Open your Bibles, please, to Genesis 16. This beginning book of the Bible lays an all-important foundation for us. It begins with what I believe is the great reality in all of life, and that is that there is a God. And He created all things. And in this book, the Lord continues to reveal His character, His work. He shows us grace. He shows us mercy. He shows us salvation. And though we have taken a number of weeks off in our study in Genesis, we return again this morning. And I want to remind you that Genesis 16 follows Genesis 15. And Genesis 15 is filled with that truth of God's character, and it is expressed in the establishment of a covenant. In that chapter, Abram came to God and said, What will you give me? And God said, I will give you an heir. And Abram said, How do I know? that these things are true. And that's when God said, you stand aside. And Abram had done something for God, not that God needed his help, but Abram had gathered a number of animals and divided the larger ones in two and separated them there on the ground. And at the end of Genesis 15, you find this most remarkable story unfolding where the Bible tells us that and horror came over Abram. Similar to a nightmare, but yet it was It was not so much that he was terrified in the sense that we are terrified by bad dreams. He was in awe of what he witnessed. The burning lamp, smoking furnace appeared in front of Abram. This was God. And God walked between the pieces of those animals. Now, in Old Testament times, when agreements were struck, two parties walked together through the pieces of an animal. And they were saying, if I do not uphold my end of the deal, let me be dismembered. God does not walk through shoulder to shoulder with His servant Abram. He says, you stand here and get the point, Abram. And get the point, people of God. How serious is God about keeping His promises and upholding His Word? He says, let me be dismembered if I cannot be trusted. Now we come to Genesis 16. After that grand climax. And I want to read the opening verses here. Now Sarai, Abram's wife, bear him no children. And she had an handmaid, an Egyptian whose name was Hagar. And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold, now the Lord hath restrained me from bearing. I pray thee, go in unto my maid. It may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai. 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 Abram to be his wife. And he went in unto Hagar, and she conceived." We're going to stop our reading there for just a moment. And I want you to feel the weight of this story in the context of Genesis 15. Abram says, God, what will you give me? God says, I'll give you an heir. How do I know? God says, let me be dismembered if I can't be trusted. And then time begins to elapse. Ministry to people is God's call in my life. I will always have a special place in my heart for ministry to teenagers. It is where God began to work out. His call. It is a wonderful thing to see teenagers grow. To move from adolescence to adulthood. But frankly, some of what I love about teenagers is that they are often, often unpredictable. No other population can dream so foolishly and sensibly at the same time. No other population on the planet can observe so carelessly and astutely at the same time. No other group can act valiantly in one moment and recklessly in the next. They live exuberantly and they live pessimistically. They love passionately and they love selfishly. They give generously and they give sparingly. And the only thing predictable about them is that they are unpredictable. I think part of the reason I love teenagers, even though I am out of that particular ministry, is that they remind me of me. Many of us in all reality have an adolescent faith. And by that, I mean we have a faith that is at once in the same time sensible and foolish, that is valiant and reckless, that is exuberant at times and pessimistic and doubting at others that can be passionate and can be selfish, that can be predictable and yet unpredictable. It is important for us to remember in coming to Genesis 16 that we are dealing with spiritual adolescence. God has not yet changed Abram's name. He has not yet changed Sarai's name. It is important for us to remember not just Genesis 15, but going back to Genesis 12, There is a pattern developing here and it is a pattern of a faith that is growing. It is amazing to me to see the cycle developing that in the early chapters of of Abram's history, you see a man who was called out of his homeland and out of idolatry. His faith is tested and he responds and he succeeds. And on the heels of that, his faith is tested again, for in the promised land, food and water and crops dry up and famine overtakes the land and the young man in faith is tested and he fails and he goes to Egypt and the world for his food. But God in grace intervenes and he brings that young man in the faith back into the promised land and establishes him there. And another test of faith comes. And this man who is trying to do his best for the Lord, for his honor and glory in the land, gets into a quarrel with his nephew