Human’s Impatience and God’s Plan — Genesis 16 Daily Word

Explore Genesis 16 and discover how Abram and Sarai’s human plans conflicted with God’s promise. Learn why faith in God’s timing matters more than our own solutions.

Genesis 16:1-6 Daily Word

1. [Scripture]

[1] Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. She had a female Egyptian servant whose name was Hagar. [2] And Sarai said to Abram, “Behold now, the LORD has prevented me from bearing children. Go in to my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. [3] So, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her servant, and gave her to Abram her husband as a wife. [4] And he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, she looked with contempt on her mistress. [5] And Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done to me be on you! I gave my servant to your embrace, and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked on me with contempt. May the LORD judge between you and me!” [6] But Abram said to Sarai, “Behold, your servant is in your power; do to her as you please.” Then Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she fled from her. (Gen 16:1-6, ESV)

2. Daily Word

In Genesis 15:1, God appeared to Abram in a vision and said to him, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.” Although Abram’s faith was gradually growing, we can see that it still wavered like a reed in the wind. This anxiety over the son God had not yet given him eventually led Abram to designate Eliezer, who had grown up in his household, as his heir.

However, in Genesis 15:4, God declares that Eliezer would not be Abram’s heir, but rather a son who would come from Abram’s own body. God then brought Abram outside and showed him the countless stars, saying, “So shall your offspring be.” At that, the Scripture records that Abram believed the LORD. Seeing this faith, God passed through the pieces of the covenant alone — the covenant of curse — on Abram’s behalf. What God desired from man in this covenant was nothing other than faith directed toward Him.

It was on the basis of this faith that verse 18 promises: “On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, ‘To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates.'”

# Entering Chapter 16, the narrative turns to the story of Sarai.

In this passage, we see that Sarai, at the very same point in time as Abram, also displays a wavering faith. And the direction that this wavering faith leads to is action driven not by God’s will, but by human reasoning and desire. The most painful reality in the life’s journey of this couple — Abram and Sarai — was the inability to have children.

What is significant, however, is that God had promised that the heir would come through Abram. Yet after so long without a child, Sarai says in verse 2: “Behold now, the LORD has prevented me from bearing children. Go in to my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children by her.” And the text records that Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.

The method Abram chose for securing an heir was to designate a trusted servant from among his household as his successor. However, Sarai proposed a more pragmatic alternative: a child born of Abram himself should receive the inheritance. Her solution was to have Abram father a son through a concubine.

In fact, it was not unusual in the customs of that era for a maidservant to bear a son on behalf of her mistress when the mistress was unable to bear children, so that the family line could continue. Moreover, since the child would still carry Abram’s seed, it was thought that no problem would arise. This is why verse 2 records that Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. Before long, Hagar conceived by Abram.

The fact that Hagar conceived Abram’s seed carries a significance far greater than the simple birth of Abram’s child — it marks the beginning of the history of a new nation, set in motion by the word of God.

At this point, Hagar’s behavior draws our attention. Despite her status as a servant, Hagar mistakenly believed that conceiving Abram’s child had elevated her standing from slave to mistress. She therefore began to despise her own mistress, Sarai. Sarai then ran to Abram and said in verse 5: “May the wrong done to me be on you! I gave my servant to your embrace, and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked on me with contempt. May the LORD judge between you and me!” In other words, Sarai was saying that the maidservant Hagar was spitting in the faces of them both equally, and that she needed to know where she truly stood.

Abram then comforted Sarai and said, “Behold, your servant is in your power; do to her as you please.” Then Sarai dealt harshly with Hagar, and Hagar fled from her presence.

The lesson we receive from this passage is that there is a clear difference between the work God accomplishes and the work that arises from human will.

The work by which God fulfills what He has promised is carried out through His providence, and there is no place beyond the reach of His hand. What seems impossible to us, God makes possible. Therefore, the gift He gives to those who live according to His answer is this: peace.

However, whenever people cannot wait for what they are meant to receive and instead take matters into their own hands, problems always arise. Conflicts emerge in relationships and in the process itself, and in the midst of those conflicts, a variety of unnecessary emotions surface and cause things to go wrong.

This passage begins with Sarai’s misplaced belief — specifically, her conclusion that “God has not allowed me to bear children.” While Sarai’s thinking was very much grounded in reality, what she first needed to know and believe was that God is the One who makes the impossible possible and transcends what seems realistic.

Therefore, the most important truth in this passage is that God’s word comes to pass through the faith of unwavering conviction within us. May you believe that when we hold complete confidence toward the Lord, He grants us joy and peace, and may today be a day filled with His grace.

Weakness of faith, God’s promise, human planning, the consequences of impatience, Abraham’s faith

Originally published in Korean at bible2u.com