Every Choice Has a Consequence
Scripture Reading: Genesis 16:1-12
1 Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. And she had an Egyptian
maidservant whose name was Hagar. 2 So Sarai said to Abram, “See now, the
LORD has restrained me from bearing children. Please, go in to my maid; perhaps
I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram heeded the voice of Sarai. 3 Then Sarai,
Abram’s wife, took Hagar her maid, the Egyptian, and gave her to her husband
Abram to be his wife, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan. 4 So
he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had
conceived, her mistress became despised in her eyes.
5 Then Sarai said to Abram, “My wrong be upon you! I gave my maid into your
embrace; and when she saw that she had conceived, I became despised in her
eyes. The LORD judge between you and me.”
6 So Abram said to Sarai, “Indeed your maid is in your hand; do to her as you
please.” And when Sarai dealt harshly with her, she fled from her presence.
7 Now the Angel of the LORD found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by
the spring on the way to Shur. 8 And He said, “Hagar, Sarai’s maid, where have
you come from, and where are you going?”
She said, “I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai.”
9 The Angel of the LORD said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit
yourself under her hand.” 10 Then the Angel of the LORD said to her, “I will
multiply your descendants exceedingly, so that they shall not be counted for
multitude.” 11 And the Angel of the LORD said to her:
“ Behold, you are with child,
And you shall bear a son.
You shall call his name Ishmael,
Because the LORD has heard your affliction.
12 He shall be a wild man;
His hand shall be against every man,
And every man’s hand against him.
And he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.”
Sarai came up with a really good idea, or so she thought. Since she hadn’t been
blessed with children she thought that maybe she could have children through her
maid, Hagar. In fact, she said please. Then after Hagar saw that she was
pregnant, she began to look down on her, and Sarai gets mad at Abram. Abram
must have been like, whatever! Hagar probably felt like she had achieved higher
status in the household now that she would bear a child for the master of the
house. Maybe she felt like she had some special relationship with Abram now that
she was carrying his child. He’d been intimate with her and it says Sarai gave her
to be his wife so she may have even felt like she should be held on a higher level
than her mistress.
So, when confronted with the dilemma, Abram made it crystal clear where his
loyalty was. He tells his wife to do with her maid what she will. He evidently had no
special place in his heart for Hagar. I can’t imagine how dejected Hagar must have
been the first time Sarai was harsh with her and she glanced at Abram for support
but he just looked away. I can’t imagine why else she would have begun to treat
her mistress badly but that she thought Abram would favor her. So, Hagar runs
away. While sitting by a spring the Angel of the LORD visits her and convinces
her to go back to Sarai. Basically, He tells her that she will be blessed and her
descendants will be plenty.
Now, Sarai had a choice to send her maid in to be with her husband. That choice
had a consequence. Her maidservant became her adversary. Abram had a
choice to accept his wife’s offer to go and lay with her maid. The consequence of
that choice was that much conflict was added to his household. Not just during
this time but for many years to come and after the son God promised would be
given to him. Even Hagar had a choice. She likely didn’t have much say in
whether her master would take her to wife, since she was a slave, but she
definitely had a choice in how she would treat her mistress after she found that
she was with child. Imagine how much things might have been different if she had
remained humble and befriended her mistress. The tension remained between
them for the nearly two decades she remained in Abram's household.
The bottom line here is that every choice has a consequence. God wants us to
come to Him for guidance before we make our choices, and not just afterward to
clean up the mess. When I was young I used to watch Sesame Street. At the time
there was a little short that they would play frequently that was called, ‘What
Happens Next’. In the little cartoon short was a little girl that had a choice to
make. I remember one where she had big balloon and a pin. She stands next to a
sleeping cat with a big grin. Then a big thought bubble opens above her head
and she begins going through the ‘What Happens Next’ sequence. If I pop this
balloon next to the sleeping cat, it will likely scare him so much he’ll jump up might
hit the big cage and knock it over, that may fall on her mother’s table to knock
over her favorite vase, which would make her mother sad. After going through the
process in her mind she would decide to make the better choice not to scare the
cat. Although, it was just a little child’s show, I always remembered it; not that I
always used the principles it taught, though I probably should have.
Can you imagine how differently things may have come out if Adam and Eve had
considered the consequences of their choices? What if Cain had considered his
choice to get angry and take out his frustration on his brother, Abel? If Lot’s wife
had not made the choice to turn back to Sodom, Lot would have had his wife and
his daughters would not have done what was despicable in having children for
their father. Those children, by the way, became an almost constant source of
trouble for the children of Israel during their initial time in the Promised Land. So,
the choice by Lot’s wife had not only an immediate consequence but also one that
would have an effect hundreds of years later. Just as the choices by Abram,
Sarai, and Hagar had an immediate consequence, it also had consequences we
are still feeling today. The next time you turn on a world news program, look at the
conflict in the Middle East. Arabs will call themselves sons of Ishmael the son of
Abram and Hagar, while Jews call themselves sons of Isaac the son of Abraham
and Sarah. As the Angel told Hagar, her son is indeed a wild man and with his
hand against every man, with every man’s hand against him, while he dwells in the
presence of all his brethren. That’s quite a consequence for one poor choice,
huh?
Now, unlike the little girl in the ‘What Happens Next’ shorts from Sesame Street, we
do not have to imagine what might happen next in order to make a good decision.
We have a much more efficient way to make right choices; the Holy Spirit. I’ll close
with some scripture that if received and understood, will help greatly in this area.
I Corinthians 2:10-16
10 But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all
things, yes, the deep things of God. 11 For what man knows the things of a man
except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of
God except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world,
but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely
given to us by God.
13 These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but
which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 14 But the
natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are
foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
15 But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no
one. 16 For “who has known the mind of the LORD that he may instruct Him?” But
we have the mind of Christ.
Sermon by: Denise Baxley
Date: July 16, 2006