Genesis

The intent of this question is to ensure understanding of the events in this passage.

Abraham leaves for a trip into the land of the Philistines. He repeats the same sin as with the Egyptians where he lied about Sarah being his sister rather than his wife. As a result, the king takes Sarah into his harem. When he realizes the truth of Sarah's identity he releases her. Although he is angry with Abraham, he realizes that he is a prophet of God and furthermore enriches him.

Why would Abraham repeat the lie he had told previously?

Answers will vary but the desired response is that Abraham was still weak in his faith. Perhaps the greatest manifestation of this is impatience. Although God had provided multiple examples of His faithfulness to the covenant with Abraham, Abraham still had problems trusting God in difficult circumstances.

We are often this way as well. When we face the point of decision in difficult issues, we often try to take action on our own without realizing the promise that God will help us. We fail to seek God's wisdom through prayer. Acting on faith is expected of us, but we must always ensure that our prayers are in keeping with God's will and with consideration of His promise to respond to our prayers in His time and way.

Although Abraham clearly lied, a violation of God's will, why would God enable him to gain further riches and rewards from this incident?

Perhaps God was showing Abraham that despite his weakened faith, God still held the promise of making Abraham a great man. Abraham's admission of his lie may have been a form of repentance and led to a favorable outcome.

Isaac was born in the same way children have always been born, except for the advanced age of Sarah. The significance of this is that it further demonstrates God's power over nature and His control of the timeline for fulfilling His covenant with Abraham.

Isaac is weaned and Abraham celebrates this occasion with a feast. Sarah perceives that Hagar is mocking her so she has Hagar and Ismael driven from the camp. As Hagar and Ismael wander in the desert, her water runs dry so she sets Ismael aside to wait for him to die. God responds to her distress by promising that Ismael will become a great nation. God provided her with water thus saving their lives. They move on to Egypt where she raises Ismael.

Discuss why Sarah would be jealous of Hagar since she was Abraham's wife and Isaac the heir.

Human nature is strong. Sarah becomes jealous of the attention and position held by Hagar. Perhaps she sees her as a constant reminder of her own personal failure of faith.

Why would God allow another nation to arise that would compete against His people?

This is a challenging thought. Perhaps it was to strengthen Israel by having a constant challenge. It is also very possible that God recognized Hagar's faith through her prayers and saw this as a way to answer her. It may not have been God's intention for the descendants of Ismael to compete with Abraham's descendants. It is very likely that just as with many of us, Satan uses others to divide us and destroy our relationship with God.

Expect various insights into this. The intent is for us to gain greater understanding of grace.

God implemented His laws and expects us to obey them. Grace has always been a part of God's plan, even within legalistic applications. It is seen by His willingness to forgive us and continue with us, even as we fail. This is seen in His faithfulness to Abraham and Sarah when they failed but returned to Him. It is seen in Hagar and Ismael as God recognized Hagar's plea and faith.

In our relationship with God we are asked to accept God's grace by acting upon our faith. God does not require a complete faith but does require us to grow in our faith. The more we grow the more we realize God's love and grace. This should spur us on to greater faithfulness.

We never achieve perfect or complete faithfulness in this lifetime. This is not an excuse to give up, however, it is God's expectation that we learn to seek His will as we make decisions.

All too often we sin by taking matters into our own hands and try to impose our will or desires upon God rather that patiently waiting according to His will. As with Abraham and Sarah, even though they were in an advanced age and had seen God working throughout their lives, they still sinned.

We all face peaks and valleys in our journeys of faith. If we find ourselves in a valley, we should seek to determine what brought us there. If it was of our actions, then we pray for wisdom, correct our actions and bring them back into line with God's will. Sometimes we find ourselves in a valley for reasons beyond our control or as a result of another's poor decisions. In such circumstances we should still pray and ask God for wisdom to leave the valley. We should also pray for patience to bear under while in the valley and not just pray to leave.

A point of note, the richest soil is found in valleys. If we find ourselves in a valley, in addition to seeking a way out, look also for how we can glorify God and teach others of His greatness. In doing so we are working as God wills. Scripture is full of examples of God's people remaining faithful in the deepest of life's valleys. A great example is found in the book of Hebrews. The men and women mentioned here are faithful, "And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect." (Hebrews 11:39-40 ESV). God has given us the fulfilled promise of hope and life through Jesus.