Passage: Genesis 18:1-15
The Big Idea
When we feel embarrassed, we try to cover it up, with makeup, or with something flashy that makes us look impressive. But our doubts don’t need to be covered up; they need to be replaced with belief in God’s simple Word. Abraham ran to the Lord and bowed down, with nothing to hide, and served Him out of grace. Sarah laughed, then hid her unbelief behind a lie. God lovingly exposed it, and answered it with one question: “Is anything too hard for the LORD?”
Your Driver’s License Photo
Picture your driver’s license. Some of you might be proud of your photo. But I think every DMV has a special camera that makes you look terrible. No matter how hard you try, they get you mid-blink or when your nose itches.
Now imagine handing it to the person next to you to look at. Feel anything?
If you could replace that photo with a glamour shot, would you?
When we feel embarrassed, our natural instinct is to cover up or hide our issues, or try to fix them, or overcome them.
But makeup and muscle cars can keep you from Jesus. He’s the One we need.
Setting
About three months earlier, in chapter 17, Abraham, Ishmael and all the men of the household were circumcised. They were set apart as God’s people: more “sensitive,” no longer trusting the flesh, separated from the world. Different, not because they tried to be, but because they were.
Abraham Ran and Bowed (Genesis 18:1-2)
The LORD appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre as he sat at the entrance of his tent in the heat of the day. He looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed down to the ground.
- He ran. That’s faith. (Picture the end of every romantic comedy, where they run into each other’s arms!)
- He bowed down. That’s humility.
That’s a biblical way to approach God. Hebrews tells us to come boldly to the throne of grace (Hebrews 4:16). God gives grace to the humble (James 4:6), and we have access by faith into that grace (Romans 5:2). Abraham was in a great place.
- He didn’t need to cover anything up. He knew he was forgiven and free.
- He didn’t need a muscle car to come roaring up to God like a boss: “Look at everything I’ve accomplished!”
- Isaiah says all our righteous deeds are like filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6).
The great enemy of following Jesus is self-sufficiency and self-confidence.
Grace Makes Us Servants (Genesis 18:3-8)
Abraham said, “My Lord, if I have found favor in Your sight, please don’t pass by Your servant. Let a little water be brought to wash your feet, and rest under the tree. I’ll bring a bit of bread so you can refresh your hearts, and then you can go on.” They said, “Do as you’ve said.”
“If I have found favor” means “if I have found grace.”
“Since You’ve loved me and saved me, since You’ve done everything for me, since You’ve been gracious to me, you know what I’d like to do? Serve You!”
That’s the response of love. Not hiding! Open before God. “Use me as I am, mistakes and all.”
Compare Adam and Eve in the garden. They were supposed to be serving God, and instead they were hiding (Genesis 3:8).
- What keeps us hiding? Shame that grows out of pride.
- Who are we hiding from? Jesus.
- It seems you’re either serving the Lord, or hiding from Him.
Notice the servant’s heart: grace is the first thing on Abraham’s mind, not law. Is serving God something I have to do, or something I get to do?
Make it personal. Finish this sentence in your heart: “Because Jesus bought me with a price and died for me on the cross, I would be willing to __.”
“But that’s not how I feel about serving. It feels like a chore. A burden. How can I change that?” Go back to grace!
“That you may refresh your hearts”
It isn’t about me; it’s about what refreshes His heart. It’s about what makes Jesus glad, not what I like to do.
That’s called waiting on the Lord. Wait on the LORD; be strong and take heart, and wait on the LORD (Psalm 27:14). What does a waiter do? (Anyone here ever waited tables?) A waiter watches for what the guest wants.
God says He will instruct us and teach us the way to go; He will guide us with His eye. Don’t be like a horse or mule that has no understanding and must be controlled with bit and bridle (Psalm 32:8-9).
Abraham noticed that his guests would like water and some food. The problem is that Abraham was just like me: he couldn’t cook! How do I know? The next verses:
Abraham hurried into the tent and told Sarah, “Quick, get three measures of fine flour, knead it and make bread.” Then he ran to the herd, picked a tender calf, and gave it to a servant, who hurried to prepare it. He brought butter, milk and the calf, set them before his guests, and stood by them under the tree while they ate.
Now Abraham was serving the Lord, running around with great effort and zeal.
“Wait!” you say. “I thought you just said waiting on the Lord is how we serve! What happened to resting in Jesus and trusting grace?”
Paul said that by the grace of God he was what he was, and God’s grace toward him wasn’t in vain. He worked harder than all the others, yet it wasn’t him, but the grace of God that was with him (1 Corinthians 15:10).
- His grace developed him.
- His grace works and is real.
