Isaac, but she didn't. Sure, we know Isaac is coming. She only knows that she's getting older, and nothing has happened. So an alternative road appears. And here's what's dangerous about it. The road makes sense. It was culturally acceptable, by the way. It was humanly reasonable. It appeared capable of producing exactly what they were waiting for. So all of those things add up. Why not take this road? And you too, and I too have had a point where we're at a fork and what we're thinking about, well, it makes sense, or it's culturally acceptable or humanly reasonable. And really it appears that we can produce exactly what we're waiting for. But now listen, friend, the wrong road doesn't always look wrong. Sometimes it looks reasonable. Sometimes it looks acceptable. Sometimes it makes logical sense, this fork in the rope. The second thing I want you to see is the choice. Verse three. So Abram's wife, Sarai, took Hagar, her Egyptian slave, and gave her to her husband, Abram, as a wife for him. This happened after Abram had lived in the land of Canaan ten years. There's our period, right? He slept with Hagar and she became pregnant. And when she saw that she was pregnant, her mistress became contemptible to her. So there you have it. They're at the fork of the road. Do we trust God or do we come up with our own plan? Well, Sarai makes a decision. She's thinking, perhaps through Hagar, I can build a family. There's the shift. God said, I will. Sarai says, perhaps I can. We often use those words, whether we care to admit it or not. Maybe I can. Here's the fork in the road. It's really the fork between faith and flesh. Faith says, God will. The flesh says, I can make this happen. Now we have to understand, I know this seems like a weird proposition to you and me, because who of us would give our spouse another partner, but that's not that this was culturally acceptable. Children, having an heir was an important thing, and often a servant was used to help produce that air. I'm not saying this is God's intention all along, but this was culturally acceptable. So it was a legitimate decision. Well, after this happens, Abram finally arrives at the same fork. Sarah approaches him with her plan. Abram could have said, Sarah, God made us a promise. We've waited 10 years, we can wait longer. I don't understand what God is doing either, but let's stay on the road to faith. Instead, Abram decided to agree and he opted for the exit ramp. He slept with Hagar. She became pregnant. Their plan worked, or so it seemed. But as a famous football prognosticator on TV likes to say, not so fast, my friend. A successful result doesn't necessarily mean you have made a faithful decision. Hagar's pregnancy could easily have looked like confirmation that it was the right decision, but in fact, it wasn't. This must have been the right decision, right? No. The rest of the chapter reveals otherwise. Look at verse five. Says then Sarai said to Abram, You're responsible for my suffering. I put my slave in your arms, and when she saw that she was pregnant, I became contemptible to her. May the Lord judge between me and you. Abram replied to Sarai, Here, your slave is in your power. Do whatever you want with her. Then Sarai mistreated her so much that Hagar ran away from her. So Abram and Sarai took what looked like a shortcut and discovered it was instead a detour. Hagar's pregnancy led to Sarai feeling contempt toward her. Sarai's contempt led to anger, her anger led to blame, and her blame led to mistreatment. Eventually, Sarai's mistreatment led to Hagar fleeing into the wilderness. One decision at the fork affects everyone. The tendency is to make Hagar the bad apple here. If we're not careful, she becomes merely a prop in Abram and Sarai's bad decision. But actually, she's the vulnerable person here who gets hurt by decisions that she doesn't control. Our faithless choices rarely affect only us. Shortcuts around God's way often create consequences we never saw coming. Years later, the apostle Paul looked back on this story and he wrote to the Galatians in Galatians 4 using Hagar and Sarai as an analogy, contrasting human effort in God's promise. Ishmael represents what human beings can produce through ordinary human means. Isaac represents what only God could accomplish through his promise. So that's the fork in the road. Will I trust what God promised, or will I depend upon what I can produce? Paul concluded his thoughts in Galatians 5.16 by saying, I say then walk by the Spirit, and you will certainly not carry out the desire of the flesh. Stay on the road to faith. Don't take the detour. So let's make some application quickly and we'll settle this for today. Question, are you walking by faith or in the flesh? Where is your fork in the road right now? Maybe you've been praying, but nothing seems to be happening. You've been waiting, but God seems silent. You've tried to be obedient, but God's way just doesn't appear to be working. That's your fork. And now another road has appeared. It's faster. It's easier. Everyone around you says it makes sense. And maybe it's not even obviously wrong. But is it God's road? That's the question. Don't simply ask will this work? Ask, is this the way of faith? Here's today's takeaway. The way of faith isn't always the fastest road, but it's always the right road. You see, faith trusts God and his way even when God's timing seems slow. Maybe you're standing at a fork in the road today. One road requires you to wait, trust, and continue obeying God. The other road looks faster, easier, and perfectly reasonable. Which will you choose? Abraham Sarai remind us of the question isn't simply which road will get me there faster. The question is which road requires me to trust God, and when God's road seems slow, don't take the nearest exit. Stay on the road of faith. Heavenly Father, I'm so glad that when we come to the forks in the road of life or on the pathway of our faith journey, we can be assured that you are there to offer direction. Teach us, Lord, to trust you and not our own understanding. Amen and amen.

SPEAKER_00 11:04

Thanks for joining us today on Formed by the Word. As we journey through the life of Abraham, we're learning together what it means to walk by faith and trust God one step at a time. Wherever you are on your own journey today, remember, the same God who called Abraham is still calling, leading, and faithfully keeping his promises to his people. Pastor Eddie would love to hear how God is using these devotions in your life. Your thoughts and comments are always welcome. Until next time, remember, God barely shows us the whole journey.