The AMI QT Devotionals from November 20-26 are provided by Pastor Joshua Kim of Church of Southland. Joshua, a graduate of Emory University and Columbia Theological Seminary (M.Div.), serves as the pastor of Access group (singles). He is married to Christina.
Devotional Thoughts for Today
Genesis 21.8-14 (ESV)
And the child grew and was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. 9 But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, laughing. 10 So she said to Abraham, “Cast out this slave woman with her son, for the son of this slave woman shall not be heir with my son Isaac.” 11 And the thing was very displeasing to Abraham on account of his son. 12 But God said to Abraham, “Be not displeased because of the boy and because of your slave woman. Whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for through Isaac shall your offspring be named. 13 And I will make a nation of the son of the slave woman also, because he is your offspring.” 14 So Abraham rose early in the morning and took bread and a skin of water and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, along with the child, and sent her away. And she departed and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba.
Someone once told me marriage is hard because it is the first time that you are forced to truly live with yourself. And this realization of who we truly are is not always a fun experience. For me, I didn’t realize how much I had tailored my life to fit my needs and desires until this “customized” life began conflicting with my wife’s way of doing things. My preferences on where shoes are stored to how certain chores are done were different from my wife’s. And through this conflict of preferences, I came to realize how particular I could be and how deep my selfishness goes.
The truth is, the people in our lives are often the best reflections of our true character, especially those that we live in close proximity. Spouses are good examples, but so are co-workers, classmates, and even our friendships. Relationships become strained because they often show us the realest—and often darkest—parts of our character.
We see a true glimpse of who Sarah is in the passage by how she deals with Hagar. What triggers Sarah this time is the sight of Ishmael doing something in particular—laughing (v. 9). Now it’s not clear what the purpose of including this detail might be, but this act of laughing has a long history with Sarah. As we discussed in yesterday’s QT, laughing was one of the things that describe Sarah’s transformation from disbelief into faith. Commentators note that the kind of laughing Ishmael does is much like the mocking, incredulous laughter of Sarah in Genesis 18.
And when you consider who Hagar is, her history with Sarah and Abraham, who Ishmael is, and what God has done by giving Isaac to Sarah, you start to wonder about the nature of Sarah’s disdain towards Hagar. Could it be the Hagar is a reminder of Sarah’s lack of faith? Is Hagar visual proof of Sarah’s past mistakes, of when she tried to take things into her own hands and not trusting in the Lord? Sometimes those that we dislike the most are the most accurate reflections of our true selves. In most cases, our lack of grace towards them is not so much about the other person; it’s our lack of grace towards ourselves. It’s our unwillingness to face and deal with our true selves with the living God. So we rather send our Hagars away.
But we know that unless we deal with these things, they will keep coming back as we are often the source of these things, not the other individuals. In what ways are we pushing away the Hagars in our lives? Something to think about!
Prayer: Father, we thank You for Your constant work in us. We believe that the blood of Jesus covers us, that we are justified in Him. But we also recognize that the Holy Spirit is daily changing our character to become more like Your Son. We often resist this change; we ask for the grace to trust You through the pruning process so that we may bear much fruit. In Jesus’ Name, amen.
Bible Reading for Today: Jeremiah 22
Lunch Break Study
Read Psalm 139:1-6, 23-24 (ESV): Lord, you have searched me and known me! 2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. 3 You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. 4 Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. 5 You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it. . .. 23 Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! 24 And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!
Questions to Consider
- In considering the first part of this psalm (you may consider reading the whole psalm if time permits), what is the picture the of God’s knowledge and understanding that the psalmist paints?
- In verse 6, the psalmist writes that such knowledge is too wonderful for me. When considering such wonderful knowledge, how should we response when these things are revealed to us by the Lord?
- In verses 23-24, what does the psalmist pray? Does this reflect the heart you have towards the Lord? Why or why not?
Notes
- The picture that the psalmist paints of God’s knowledge is all encompassing. Consider the words that he uses—God’s knowledge encompasses time and inner thoughts, our future and our ways (v.3), our inner most thoughts before they are spoken (v.4), He surrounds you all around (v.5). God’s understanding and presence in our lives is not merely one-dimensional.
- It is a fearful thing to be known by such an extraordinary God. He sees and knows all thing, a knowledge indeed too wonderful for us to hold. And yet in His perfect wisdom, out of His perfect love, God chooses to reveal certain things to us. Particularly, He reveals the things that are keeping us from Him. This knowledge is indeed wonderful though often painful to acknowledge. Yet when we consider the opposite of not knowing, might our response to this revelation be different?
- The words here are the same as the beginning but different. There is a sense of invitation here. The psalmist is inviting God to search him. It is not permissive (as God already has and knows) but rather relational. The prayer is that God would reveal to him anything grievous so that he may walk in the ways of everlasting God.