- How do we serve with zeal and trust grace at the same time? Grace changes us and makes us work. But we can’t reverse the order. We can’t work in order to get grace, or work until we get grace.
- God’s work in your heart must come before your service and fruitfulness.
Sarah Laughed (Genesis 18:9-15)
They asked, “Where is Sarah your wife?” “In the tent,” Abraham said. The Lord said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son.” Sarah was listening at the tent door behind him. Abraham and Sarah were old, and Sarah was long past the age of childbearing. So Sarah laughed to herself, thinking, “After I’m worn out and my husband is old, will I have this pleasure?” The LORD said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will I really have a child, now that I’m old?’ Is anything too hard for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son.” But Sarah denied it, saying, “I didn’t laugh,” because she was afraid. And He said, “No, you did laugh.”
This is an extremely embarrassing moment.
- Maybe Abraham had tried to explain the promise to his wife, but now she heard it for herself.
- And when she heard God’s unbelievable promise, she laughed.
- You know the feeling. Something sounds so ridiculous you just laugh. (Like when a politician promises to always tell the truth!)
- It’s a natural reaction to the unbelievable. But it revealed something deeper: a place in her heart struggling to believe.
I feel bad for Sarah. God called her out: “Why did you laugh?”
And she lied. She lied to God!
She tried to cover up not just the laugh, but what the laugh revealed: her unbelief. She was embarrassed in God’s presence because she didn’t believe His word and promises.
God didn’t let it go. He spoke very bluntly, clearly and lovingly: “No, you did laugh.”
“This is where you are. This is where your heart is. This is the truth. You don’t need to hide it from Me. You don’t need to run from Me.”
Remember Adam and Eve. We don’t need to cover up our scars, doubts or failures with God. He’s there as a Healer. By His stripes we are healed (Isaiah 53:5).
He confronted her to bring liberty and freedom, not condemnation. Why do we experience conviction? So we can be set free.
Makeup and muscle cars keep people from Jesus because they expect condemnation whenever they feel conviction.
What God did to rescue her
He didn’t tell her to put on more makeup! (An elderly church lady once asked her pastor if wearing makeup was a sin. He said, “Well, if the barn needs painting…”)
He drew her attention back to the Word of God and the power of God. He gave her something to hang her hat on, a solid rock to stand on, by asking one question:
“Is anything too hard for the LORD?”
- “Sarah, who are you dealing with? Whose power are you relying on? Who are you looking to for this miracle?”
- “Sarah, I said it. I promised it. I meant it. I will do it. Will you believe Me? I know it sounds crazy. But will you believe Me?”
At the Battle of Waterloo, the Prussian commander Blücher had promised the Duke of Wellington he would come to his aid. His exhausted men struggled through mud and wanted to give up. But Blücher urged them on: “I have given my word to Wellington, and you would not have me break it!” His promise was as sure as the character behind it.
When God makes a promise, what kind of character stands behind it? He isn’t a man, that He should lie (Numbers 23:19). He delights to keep His word.
Our doubts don’t need to be covered up, but replaced with belief in God’s simple Word.
Seek His Face
Again and again in the Old Testament, people plead with God not to hide His face from them (Psalm 27:9; 69:17; 102:2). They wanted that intimate relationship!
But in Revelation, people facing God’s judgment cry out to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb!” (Revelation 6:16).
How sad! Instead of seeking the Lord’s face, they’re hiding from it. That’s the makeup-and-muscle-car mindset taken to its end.
It all boils down to self-exaltation. If your relationship with God is based on your efforts and performance, you’d better get all the help you can from muscle cars and makeup. The bigger and faster the car, the more impressive you look. The better the makeup, the fewer flaws anyone sees.
But if you want to be free from all that performance, just run to Jesus like Abraham did, and bow down before Him. That will create a heart that longs to serve Him.
Here’s something very serious: God has chosen to work through His people to accomplish His kingdom work. And He’s willing to wait until we run to Him and bow before Him.
- We think we’re waiting for God to do big things with us.
- He’s actually waiting for us to run to Him and bow down.
Think about it: who should have been more afraid, Abraham or Sarah? Abraham had messed up so much! Yet his confidence was in the Lord. He truly believed, from the bottom of his heart, that God was for him and loved him.
Do you believe? The offer is on the table for you too.
Grace Takeaway
You don’t need a glamour shot or a muscle car to come to God. Run to Him with nothing to hide and bow down, and His grace will turn you into a joyful servant. When He exposes your doubts, it’s not to condemn you but to free you. Let one question replace every doubt: is anything too hard for the Lord?
← Show Me How You Believe | All Genesis notes | The Baby with the Bathwater →