Genesis 16: The God Who Sees
Reading through Genesis 16 reminded me of this… from Spring Luncheon 2009.
… I believe God has a word for us of comfort, of hope, of life, from Hagar’s story today.
So let’s do a quick overview of what we know about Hagar. Abraham and Sarah, right? You with me? God tells Abraham, when he’s 75 years old, Go to a land I will show you, and I will make you a great nation (i.e. the Jews) and your descendents will be like the stars in the sky. Now in order for your descendents to be like the stars you have to start with what? A child. Yes! In fact, the name Abram means Exalted Father, and Abraham means Father of Multitudes. But, they had no children. So that was a really annoying name to have, right? Kind of like a cruel joke. “Hi I’m Father of Multitudes” “Oh, where are your kids?” Yeah.
Hagar is Sarah’s maidservant. Her slave. On their journey, Abraham and Sarah had gone to Egypt during a famine, so it’s likely that they picked Hagar up there and she left her home and traveled with them. So we jump into the story in Genesis chapter 16 and by this time Abraham and Sarah have waited ten years so far for children, ten years to see God fulfill his promise. Abraham’s 86 now. And they’re growing a little tired of waiting. Anybody relate? So Sarah, who’s 76, comes up with this ingenious idea: V.2 so she said to Abram, “The LORD has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my maidservant; perhaps I shall obtain children through her.”. Does that strike anyone else as the most asinine idea on the planet?? This is her husband. The only way I can understand Sarah having this idea is that she was delirious with desire for a child. And that’s not our main point here today but I believe somebody here needs to hear that. Ladies, we can be so emotionally driven by a desire for something we do unthinkably stupid things. Anybody been there? Sarah’s 76 years old, and she takes Hagar who is probably a young girl—like a high schooler. I don’t even like my husband talking to younger women…Talk about setting yourself up for some jealousy and insecurity in your marriage! It says Abraham listened to Sarah and went into Hagar and she conceived. Now just so we can understand the emotional climate right now. Imagine Sarah’s insecurity now—hmmm. Abraham agreed to my plan a little too readily. Was he just doing his duty??? Hmm. You cannot tell me that now Sarah & Hagar’s relationship isn’t absolutely ruined. You introduce sin, everybody loses. And while yes, a main point of this story is the sin of taking matters into our hands, the story doesn’t end here!! We say, “Don’t make an Ishmael” but there’s so much more to the story.
And I can just imagine Hagar hearing all the sermons on this passage, “See don’t make an Ishmael.” And I can almost hear her shout from the page, “This is my LIFE! I’m a WOMAN here.” Read More
57 Days
Noah was quite the guy. Every time I read through Genesis 6-9 I’m amazed at his obedience and encouraged by the favor that he found in the eyes of the Lord. This time reading through I was encouraged by this one little tidbit.
57 days of waiting. After all that crazy rain for 40 days and 40 nights, it still took a long time for the water to subside–150 days according to chapter 7 verse 24. We know that Noah sent out the raven to see if land was dry, and eventually the raven flew away and Noah knew the waters had subsided. But then, on the first day of the first month of the year, Noah removed the cover of the ark and saw that the face of the ground was dry. DRY. Can you imagine how crazy stinkin’ excited he must have been after being in that horrid smelly boat, seasick and rocking up and down on the swells of water? He had been in that thing for months with all those animals and I can only imagine that the sight of DRY land must have been about the most exciting in the world. I would have been going crazy with excitement!
So after all that waiting, after sending out the raven and having it find dry land, after all those “signs” that things were ready, Noah opens the ark and sees that the face of the earth is finally DRY and so he…. jumps for joy and throws open the door and runs out to the dry land. Right? Nope! He doesn’t. He doesn’t do that at all. Chapter 8 verse 14 tells us that in the second month, on the 27th day of the month, God said to Noah, “Go out from the ark…”
For 57 days he waited in that ark–on bone dry land.