Lot. And faith finds a way through that difficult time and he succeeds. Then his nephew is taken captive and faith says, Go attack those armies. Get those kings and rescue your nephew. And faith triumphs. And then we have already recounted the story of Genesis 15 and what God has done there that would build this man's faith. But here we go in chapter 16, another conflict, another test of faith. And it demonstrates to us as the people of God that the believer's faith is rigorously tested throughout life. I grow a little frustrated with myself that I grow impatient and frustrated with my own testing. There's part of me that really expects to wake up one morning and to live an easy life, and I can't tell you why. Lord, maybe tomorrow will be the day where I don't feel any temptation from within or without. Maybe tomorrow will be the day where phone calls come into church just of rejoicing and blessing and pastor just wanted to share with you. Maybe tomorrow will be the day where I will treat my family as they long to be treated and they will treat me as I long to be treated. That's ridiculous. Sanctification continues. It's a process. And what I should be saying is maybe tomorrow will be the day that Jesus comes and rescues us all from this nonsense. Until then, Lord, help me to believe. I'm just filled up at times with unbelief. Beloved, our faith is at all times, in all seasons, tested rigorously. Now, here's the good news. We're not alone in that testing. Now, before we get to that part of it, I want you to see how this adolescent faith of Abram and Sarai is being tested. It's being tested sorely. This is not an easy test. God has said, I'll give you an air. Time is passing. Apparently, from this verse and even verse three from from Genesis 16, one in Genesis 16, three. Time has passed since God walked between the pieces of those animals and said, let me be dismembered if I do not keep my word. Sarah and Abram. We're not having children. And for you who have been in this particular situation, you know singularly the grief and pressure that comes to bear upon your heart. And some of you have felt a certain sense of desperation, and you must not look at Abram or Sarai and judge them harshly, but you must find yourself in that passage and say, what would I do if even with the promise of God, not to mention the desires of my own heart, I found that things were not going the way they were supposed to go? Their faith is being tested through hard conflict. Sarah is barren. Look at what Sarai does, though. Verse 2, she says unto Abram, Behold, now the Lord hath restrained me from bearing. Do you know she's right? I don't think she said it in the way that our perspective allows us to read it, but she is right. God had done it. I think she is saying that more by way of blame. And it's obvious that this conflict, this testing of faith is opening a door and she has invited doubt to come in. In her mind, two options remain. One, remain childless. Or two, find another way. What this woman cannot see at this point is that God has a purpose even in the restraining. of her womb. Let me stop right here and ask this question. What is the conflict in your world of faith today? What tests your belief sorely? Is it your joblessness? Is it the dissatisfaction you feel in your particular career path? Is it the conflict in your marriage relationship? Is it the call of God to say, be patient, I want you to do this, but you must wait until the right time? It may be any number of things that God in His sovereign purpose has ordained or allowed to come to bear upon you. But beloved, I'll guarantee you that every person here is either in the midst of this kind of pressure or will very soon face it. Be careful. Because the two options that Sarah saw were not the only options. Faith is tested through this conflict. Faith is also tested through its culture. Our culture will test our faith. What do I mean? Well, look at the next verses as they unfold here. Sarai not only says, the Lord hath restrained me from bearing, verse 2, I pray thee, go in unto my maid. It may be that I may obtain children by her. It's hard for us to understand this because we don't live in a culture of concubines or multiple wives. And the thought has already created an offense for many of you, but let me let me tell you very simply that what Sarah is suggesting was common practice. There are at least four non religious texts that have been uncovered by archaeologists from that time period that demonstrate this as a common practice. All of them show that the legal custom made it clear that a barren wife could give her maid to her husband as a wife, and that a son born of that union could be the heir if the husband ever declared him to be. Nobody would bat an eye about this. And so this solution comes straight out of their culture. There would not be one person in the land of Canaan who would look at Abram and Sarai and think that they had done something horrible and evil and wicked. As a matter of fact, some of them might have said, what took you so long to come to your senses? So Sarai offers this handmaid, now who is