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Ishmael & Isaac
“Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise” (Galatians 4:22-23).
Ishmael was the result of a resort to the flesh, proposed by Sarai when God had already promised a son by her. To this day Ishmael’s and Isaac’s descendants, the Arabs and Jews, are at war with each other. From this, we learn that any scheme of ours that takes matters into our own hands when God has spoken otherwise leads to plenty of trouble and much sorrow.
How many today live with war in their hearts because that which is of the flesh contends with that which is of faith! Call it complexes, nerves, or dress it up in psychiatric wording, it is but Ishmael and Isaac warring in the soul.
Abraham gave up Ishmael and he never returned. He gave up Isaac but God returned him to him. Give God your Ishmael — all that is of the flesh — that it may not return. Give Him Isaac too — that which is of faith — that He may return it and that you may be a “vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the Master’s use, and prepared unto every good work” (2 Timothy 2:21).
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