Now, I can see how it would have been hard waiting for the waters to subside, but it certainly would not have been tempting to jump out of the boat. When the ark rested on Mount Ararat (8:4), that would have been a bit more tempting. When they saw the tops of the mountains (8:5), that would have been a little more tempting, when the raven flew away, that would have been really tempting. But when Noah could look straight outside and see that the earth was DRY. Not that’s when I would have made a run for it. Get me out of here!
But he waited for God’s voice.
For 57 days.
For 57 days he waited inside that ark–sitting on dry land–to hear God’s voice telling him to go.
How could Noah do that? How could he have the discipline and resolve to wait?
He had learned not to trust his own eyes.
He had learned that his own perspective would not allow him to follow God’s voice. When God told him to build an ark, it sounded crazy. Everyone thought it was crazy. A flood?! It had never even rained!
But Noah looked with eyes of faith and listened to God’s voice.
So now he was simply doing what he’d already practiced for hundreds of years before (he was 601-years-old at this time!).
Perhaps if I had 600 years to practice I’d be a little better at waiting. With just 30 years of practice I’m not very good. So often, SO often, when God leads me to do something, I just jump jump jump and am ready to get going. I don’t understand when he makes me wait. Just even today I was saying to Jeff, “Why hasn’t anyone bought our house?! I thought God told us to sell it! I don’t understand!” Well, perhaps I’m supposed to sit in the ark, for 57 days, on dry land, with a bunch of stinky animals, and wait for God’s voice.
Noah did it. We can do it.
I pray that I, that we, learn to wait on God’s voice. It may LOOK like everything is ready. It may SEEM like the timing is perfect. The earth may look bone dry, but only God’s voice can tell us when the time is right.
We must wait on His voice. I pray for the grace to do that, today.
Frugal Friday: How to make stock and what to do with it
Thanks, Emily for the request on stock how-to and uses.
Making homemade stock seems to be one of the cheapest, easiest ways to get great nutrients into our bodies. Buying whole chickens is cheap, roasting them is (relatively) easy, and making stock is really easy. Plus, having it on hand can make simple healthy cooking so much more convenient.
You can find great directions and recipes at most any cooking website. All I do is this:
Chicken:
- Thaw a whole chicken, rinse. Cut slits in skin and stuff chopped garlic underneath. Stuff chicken with onions, fresh rosemary, any other herbs that are handy and sound good. Drizzle olive oil over the whole bird. Roast until done (based on weight of bird: 20 minutes per pound plus 20 minutes at 350 degrees. Use a meat thermometer.) Let rest 10 minutes or so before cutting so juices soak in.
- Be a barbarian and get all the meat off. Dutch loves eating chicken off the bone, so I let him join me and get him little scraps. It is gross or fun depending upon how you look at it. Try to tell yourself it’s fun. 🙂
- I shred all the chicken, leave out what we will use in the next few days, and freeze the rest in 1 cup portions in ziplock baggies. This makes it SO easy to add protein to any meal, soup, stirfry, sandwiches, whatever. I love pre-measuring everything I freeze so it’s easy to add the right amount.
Stock:
- Dump everything–carcass, skin, all the fat and drippings and everything, scrape it all out of the roasting pan into a big pot. Add roughly chopped vegetables (I use carrots, onion, garlic, but celery is good too). Cover completely with water.
- Cook on low. When I tried this years ago I think I cooked it too fast and it turned out cloudy and greasy and gross. I guess cooking it slowly draws the nutrients out of the bones. (Experts out there? Correct me if I’m wrong.)
- Bring to low boil and skim off the “scum” that rises to the top. You can cook it for 4 hours or 24 hours, however long you want. Cooking it down will obviously make it more concentrated. I usually just roast the chicken first thing in the morning, eat some for lunch, and cook stock all afternoon and have it cooled enough to put in freezer by the time I go to bed.
- After it cooks, just pour it through a colander into another pot or jars or however you’re going to store it. I just freeze it in small portions (about the size of a 14 oz. can) and that way I can just add it to rice, barley, soup, pasta, whatever. Last night for dinner I was in a pinch and just cooked barley in chicken stock (right in the rice-cooker) and served that with Parmesan cheese on top and carrot sticks. Not fancy but at least it was nutritious!