Hagar? Well, all that the Bible tells us in this passage is that she is an Egyptian. It's likely that she was part of that Gift that Pharaoh made to Abram when he expelled him from Egypt. Likely. Bible doesn't tell us conclusively. With our understanding of Genesis, though, when we put this in the larger concept, we need to go back to Genesis one and two and three and gather up some of the truth that God taught us there about the marriage union. What did he say at the end of Genesis 2? Therefore, on the basis of how I've created Adam and Eve and put them in the garden and given them a task and brought them together for her to be the helper suitable to him, a man shall leave father and mother and cleave unto his wife and they, the two of them, shall be one, one flesh. We know that God has taught us that that was one of the first profound and important conclusions he drew himself from his word. We carry this forward and we say, what's happened? What is happening here? How can this wife introduce another woman into the equation? Well, she can do it on the basis of cultural expectation. But for the people of God, it ought not to be. And she, this woman who is designed to be the helper for her man, she becomes the stumbling block. Now, before we pin it all on Sarai and say, what an evil woman, what a godless, faithless woman, we need to say, Abram, Abram, stop it right here. But as we continue, we see Abram does not stop at the end of verse 2, and Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai. This is terrible. I'll tell you why it's terrible. It's the same language that God used in Genesis 3 when He disciplined Adam and spoke to him. Do you remember in Genesis 3, verse 17, where God says, unto Adam, He said, because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife. You could make a very good case that it means literally obeyed the voice of his wife. God went on to say, because of this, cursed is the ground for thy sake. In sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life. You have both parties, frankly, who forsake God's way. Yes, it's hard. And humanly speaking, I am sympathetic. But God is not saying, just be a human, do the best you can, and I'll get back with you later. No, He steps in to our lives with this Word. It is life. It's alive. It's powerful. It's sharper than any two-edged sword. It pierces a dividing asunder of soul and spirit and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of our hearts. You want to know what God wants for you? You want to know what His will is? It's right here in black and white. You say, but Abram and Sarai didn't have the advantage of of this revealed word on the page. No, they didn't. God just came down and spoke to them personally. And God never said, Sarai, I know it's been hard for you. I've got I've got a solution to the problem. You have both people who are leaving God's path, you have a wife who, instead of being a helper, becomes a hindrance. And you have a husband who relinquishes his God-given responsibility. Abram should have stopped and said, Sarah, I spent a little time with God. I know you weren't there. You didn't participate in that awesome dream. But God told me, I'm going to give you an heir. And when I said, how will I know? He said, on the basis of this covenant. We're not doing that. Abram was more in tune to a culturally relevant suggestion. than a godly and difficult step of faith. This is one of the most disappointing verses to me in Abram's story. Verse 3 says that Sarai took Hagar, gave him to Abram, and then the Bible continues in verse 4 that he went in unto her and she conceived. In the third place, faith is tested by circumstance. What's amazing to me is that the thing they had hoped would happen, happened. But as is often the case when we human beings exercise our wisdom and our best judgment apart from God, that even the things we hope will happen are not really the things we want to happen. Do you see why I liken this to adolescent faith? It's up, it's down. This side to that side. Runs forward, runs backward. I mean, it's just all over the place at this point. The two who should be one flesh, pursuing the will of God together, seek an alternative. A third party is introduced and it's been chaos and difficulty and conflict ever since. And frankly, this is the kind of activity that precipitated the expulsion of man and woman from the Garden of Eden. And when I read this, even though I know the rest of the story, know how it's going to turn out, I still force myself at this point to stop and I take a deep breath and I say, Oh, Lord, God, don't expel this elect family from the promised land. Please, God, don't do it. And what unfolds here is a very hard circumstance where this Handmade Hagar becomes proud and she despises that as she looks down upon Sarah. And you know what? Who wouldn't? She's been in position, been in a an inferior position for maybe 10 years. Sarah is queen of that household, and it's a big household. She despises Sarai. She held her as of little account. She was carrying the child of Abraham, a powerful, even godly man. So in a sense, we can understand how