Genesis 17:15-22 And God said to Abraham, As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be.… I. THE DARLING WISHES OF MEN ARE NOT ALWAYS GRATIFIED BY GOD. II. A REASONABLE EXPLANATION OF THIS REJECTION OF ISHMAEL CAN BE SUGGESTED. 1. God had other purposes in view, from which He would not depart to gratify the wishes of the best man living. 2. The purpose of God was associated with righteousness, whereas Ishmael originated in a pitiful, immoral expedient. Many a failure in the individual life, and church life, and national life, is rooted in the rank, poisonous manure of wrong-doing. 3. The blessing of God was in connection with Isaac, the glad meditative son of peace. It is in vain that we try to force the hand of Providence if our heart is set on Ishmael, the offspring of our human passion and impatience. III. GOD WILL, IN AN UNEXPECTED SENSE, ANSWER OUR PETITIONS. Look at the answer that came to Abraham's prayer. It had already been predicted that he was to be "a wild man, his hand against every man," etc. Now still further comes this guarantee. "...I will make him a great nation." Abraham's gift of intercession was not an unqualified good. If his supplication had not been successful, much misery might have been spared to himself, his family, his nation, and humanity at large. Can anyone calculate the mischief that has been created by the existence of Ishmael in the world? (W. J. Acomb,) Parallel Verses KJV: And God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be. |
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