“And Sarai Abram’s wife took Hagar her maid the Egyptian after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband to be his wife. And he went in unto Hagar, and she conceived and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes” (Genesis 16:3-4).
The title of the December study is “In His Hands.” I have found this to be true: no matter what our circumstances or lot in life, we can know no safer or warmer place than in God’s Hands.
Our writer introduces the study this way: “The least of the least. Widows. Orphans. Slaves. Foreigners. In the society of Old Testament times, these were the disenfranchised, the welfare cases, the poverty-stricken, the despised, the losers.” In spite of this, we find a merciful God reaching out His Hand to show mercy and grace to these same people.
Our study begins with the story of Hagar, an Egyptian slave. Abram was a very rich man and had possibly bought her to be a handmaid for Sarai while they were in Egypt. Hagar had nothing else going for her. She was nothing more than a piece of property. Hagar’s life changed when Sarai decided to run ahead of God and give her to Abram. Sarai was barren and she knew God’s covenant promise needed an heir. She gave Hagar to Abram to wife. It was a title in name only. What happens next causes Sarai to feel contempt for Hagar. She conceived and would bare Abram a son. Read Genesis 16 for the entire story. It was not God’s plan. We will later learn how God will intervene in Hagar’s life in spite of that fact. Tomorrow we will learn about a young maiden slave who helped her master in his time of need.
Sue Winchester
Missouri
PRAY TOGETHER: Pray for the annual FWB Leadership Conference that begins this afternoon in Nashville, TN.