Hagar would become full of pride. But at this point, it seems to me that the faith of this man and woman and even this handmaid is not growing and thriving, it is withering. But once again, the light of the gospel, the light of God's glory breaks into this story. And this is the hope for people like us whose faith is tested severely. Here is the hope, not that these people turned it around in and of their in and of their own strength, but that God, because of his covenant, intervenes and he Divinely protects his promises. Do you see what's taking place here? Abram is supposed to trust the promise of God because God's going to not only give him an heir, but through that heir, Messiah will come. Now there's another conflict. I mean, this is on the level of Abram's giving Sarah away to Pharaoh. How could the one who was supposed to be the mother of the promise seed bring the promise seed if she's not under Abram's house? Now, Abram abandons this woman, takes up another woman, and just begins to foul the whole thing up. The promises of God are at stake. And beloved, you can be assured, whenever the promises of God are at stake, He will do whatever is necessary to protect and keep them. It is my intention at this point to strike a blow at this man-centered thinking that permeates the church that says, if we don't do it, who will? Somebody. I do not say that so that you can feel comfortable, absolved of your responsibility to be a witness, to live the gospel in your home, in your community. But you have got to realize you are not the center of the universe. This church is not the center of the universe. God Almighty is. I am weary of hearing people say, if Abraham hadn't, where would we be? You know what? Abraham didn't. And where are we? Bigger issue is, if God hadn't, where would we be? If God hadn't intervened right at this point, where would we be? Not where we are. And this mighty God, this divine, covenant-making, covenant-keeping God steps right into their world. Now, what do I mean? Well, look at the next verses here, and let's move quickly, because this is exciting. After this child is conceived, Sarah and Hagar have this great conflict. Sarah is abusing this woman. Faith of everybody is falling apart. And verse seven is glorious. The angel of the Lord found her. Who are we talking about? Hagar. She just hightails it out of there. Maybe she's trying to make her way back to Egypt, but beloved, she's gone down into the desert. You don't go down into the desert unless you're prepared to go into the desert or you mean to go into the desert or you're so desperate that the desert is a superior choice to where you are. And I think for her, it's the latter. Who is this angel? Well, in the first place, what the Bible is going to show us is that he is the protector of the covenant. This is his first appearance in all of Scripture, but it is not the only appearance, and there are marvelous appearances of the angel of the Lord. A number of them that come here in Genesis at critical times. He will appear again in Genesis 16, 7. He will appear again in Genesis 22, 11 and 15 on Mount Moriah when Abraham is about to sacrifice the promised son. He will appear again in Genesis 24, verses 7 and 40. And there he precedes the servant who is sent to find Isaac, a wife. But in Genesis 31 and in Genesis 41, 48, the scriptures identify the angel of the Lord. He is God's messenger, but he's not just any messenger. And if you've heard this before, then act like you haven't, because you need to feel the freshness of it at this point. It's high drama, beloved. This angel is none other than Jehovah himself. Now, Genesis 31, verses 11 through 13, identifies the angel as the God of Bethel. That is the God who came and met with Jacob, the God who there said, I am the Lord. That's the L.O.R.D. with capital letters. I'm Jehovah. In Genesis 48, verses 15 through 16, Jacob, in passing this blessing on to Joseph's sons, identifies the angel who has blessed him and been used of God as God. So this is not a messenger in the sense that Michael or Gabriel or other angels have been sent by God as divine messengers at key times. This is God Himself. This is why it makes sense to me when I read the writings of theologians like Gerardus Vos, where he writes, the angel's appearance stood from the beginning in the service of redemption. It is but natural that the execution of important movements of redemption should be assigned to Him. Did you get that? Important movements of redemption should be assigned to him. You know why you assign important movements of redemption to the angel of the Lord? Because he is God. That means he is not an adolescent. He's not unpredictable. He doesn't have mood swings. He doesn't have purpose swings. He doesn't have life swings. He is what he is today, yesterday, today and forever. And so when you have critical matters that must be handled, who do you entrust them to? God himself. I know that in some in some respects, it seems illogical to say that God is entrusting to God his purposes, but that's the point of the story. And so if my redemption is dependent upon a great man