Abraham and Sarah finally have a child and name him Isaac. Genesis 21:1-21. Download Free PowerPoint at www.BibleGuy.org

1. God Turns Hardships Into
Blessings
Genesis 21:1-21

2. God turns Hardships into Blessings
All the waiting, wandering, disappointments
for Abraham and Sarah are turned into joy ,
even laughter.
God hears Hagar and Ishmael in their sorrow
and turns it into joy.
God can turn your hardships into joy, even
laughter.

3. Rejoice in God!
He Keeps His Promise (1-7)
1 The LORD visited Sarah
just as he had said he
would and did for Sarah
what he had promised.
2 So Sarah became
pregnant and bore
Abraham a son in his
old age at the
appointed time that
God had told him.
Rejoice in God:
He keeps his promise
Rejoice in His Power – He
can do what he
promises
Rejoice in His Timing
Genesis 18:10 One of them said, “I will
surely return to you when the season
comes round again, and your wife Sarah
will have a son!”

4. Rejoice in God! Honor Him!
3 Abraham named his son –
whom Sarah bore to him
– Isaac. 4 When his son
Isaac was eight days old,
Abraham circumcised him
just as God had
commanded him to do. 5
(Now Abraham was a
hundred years old when
his son Isaac was born to
him.)
Rejoice by honoring God
with Obedience.
He Named him Isaac (he
laughs).
He circumcised him on the
eighth day.
It was truly a miracle.
Abraham was 100 years
old.

5. Rejoice in God! Celebrate the joy with
others.
6 Sarah said, “God has
made me laugh.
Everyone who hears
about this will laugh
with me.” 7 She went on
to say, “Who would
have said to Abraham
that Sarah would nurse
children? Yet I have
given birth to a son for
him in his old age!”
Inappropriate laughter - Earlier, she
laughed in unbelief.
Now, her laughter turns to rejoicing.
She laughs in accordance to
Isaac’s name.
She believes all will laugh with
her.
Sarah was 90 years old when she gave
birth to Isaac.
Genesis 18:12 So Sarah laughed to herself, thinking,
“After I am worn out will I have pleasure, especially
when my husband is old too?”

6. Rejoice in God!
Make a celebration of his Grace.
8 The child grew and was
weaned. Abraham
prepared a great feast
on the day that Isaac
was weaned.
• Celebration of laughter
resumes when the child is
two or three-years-old.
• The emphasis has
shifted from Ishmael (16
of 17) to Isaac (2 to 3).

7. Laughter Can Be Inappropriate
•Isaac would be 2-3 years old.
Ishmael would be 16-17 at this time.
•Laughter from Ishmael is perceived
as Mocking.
•The word used here is a play
on Isaac’s name and can mean
“to jest; to make sport of; to
play with,” not simply “to
laugh,”
• Sarah becomes
protective of Isaac.
9 But Sarah noticed the son
of Hagar the Egyptian –
the son whom Hagar had
borne to Abraham –
mocking. 10 So she said to
Abraham, “Banish that
slave woman and her son,
for the son of that slave
woman will not be an heir
along with my son Isaac!”
Genesis 19:14 Then Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law who were going
to marry his daughters. He said, “Quick, get out of this place because the LORD is
about to destroy the city!” But his sons-in-law thought he was ridiculing them.
Genesis 39:14 she called for her household servants and said to them, “See, my
husband brought in a Hebrew man to us to humiliate us. He tried to have sex
with me, but I screamed loudly.
Paul viewed Ishmael’s actions as persecution:
Galatians 4:29 But just as at that time the one born by
natural descent persecuted the one born according to the
Spirit, so it is now.