Evening Reflection
We have spent the day reflecting upon how God may be revealing things about our character through those that we may have the hardest time with. One reality we must not neglect in this is that although these things are often more about us than about the other person, it nevertheless has consequences for that person as well. There was real rejection and exiling of Hagar in the passage, not just mentally or emotionally. As you pray about these relationships and what it might reveal about your character, spend some time praying for the Hagars in our lives, that God might bring reconciliation and healing to these relationships.
If you have spent some time browsing through YouTube, there’s a good chance that you have come across some of these videos: They capture the moments when an enlisted member of a family (a dad, a mom, a sibling, etc.) comes back from war or training, surprising their family on a special occasion. And my guess is that for many of us, watching these sweet moments of reunion, our hearts are full of joy, which often leaks out of our eyes in the form of tears.
After my time in the office, I had a dinner meeting with one of our church members. Thirty minute prior to our meeting, I sent him a text message confirming where we will be meeting. No response. I sent another text message making sure I had the time right. No response. A little confused, I kept waiting at the office. After waiting about 1.5 hours, I received a text message: “I’m so sorry PJosh…”
Today’s AMI QT Devotional provided by Jennifer Kim, a staff of Church of Southland, Anaheim, California. Jennifer, a graduate of Biola University, is current finishing up her M.Div. at Talbot School of Theology.
About two weeks ago, the LA Dodgers competed against the Houston Astros in the 2017 MLB World Series. Of course, living in Southern California, this was a big deal and would frequently be the main topic of conversation among my friends. These two teams rivaled against each other in a long 7-game stretch—ultimately leading to the Astro’s first championship title in its franchise history. I am not much of a baseball fan (so there is no bias here), but I would have to say that for the Astros, winning the World Series was quite a notable accomplishment despite their many years of losses and setbacks.
AMI QT Devotionals for November 16-18 are provided by Pastor Paul Liu.
No one likes to hear the words, “I told you so,” even when we know we’re wrong—it just sounds annoying and reeks of condescension. Yet for all the ways we don’t like to have our faults pointed out to us, we usually won’t grow without it. In fact, the apostle Paul tells us: “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). Notice the functions of Scripture in these verses: teaching, reproof, correction, equipping and training. Yes, there’s a cognitive aspect in teaching, but there is also correction and reproof (NIV says, ‘”rebuking”), which means, if we are to grow in faith, we need the rebuke of Scripture, as well as others to rebuke us according to Scripture. It’s part of our training in faith.
I’m not sure about you, but if I could, I’d wear a t-shirt and jeans everyday. And not just any t-shirt and jeans—it has to be my favorite ones. Most people have clothes like that— comforting and comfortable—where you can’t wait to get out of your work clothes to put on these comfortable ones. That’s probably how Abraham felt about taking up his favorite defense mechanism for when the going got tough: he started lying. We see it happen in this text, as well as in Genesis 12:10-13: out of fear for his life, he tells Sarai to lie that she’s his sister and not his wife. It was like putting on a favorite t-shirt for Abraham—comfortable, even though it was a plan with holes all over it. Abraham panicked and chose deceit rather than truth.
Upon returning from our church retreat a couple months ago, I discovered that I had lost my car keys. Immediately, I went into a panic mode and began searching everything around me. I frantically checked all of my belongings, every vehicle I had entered, and every room I set my foot in. When some of the church members noticed my predicament, they quickly jumped in and helped me search for my keys as well. One of my friends even went as far as to call the retreat site and ask about any lost items. After a couple hours passed by, I came to the unfortunate reality that my keys were officially lost.
Jennifer Kim, a graduate of Boston University, spent a year in Shanghai as one-year intern from 2013-14. She is currently serving as a staff at Catalyst Agape Church (New Jersey) while attending Alliance Theological Seminary.
During my senior year in college, I started experiencing these awful “night terrors”, in which I would wake up in sheer panic and fear. It was a very bizarre experience, but as a result I actually became afraid to go to bed. After a few weeks of dealing with this, I became desperate for healing and I knew I had to share with my roommates. That very night, as I mustered up the courage to share, they decided to tuck me into bed and pray over me. In my exhaustion I fell asleep as they were praying, but in the middle of the night I startled myself awake, not out of fear or panic, but to use the restroom, completely unaware that I had gone almost the entire night without a single nightmare. But as I was getting out of bed I noticed all three of my roommates huddled together sleeping on the floor of my 80 square feet room. As a matter of fact, because they could not all fit in my room, one of them was sleeping in the hallway of our apartment. From that night on, I never woke up in panic or fear again—I was completely healed.
With the pumpkin spice lattes, cornucopia decorations, and colder weather upon us, it’s clear that the long awaited day of food coma and family get-togethers is approaching. But we all know that the reason for the season isn’t for the turkey or the cornbread, or even the pumpkin pie, but it’s to remember all that we should be thankful for this season. I’m sure you’ve heard countless messages and read dozens of devotionals explaining why we should be grateful and what we should be grateful for, but have you ever wondered what the cost of ingratitude is?