like Abram, as great as he was, I am still doomed. You know why? Because Abram goes like this. Success does it right. Failure, success, failure. And it's going to be all that. It's going to be like that all the way through his life. Even great men and women of faith are at times weak in faith or even outright faithless. Even great men and women are broken and flawed and cracked and morally deficient creatures. And you know something, if you're in this room for the first time wondering what kind of people are in this church, we are people like Abram. We are cracked and flawed and broken and morally deficient. But do you know something? We know a Christ and we serve a Christ who is not broken or flawed or cracked or morally deficient. He is perfect. And my life is hidden in Him. And so my hope for getting to heaven is not based on how many good works I can pile up against my bad works. I'm not even keeping score. And you don't have to either. Because God, at another critical time, in the fullness of time, sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law to redeem those who themselves were under the law. What a great Savior. So the angel is not only God's messenger, he is God. Now, secondly, the angel comes not only to protect the covenant, but he comes to protect a Gentile. Look at verse 8. How amazing is this? And the angel says, Hagar, Sarai's handmaid, whence camest thou? And whither wilt thou go? Something here that's reminiscent of the question God asked Adam and Eve, where are you, Adam? When they had sinned and they were fleeing from the Garden of Eden in the same way this woman is fleeing from the household that has protected and cared for her for many years. And the angel of the Lord, who is God, comes and says, where are you coming from and where are you going? All she can do is answer the first question. I'll tell you where I'm coming from. She said, I flee from the face of my mistress, Sarah, and she had good reason. The Bible told us earlier, and we did not spend time in this passage, but Sarah abused her. What does that mean? We don't know. She humbled her, though. Maybe she did it verbally, maybe she did it physically, maybe she relegated her to the to the status of a very base slave in the household. We do not know. But all we know is that this woman was in deep pain and hurt and she was carrying a child. Many of you ladies would relate to what she was experiencing physically. Can you relate to what she was experiencing emotionally? I'm carrying a child and now I have no home. I'm carrying a child and I have no resources. I don't have the strength to make it back home to Egypt. There are a lot of bad people that stand between me and Egypt. And though the Bible does not record a prayer that she prayed, it nonetheless tells us some very important things. And this messenger of God intervenes, steps right into the desert land of Hagar's life and says, Where are you coming from and where are you going? But more importantly, after she answers, the angel says in verse nine, Return to thy mistress and submit thyself under her hands. And then the angel of the Lord goes on to say in verse 10, I will multiply thy seed exceedingly that it shall not be numbered for multitude. He begins to answer some of the questions, am I going to live, is my child going to make it? See, for this child to live means that she's going to be fed, she's going to be clothed, she's going to be taken care of, at least the basics of life are going to be met. And what is remarkable to me is that no prayers recorded. If it had been, it might be subject to abuse. I mean, there are other prayers in the Bible that are recorded, but nonetheless, when we find ourselves in desperate positions, we often latch on to even Scripture verses as if they are some talisman. That's been the danger in this little book, The Prayer of Jabez. That's not a magic formula, beloved. You still got to walk by faith and you may pray that prayer a hundred times. But if your heart is not seeking God by faith and you are not using it sincerely before the Lord, submitting yourself to his will and to his purposes, according to the rest of Scripture, it doesn't matter. It won't amount to a hill of beans. So if you've been praying that thing for the last couple of years, hoping that your financial ship will come in, sorry, that's not what that prayer is about. And in the same way that Scriptures do not provide talismans for us or idols You cannot relegate God to a genie, but you must see this. He is the God who hears the groans and secret cries of insignificant, out of the way people just like Hagar. And what a glory it is to me and what an encouragement it is to me as an insignificant, out of the way person that God went to the Gentile in this case first. Was God's plan from the foundation of the world to bring people from every kindred and tongue and tribe and nation? Absolutely. Now, He focused for a time on Israel. Then He turned from them and He's focused on the Gentiles. He's going to go back to Israel before it's all said and done. But, beloved, there are not going to be two classes of people in heaven. God