What to do with it?
So, you have all this stock. What to do with it? Here are some of my favorite ways to use it up. It’ll go fast!
Quick ideas and simple substitutions:
- My kids love just simple whole-wheat pasta and chopped carrots cooked in chicken stock. It makes a quick and easy soup, but Dutch just calls it “noodles”.
- Cook your rice or barley in chicken stock instead of water.
- Cook your dried beans in the crockpot in chicken stock instead of water.
Favorite Recipes:
Herbed Chicken and Dumplings (Just use the shredded chicken (from above) and this comes together in a flash.
Tarragon Chicken-in-a-pot Pies (With or without tarragon this is delicious. This is also a great way to use that frozen zucchini from last summer!)
Chicken Vegetable Soup (I skip the parsnips and turnips. The leeks make this delicious! Just use shredded chicken (from above) and your homemade stock.)
Winter Lentil Soup (You can tweak this soup to use anything. I don’t usually use tomatoes, and often substitute frozen spinach if I don’t have kale on hand–and who usually has kale on hand? I always add chopped carrots or carrot puree.)
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Do you have any secret ways for making delicious stock, or favorite recipes for using it? Let us know!
Did God Really Say?
Well, nothing like cramming in 22 chapters of Revelation on the last 2 days of the year. But even if it was a quick read, I’m sure thankful that the end is secure–Jesus is coming back! He will make all things new and wipe every tear from our eyes. We have a hope and a future and can rest secure.
And now, back to Genesis! If any of you are game, I’d love for you to join me this year reading through the Bible. It only takes 4 chapters a day, and I’m hoping that by journalling/writing a bit more on my daily Bible reading that it will help me be consistent and I won’t have to cram in all of Revelation before heading out the door to a New Year’s Eve party. Just 4 chapters a day — will you join me?
So, Genesis. What stood out to me from chapter 3 were the first few words of Satan’s initial temptation.
He begins by saying, “Did God really say?…” I’ve thought often of how this is such clear example of Satan twisting God’s words, using half-truths to get us off track, to paint God in a bad light and make us believe He is not looking out for our good.
But here’s another consideration.
Time lapse.
We have no idea how much time goes by from Genesis 2:25–Adam and Even chillin’ naked in the garden–to Genesis 3:1 with Satan on the scene. Probably not too long since they didn’t have any kids yet and I’m guessing that two naked people in a garden all by themselves are probably going to get some kids pretty quick. But, it could have been some length of time. Even just a couple months.
Long enough for one’s memory to become blurry.
Sometimes I wonder if Satan can use this tactic on us, not to make us question something we see clearly in scripture, but perhaps make us doubt a conviction that we previously held. Often we are convicted or convinced or challenged by the Lord to do something. We follow through, for awhile. But then things get tough, or a temptation or challenge arises. And I know that all too often I find myself thinking, “Did God really say?…” Was I really sure about that conviction or that thing I felt called to do? Perhaps it was just an emotional high… perhaps it was just for that season. Perhaps I don’t really need to follow through on that now. Did God really say I needed to do that?
The first lesson of course is to be careful what we commit to, but I think the Genesis lesson for me today is to be careful, oh so careful, not to let a time lapse make my memory of God’s prompting fade, leaving room for the enemy to tempt me into forgetting my conviction.
What a great lesson at the onset of a New Year. A great reminder as I pray about New Year’s goals. We must be so careful to set godly goals and know what His Word tell us to pursue. That way we can write it in stone and know what when we are tempted to think, “Did God really want me to do that? Did He really challenge me to follow through with that?” we can hopefully, be grace, refuse the temptation and remain faithful to whatever our God has called us to do.
In a world of hasty vows and rash commitments, I pray that God helps us to take His Word seriously, to wait on Him, and to ask Him for our marching orders each day, each year. Then when we here a soft whisper say, “Did God really say?” We can answer emphatically, YES!
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What things is God clearly calling you to in 2011? How will you remain faithful to those things in the face of temptation?