I love the Lord, because he heard my voice! Psalm 116:1

Proper 6, Year A

The psalmist proclaims, 

“I love the Lord.  I love the Lord because he heard my prayer.” (Psalm 116:1)  

God listens to each and every supplication. Even when our concerns, wants, and worries are not presented as prayers, God is listening. This Psalm presents the divine human relationship in simple terms: we ask, God answers; we suffer, God relieves; we’re in danger, God protects.  Unfortunately, neither life nor the divine/human relationship is simple. God is not an ATM where believers swipe their baptismal certificate, enter a passcode, and withdraw what we need or want. Life and our relationship with God are complicated.

Abraham and Sarah’s life and relationship with God was complicated. God invited Abraham and Sarah to be the patriarch and matriarch of a nation. A nation chosen by God, not because it would be better than other nations, but because God had a purpose for the nation. God invited Abraham and Sarah to be God’s people so that their relationship with God would demonstrate God’s power, justice, love, and grace to the world. The relationship of God and Israel is similar to the relationship of Jesus and baptized people. Both are intended to bring God’s kingdom on earth, as it is in heaven.

Sarah and Abraham had a problem-they were childless. Nations need people: tribes, clans, and families. Lots and lots of children who grow up to be women and men are needed to make a nation. Over the years of their marriage, Sarah and Abraham had not conceived. How, in their old age, would they conceive enough children to make a nation? They were in a pickle.

Genesis 16 describes how Sarah and Abraham used the norms and culture of their day to get out of this pickle. They forced Hagar, one of their slaves, to be a surrogate mother. When Hagar assumed “making whoopee” with her owner, conceiving his child, getting access to more food, and doing less work made her eligible to become a concubine or co-wife, she was punished. The punishments were so severe that Hagar ran away. For Hagar, the possibility of death in the wilderness was better than the reality of life as Sarah and Abraham’s slave! Abraham and Sarah made the difficult circumstance of their childless marriage more complicated by taking matters into their own hands. They did not take their barren state or the option of surrogacy to the Lord in prayer. God was watching and listening.  Though Hagar had not prayed about the ordeals of her slavery to God, God heard her. God met the pregnant Hagar as she wandered in the wilderness.  This is the only divine/human encounter in the Bible where the human is a female. During that meeting, God told Hagar to return to Abraham and Sarah. Hagar heard and heeded God’s direction, even though God had not given her the solution to her problems that she had wanted.

God sent Hagar back to Abraham and Sarah. She gave birth to a son.  Abraham and Sarah took her child, named him Ishmael, and returned Hagar to her former status and duties. The name Ishmael means “God listens.” Who was God listening to? Was God hearing and responding to Hagar, Abraham, or Sarah’s prayer?  I like to think that God was listening to all of them.

In today’s reading from Genesis, God visits Abraham and Sarah disguised as three men or angels. This visit took place, ten or more years after Ishmael’s birth. So:

“…Abraham and Sarah are older (sic), more (sic) advanced in age; it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. So when Sarah heard the visitors’ predict she would conceive and bear a son she (sic) laughed (sic)…” (Genesis 18:11-12)

As the angels foretold, Sarah conceived and gave birth to a son. Abraham and Sarah named their child Isaac. The name Isaac means “God laughs.”Was God laughing joyfully with Sarah and Abraham? Was God laughing at Hagar and Ishmael furthering their humiliation and suffering? I think God was laughing with all of them. In later stories about Abraham, Sarah, Hagar, and Ishmael, God liberates Hagar and Ishmael and promises to make them a great nation. Abraham and Sarah got what God promised, but it did not end their problems. They continued to make life more complicated by “leaping before looking,” by taking action without taking things to God in prayer. The first lessons for the next few weeks will describe the other complications and problems Abraham and Sarah generate. Right now I want us to return to the Psalm.

The Psalmist declared, “I love the Lord.” Do you love the Lord enough to take everything to the Lord in prayer? Can you resist the temptation like Abraham and Sarah, of taking matters into your own hands? Will you find ways to navigate the trap Hagar fell into, when she assumed nothing and no one could relieve her suffering? I try to take everything to the Lord in prayer: big things like keeping my loved ones safe and little things like helping me find misplaced items. From scripture and experience, I’ve learned that God hears each and every one of my prayers, but does not always respond by giving me what I expect or want. The apostle Paul understood the power and glory of God and the complexity of the divine/human relationship.  He wrote:

“we have peace with God through Jesus Christ… so we can boast in … the glory of God. And not only that, …we can also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint…” (5:1-5)

Life includes suffering. Our relationships with God are complex. God is not an ATM. Jesus is not a good luck charm. Our baptismal certificates are not get out of jail free cards. Paul explained that suffering endured with God produces character. Character that is developed and enhanced through faith formation (worship, service, study, and prayer) generates hope. This sort of hope does not disappoint. This is the sort of hope that gave Sarah and Abraham a child. It is the type of hope that brought justice to Hagar and Ishmael. Hope, rooted in faith, does not disappoint because it is built on the sure foundation of God. Jesus, God incarnate, lived, died and rose from the dead. In Jesus, God demonstrated a truth that God has been communicating since the creation of the world. God can and will make a way, out of no way.  Because God makes a way out of no way, hope rooted in God will be challenged and will never disappoint. What is your hope built on?

“My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness
I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name.  On Christ the solid rock, I stand.
All other ground is sinking sand.
All other ground is sinking sand.”

Our relationships with God, like life, are complicated. Don’t let life’s complications fool you. Don’t allow its complexity to overwhelm you. Take everything to the Lord in prayer. God hears you and God always responds.