is not a polygamist. And by that I mean He will have one bride in heaven, the people of God. And that bride will be made up of Jews and Gentiles. So, yes, he loves the nations of the earth. He has loved Israel uniquely. He told him that. But he said, don't say it's because we were greater or mightier or wealthier than any other people. I loved you because I loved you. Here he turns to Hagar first. And he's going to work mightily. And he says, not only will I raise up this sea, but look now at verse 11, because here's a key part. And this story is just about the climax for us. And the angel of the Lord said unto her, Behold, thou art with child and shalt bear a son. and shall call his name Ishmael. Now, you've probably got a marginal note there, whether it comes below that verse or beside it or in the middle of two columns, whatever kind of Bible you may have, I'll bet that it has a marginal note there that tells you what Ishmael means. And it simply means God will hear. And if your Bible doesn't have a note there in the margin, you can keep reading in the verse because God actually inserted his own marginal note telling you what Ishmael means. How about that? He'll you'll name him Ishmael, because the Lord hath heard thy affliction. The name, Ishmael, would thus forever, as Alan Ross writes, would thus forever recall how the Lord responded to the cry of Hagar in the wilderness. Such a name, he says, attests to the misery of people who stand in need of God's help, requesting God to hear and help in distress. Beloved, it doesn't matter what she prayed. All we know is that God comes and affirms by his word to Hagar. He had heard her cry. Who is Hagar? Some of you are saying, who am I? That's the first part of the question. Keep asking, who is God? Doesn't matter who you are. What matters is who this God is. Who is God? And now he says, I am the God who hears. Hagar got the theological point because now look as we read on in verse 12, God describes what kind of a child this would be. And that would be a little bit scary, but we don't have time to deal with that. Calls him a wild man. But Hagar doesn't care about that. She doesn't focus on the difficulty that may be awaiting her. What she hears and is thrilled with and understands is found in verse 13. And she called the name of the Lord, that is Jehovah, that spake unto her, Thou, God, seest me. Well, there's another concept there. She calls God El Roy. That's the Hebrew. And El Roy means you are the God who sees. For she said, Have I also here looked after him that seeth me? I think that's a statement. I don't read that as a question. I see that as her statement that this is what has happened. I have seen the one who sees me. Verse 14, look at this. Her testimony continues. Therefore, the well was called Beer Lahai Roy, which means the well of him that liveth and seeth, or you could understand that as the well of the living one who sees. I love this. Because God continues to say to cracked and flawed and imperfect and morally deficient people like you and me, I hear. I hear your cry for help I hear the cry that rises out of the misery of your soul. I hear. I see the pressure you are under. I see the abuse that you have suffered. Under the hand of your business owner, I see the abuse that you have suffered under the hand of an unregenerate spouse. I see the difficulty and pressure that you feel and that you experience every day. I see all those things because I am El Roy. And beloved, God is not looking for the great people of the world to declare that message. He hasn't reserved it for princes and princesses alone. He hasn't reserved it for powerful, influential CEOs. He has reserved it for common people. who are willing to admit their misery and sometimes do careless things like running into the middle of the desert where they're more prone to die than survive, but who say dying in the desert would be better than dying in that house. And God comes and in great grace and mercy stops them and says, where are you going? And by declaring what he is, opens an invitation to come to me, to come to him. Hagar follows the word of the Lord. Look here at the conclusion, verses 15 and 16. These are short, but these are powerful lessons for us. And we see God who, in the form of the angel of the Lord, not only protects his covenant and protects his Gentile woman, but protects the promised family. It's a little different way of protecting the family, but in verse 15, the Bible says in Hagar, bear Abram a son. And Abram called his son's name, which Hagar bear Ishmael. Abram did it. Now, that's an important point. Why is that important? Because Abram was learning the theological lesson, too. And that little boy for all of his days, growing up days, would be a visible reminder and an audible reminder every time his name would be called in that household, Ishmael. I'm sure Abram would feel a prick in his heart. God, You do hear, don't you? And every time Sarah would hear the name of Ishmael called, she would think, God, even when I thought You didn't hear my cry, my groans for a child, You did hear. A poignant lesson. But a tender