The Bible plainly teaches that there is nothing that humanity can do to save itself collectively, or individually. No one is able, in their own strength and effort, to put right that which was lost in the Garden of Eden. In fact, the very attempt to earn the gift of salvation, flows from human arrogance and pride which is precisely the root of the problem of sin. It is a part of our prideful nature to think that the answers to life’s problems can be found in ourselves. In other words, when we strive out of our own strength to put right what was lost we simply reinforce and accentuate the very problem. Works that flow from the brokenness of humanity only result in further demise. This is precisely the story of Abraham and Hagar.
Abraham, in his own strength, attempts to bring about the promise of God for a child in his own human strength. God promised Abraham that he would give him a child even though Abraham was advanced in age and even though Sarah, Abraham’s wife, was unable to bear children. It was precisely because Abraham could not conceive of a natural conception and birth that he assumed that God’s promise would come through human means, human effort. You see, God’s plan was so unimaginable to the human mind that Abraham had to make it intelligible by redefining it according to the broken human experience. Abraham misunderstood. He believed that in order for him to have a child in the condition he was in, he had to do it through his female servant, Hagar. Abraham greatly diminished the otherness of God’s plan. God profaned God’s holy plan, he made it common.
This story reminds us that when we fall into the deception of thinking that certain kinds of behavior can earn God’s favor, we greatly diminish the holiness of God and his plan. God’s expectations, God’s standards for humanity, is so much more than the fallen human experience that God alone is able to bring it about in his people. The life that God has for his covenant people is so other than the brokenness of the fallen world that no strength of man is able to bring it about. God’s great plan for restoring and recreating His world was wholly other than anything within the realm of human imagination. This is why only God can make right that which went horribly wrong in the Garden of Eden.
© Matthew I. Ayars and Tea In Solitude, [2013-2014]. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Matthew I. Ayars and Tea In Solitude with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
