Genesis 21:12 “Do not be so distressed about thGod keeps every bit of His promise!e boy and your slave woman. Listen to whatever Sarah tells you, because it is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned. I will make the son of the slave into a nation also, because he is your offspring.”
I find this passage of Scripture intriguing.
Here it is, Abraham acting in his flesh and out of that action, Ishmael was born. And yet in this passage of Scripture, when Abraham’s wife asked him to send Ishmael and his mum Hagar away, God told Abraham that he would have posterity through Ishmael too.
It would definitely be theologically flawed to conclude that God will bless our mistakes. But it would certainly be equally erroneous to erase God’s promise over an individual’s life just because that person messed up.
Let’s not dilute the problem, Ishmael was a mistake; he should not have come into existence, if not for Abraham’s folly. But God’s promise to Abraham that his descendants would be like the sand on the seashore and the stars in the sky extended took into account Abraham’s error.
This shows His love for us: that despite our mess-ups, big or small, His promises are “yes and amen”, extending beyond the worst of us and triumphing even the best of us. It is in this hope that we walk with confidence, knowing that He who began a good work in us will complete it in Christ Jesus!