Our World Aflame Part Five: A Wild Donkey

Posted by on Aug 22, 2016 | 14 comments

Our World Aflame Part Five: A Wild Donkey

When Sarah and Abraham circumvented God’s plan by deciding to have a child through Sarah’s maid, Hagar, they unknowingly loosed a wild donkey in the world and everyone has suffered for it since. God made that child into a great nation, as He had promised to do with Abraham’s descendants, but there were consequences. I would love to hear your comments on this last part of my series on Our World Aflame. 

 

2MefromHim Devotionals

A Wild Donkey

…[F]or the Lord has heard of your misery. Genesis 16:11

God keeps His promises. When He led Abraham out of the Ur of the Chaldees’ He promised he would have as many descendants as there were stars in the sky. However, like most of us, Abraham and Sarah chose to help God along with His plans a little bit. Human plans are always inferior to the plans of God and do not generally work out well. In fact, one step of disobedience can set the world aflame.

Sarah was not a young woman. God promised a son to her husband, so she found a way. Her maid, Hagar, was her slave. If Abraham fathered a son with her slave, the child would belong to Sarah. Abraham, not the most astute in regards to wise decisions, slept with Hagar and she became pregnant. But Hagar flaunted her pregnancy, leading Sarah to treat her so badly that Hagar left.

Abraham’s God had promised him descendants, and legitimate or not, Ishmael was the son of Abraham. When she ran from Sarah, the angel of the Lord appeared to Hagar in the desert and told her to return to her mistress. He promised to multiply her descendants so they would be too numerous to count. Hagar, overcome by the goodness of God, named the place “the well of the One who sees me”. She did as she was told, and returned to the family of Abraham to bear her child, a son she named Ishmael, meaning “the God who hears”.

There was a caveat in God’s promise to Hagar. He said of Ishmael, “He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone’s hand against his, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers” (Genesis 16:11). The tribes descended from Ishmael became the nomadic Bedouin peoples now known as the Arabic people. They lived in the land of Israel, which they called Palestine, while the Jews were in captivity, and made it their own. Ishmael had 12 sons, as did Isaac. They became 12 tribes, as did the sons of Isaac. They were the peoples that God told the Israelites, under the leadership of Joshua to destroy, but they didn’t.

Arabic peoples populate the entire Middle East. They gave birth to organizations such as the Palestinian Authority once headed by Yasser Arafat, Al Qaida, ISIS, and more. Radical branches have confirmed the prophecy that they would live in hostility toward all their brothers, like a wild donkey.

The terrorism sparked by malcontent descendants of Ishmael is holding the world hostage through guerrilla warfare tactics. Attacks by Islamic extremists have averaged about five per day since 2001.A Wild Donkey 2

Our world is aflame with groups whose main desire is to kill all “infidels”, people who do not subscribe to the religion of Islam. However, it seems that being Muslim is not enough. They want only their own radical brand of Islam, so they kill their own people too.

How do we live with the peace of God in our hearts in a world aflame with such hate that it prompts even lone individuals to radical acts of violence in every part of the globe?

The only way to personal peace in a world gone mad, comes from knowing Jesus Christ, God come to earth in human form, the Angel of the Lord that saw Hagar in her distress. The Bible does not predict that the world will get better. We might be witnessing the birth pangs of a world on the edge of God’s eternal plan to destroy all evil and take those who are faithful to live with Him forever.

Because we have the word of God, we can trust that none of the violence in our world takes God by surprise. This world is in control of the enemy, Satan, only for a little while. The day will come when God will take His people home. When we know Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we can rest at ease that He will not allow us to die one moment before His set time.

Romans 8:35-38: “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:

‘For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.’

“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Jesus has overcome the world and God keeps all of His promises. A wild donkey may set the world aflame, but it will never overcome the plans and purposes of God.

© Copyright by Norma Gail Thurston Holtman, August 2, 2016

Norma 2015About the author: 

Norma Gail is the author of the contemporary Christian romance, Land of My Dreams. A women’s Bible study leader for over 21 years, her devotionals and poetry have appeared at ChristianDevotions.us, the Stitches Thru Time blog, and in “The Secret Place.” She is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers, Romance Writers of America, and the New Mexico Christian Novelists. Norma is a former RN who lives in the mountains of New Mexico with her husband of 40 years. They have two adult children.

Connect with Norma:

Website: www.normagail.org

Amazon Author page: http://www.amazon.com/Norma-Gail/e/B00ILHXBAK/

Book trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQbZIoC_JSE

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorNormaGail

Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+NormaGailwrites

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Twitter: https://twitter.com/Norma_Gail

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/norma-gail-thurston-holtman/42/71a/3b2

Book Links:Land of My Dreams cover sm

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Land-My-Dreams-Norma-Gail/dp/1941103170

Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas Bookstore: http:// lpcbooks.com/product/land-of-my-dreams/

Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/land-of-my-dreams-norma-gail/1119606864?ean=9781941103173

 

14 Comments

  1. God does keep His promises! We can always find peace and contentment whilst having to wait in this truth. Great post!

    • Thanks for stopping by! Our God is faithful!

  2. Interesting thoughts!

    • Thanks!

  3. Ooh, I like that, “Attempting to fulfill the promises of God by human means has consequences.” So true! My pastor was just talking about patience and how we must learn how to wait on God and His promises.

    • Yes, we must. It’s best to learn from the example God gives us in His word.

  4. God is so faithful. And He DOES keep His promises – on HIS timeline —– not ours. 🙂

    • I would not be as patient as God is!

  5. Amen God keeps his promises. I always think of that when I see a rainbow.

    • Isn’t God good to give us reminders of His faithfulness.

  6. Very well said!

    • Thank you, Robin!

  7. Very encouraging. Thank you

    • You’re welcome! God bless!

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