8. Laughter turns to sorrow.
11 Sarah’s demand
displeased Abraham
greatly because Ishmael
was his son.
• The celebration turns
into a family crisis.
– He has affections for
Hagar.
– He has affections for
his son Ishmael.
– He may have
perceived Sarah’s
actions as morally
wrong.
Lit. “and the word was very
wrong in the eyes of Abraham
on account of his son.” The verb
‫ע‬ַ‫ע‬ָ‫ר‬ (ra’a’) often refers to what is
morally or ethically “evil.” Its
usage here suggests that
Abraham thought Sarah’s
demand was ethically (and
perhaps legally) wrong..

9. Rejoice in God! He is Sovereign.
12 But God said to Abraham,
“Do not be upset about
the boy or your slave
wife. Do all that Sarah is
telling you because
through Isaac your
descendants will be
counted. 13 But I will also
make the son of the slave
wife into a great nation,
for he is your descendant
too.”
• God comforted Abraham
in his family crisis.
– Sarah’s intent may have
been wrong, but God
will use it to good.
– Isaac is the child of
promise.
– God has big plans for
Ishmael because he is
Abraham’s son.
Genesis 50:20 As for you, you meant to harm me,
but God intended it for a good purpose, so he
could preserve the lives of many people, as you
can see this day.

10. We May Be Forced to Wander
14 Early in the morning
Abraham took some
food and a skin of water
and gave them to Hagar.
He put them on her
shoulders, gave her the
child, and sent her
away. So she went
wandering aimlessly
through the wilderness
of Beer Sheba.
• She lost her husband
• She lost her home
• She lost her job
• She lost her extended
family
• She lost her means of
support for her child
• It was of no fault of her
own
God may allow us to loose everything, before
he Begins to Bless

11. When all hope is gone –
cry out to God
15 When the water in the
skin was gone, she
shoved the child under
one of the shrubs. 16 Then
she went and sat down by
herself across from him at
quite a distance, about a
bowshot away; for she
thought, “I refuse to
watch the child die.” So
she sat across from him
and wept uncontrollably.
• All she could see
ahead was death.
• She cried
uncontrollably
• There is no mention
of crying to God.
• Had she given up on
the “God who
hears?”

12. God Hears Us in our Crisis
17 But God heard the boy’s
voice. The angel of God
called to Hagar from
heaven and asked her,
“What is the matter,
Hagar? Don’t be afraid,
for God has heard the
boy’s voice right where he
is crying. 18 Get up! Help
the boy up and hold him
by the hand, for I will
make him into a great
nation.”
• Ishmael means “God
hears.”
• Earlier, God had heard
Hagar’s cries, now he
hears Ishmael.
• God hears our cries
even when we’re not
calling to him.

13. Rejoice in God! He Provides.
19 Then God enabled
Hagar to see a well
of water. She went
over and filled the
skin with water, and
then gave the boy a
drink.
• When all we can see
is death, our tears
blind us to God’s
provision.
• God rekindled hope,
removed the tears
and showed her the
water of salvation.
• Hagar obeyed God!

14. Rejoice in God!
20 God was with the boy as
he grew. He lived in the
wilderness and became
an archer. 21 He lived in
the wilderness of Paran.
His mother found a wife
for him from the land of
Egypt.
• God kept his promise
– God kept his promise to
Abraham.
– God kept his promise to
Hagar.
• Hagar and Ishmael were
set free from bondage.
• Hagar connected
Ishmael with her roots –
Egypt.

15. Conclusion
• Wait on God! He will turn our patience into
laughter.
• Rejoice in God!
– He always keeps his promises!
– Celebrate his grace with obedience!
– Celebrate his grace with others!
– Remember his gifts and remember them with
celebration.

16. Conclusion
• Laugh appropriate laughter!
– Laugh with people in celebration of God’s
goodness.
– Don’t jest, make sport of others or mock.
• Trust God to turn your crisis into blessing!
– We may loose all we have before God gives us
something better.
– God may have us wander in order to learn our
dependence is on him.

17. Conclusion
• Tears can blind us of the provisions God has in
front of us.
• God hears our tears, even when we have given
up hope.

18. Trust God!
Wait on God!
Rejoice in God!
Obey God!