God’s purposes for your life do not mean the absence of struggle.

Before we read the family line of Ishmael, let’s remind ourselves of a few things.

Ishmael, the son of Abraham and Hagar.

Sent away into the wilderness so that Isaac (the promised son) could have the freedom to grow.

God found Ishmael and his mother and promised that a nation would come from him.  These verses are the fulfilment of that promise.

¹² This is the account of the family line of Abraham’s son Ishmael, whom Sarah’s slave, Hagar the Egyptian, bore to Abraham. ¹³ These are the names of the sons of Ishmael, listed in the order of their birth: Nebaioth the firstborn of Ishmael, Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, ¹⁴ Mishma, Dumah, Massa, ¹⁵ Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish and Kedemah. ¹⁶ These were the sons of Ishmael, and these are the names of the twelve tribal rulers according to their settlements and camps. ¹⁷ Ishmael lived a hundred and thirty-seven years. He breathed his last and died, and he was gathered to his people. ¹⁸ His descendants settled in the area from Havilah to Shur, near the eastern border of Egypt, as you go toward Ashur. And they lived in hostility towardall the tribes related to them.” (Genesis 25 v 12-18)

The prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah would mention these tribes in their prophecies. I have emboldened the interesting part of the hostilities amongst them.

Families have break-ups and break-downs, don’t they? You might be in one of them right now. Yet somehow, the struggles do not mean you step outside God’s purposes. God manages to work through the complications and strain of imperfect families. He will still fulfil His purposes despite us.

The whole passage is full of amazing grace.

The fact that it is recorded is one thing. The main character of the story is Isaac, whose bloodline will lead to Christ.

But here, the Bible story pauses to record the other brother on the margins of the main story. You may think you are not important, not the centrepiece, an add-on, but you couldn’t be further from the truth in terms of what God thinks of you. He sees you. He sees your family.

• Your life can be one long struggle, but you can know the blessing of God at the same time. The struggle doesn’t disqualify you from the blessings.
• Look at the blessing – the twelve sons that became tribes, the long life of 137 years. Look at the pain – the hostilities. See the honesty? You don’t have to pretend everything is fine in order to be thankful for the good that God has done. When I was a Pastor, people came to me often and said, ‘Pastor, my testimony is nearly ready to give.’ They were referring to the fact that God still hadn’t completely healed them, or they hadn’t quite secured that promotion yet. I changed things. I began asking for testimonies of the cancer members and those without jobs to testify to the blessings and purposes of God within the presence of struggle and pain.
• God works through the mess. He won’t wait for us to get ourselves perfected. He just carries on working through our dysfunction. Struggle doesn’t mean you are outside of His purpose for your life.