This week’s story shows Sarai, Abram, and Hagar all struggling to take responsibility. God had given Abram a promise of many descendants but Sarai remained infertile. They were both past childbearing age, so Sarai had her maid, Hagar, act as a surrogate. After Hagar became pregnant, she became disrespectful to Sarai.
This was a problem, so Sarai went to Abram. Genesis 16: 5 Then Sarai said to Abram, “This is all your fault! I put my servant into your arms, but now that she’s pregnant she treats me with contempt. The Lord will show who’s wrong—you or me!”[1] But wait! This whole surrogate situation was Sarai’s idea. Now that it is not going as expected, she blames Abram and impiously appeals to God for justice. Then, Sarai goes on to mistreat Hagar.
Avoiding Responsibility
Abram abdicates any responsibility and leadership in the situation. Genesis 16: 6 Abram replied, “Look, she is your servant, so deal with her as you see fit.”[2] As the head of the household, Abram should have pitied a helpless servant who he had impregnated. Instead, he allowed Sarai to mistreat her.
Hagar is in the middle. She follows Sarai’s orders to go into Abram as a secondary wife. But when she becomes pregnant, Hagar becomes prideful and haughty and refuses to submit to Sarai’s authority. Even when Sarai mistreated her, Hagar didn’t take responsibility for her attitude. Instead, she ran away. Genesis 16:6b Then Sarai treated Hagar so harshly that she finally ran away. [3]
Taking Responsibility for Your Actions
As sinful humans, we often struggle to take responsibility. It is easier to blame someone else or run away from our wrongs. Yet that prevents us from receiving the forgiveness that Jesus won for us on the cross.
1 John 1: 5 This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all. 6 So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth. 7 But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.
8 If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. 9 But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts. [4]
If you are struggling to take responsibility for your actions, look to Jesus. He can shine a light in that darkness. Confess and repent of these sins to receive forgiveness and peace only Jesus can give.
To learn more, listen here:
https://podpoint.com/light-of-christ-church-podcast/when-we-take-matters-into-our-own-hands
[1-4] Tyndale House Publishers. (2015). Holy Bible: New Living Translation. Tyndale House Publishers.