one, nonetheless, because God did not expel this chosen family from the promised land by grace, he works and patiently he ministers to them and teaches them. And yes, Ishmael might have been a thorn in the flesh in many ways, but one thing he was was a lesson of grace. God hears. And Hagar, because she returned. as an act of faith, would also be a visible reminder all the days that she remained in that household that God sees even Gentile slaves lost in the desert. He sees. God's message to Abram and Sarai in these passages, in these verses, is simple. It is God's message for us. And in the same way that he says to Abram, through their experiences, I love you so much that I will turn this conflict and failure into a perpetual reminder that I meant what I said. Let me be dismembered if I can't be trusted. And that in time, if you will trust and wait, I will do all that I promised to do. Beloved, in your affliction, You must know that God hears. Not just that that somehow becomes a salve to your heart that, well, God hears, but that when God hears, in the same way that He acted on behalf of Hagar and the chosen family, He will act. You may be in a hard circumstance where you feel you need God's help now, but, beloved, if God did not withhold His only Son from us when we were dead in our sins, how much more will He also freely give us all things that we need? And by all means, we must not turn to our careless or immoral or culturally acceptable alternatives. Cry to God. Because he hears and sees with a view of acting for his glory and for your good. That's one of the great privileges of being his child. I want to close with these thoughts. The life of faith that we live is not a microwave process. And most of us want to mature in Christ in about 60 seconds, and it's not going to happen. And we are impatient with one another, and we are impatient with ourselves, and we need to grow up. We need to grow up in our expectations of people and we need to grow up in our understanding of our God. We need to rest in all that he is and we need to exhort and admonish and encourage one another when when we see faith in someone else growing weak. We need to speak often of the glories of the God who says, my name is Elroy. And we need to reflect the joy that we find in waiting patiently for little things and for big things. And all the while, we must know that God is doing his will according to his schedule. Genesis 16 is God's word. To people whose faith is at once in the same time Sensible and foolish, valiant and reckless, exuberant and pessimistic, passionate and self-centered, who find that about the only thing that's predictable is its unpredictability. So as you navigate the days of this week, days that are filled with conflict and testing, turmoil and struggle, cry and groan and wait for your God to minister His grace in all that you do. Would you bow your heads, please, and close your eyes? Now, you've had the opportunity to gain a sight of heaven. And we meditated in John and Revelation. And we declared with our lips, worthy is the lamb that was slain. This lamb who has redeemed from every tribe and tongue and nation a people for himself and has already made us to be kings and priests. You know something, though? This week, you're not going to feel like a king or a priest unto God. Your flesh is going to grab you by the throat and try to tear you apart. The world system is going to come knocking on your door, seeking to devour your joy and satisfaction in Christ. And the adversary will be on the prowl as a roaring lion, looking to devour you. Beloved, this is why we must fasten the eyes of our heart on this glorious King, this glorious angel, this glorious God who says, I see and I hear. What's the invitation this morning? Just fall on your face before God and confess your sin and confess your unbelief. Confess your tendency to wander. Even as we sing, prone to wander. Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love. Here's my heart. Oh, take and seal it. Seal it for the courts above. That is, secure me until the day that I will stand in your presence. So there's no invitation to walk an aisle today. You may have others. No invitation to come here at the front and kneel and pray or to go into a quiet room, although after the service, you're welcome to do that. The invitation, beloved, is right now at this moment to fall on your face and confess your unbelief, but confess that you do believe in this God and all you want to do this week is follow Him, whatever it means. Father, as many here even now are pouring out their hearts and confessing their unbelief, confessing the weakness of their faith, asking for your help, pleading for mercy and grace to intervene in a very difficult circumstance. Show your faithfulness. It's your reputation, and these are your promises, and we would not seek to obligate you in some bizarre fashion, but Father, you're the one who has said, I am these things. I do not change. And so we're asking. that you would demonstrate the greatness of your character and your work and your word in this week. We pray all these things in Jesus name, Amen.