Author: missionspaul

One thing will happen this year that happened last year. You will find yourself in conflict with someone. Something will happen that will make you agitated. You will gain a complaint. There’s nothing you can do to stop it. But you can always get better at handling that complaint. Here’s a remarkable story between the father of the faith, Abraham, and a pagan king, Abimelek, that offers guidelines for improving when we are in conflict.

“Then Abraham complained to Abimelek about a well of water that Abimelek’s servants had seized. ²⁶ But Abimelek said, “I don’t know who has done this. You did not tell me, and I heard about it only today.” ²⁷ So Abraham brought sheep and cattle and gave them to Abimelek, and the two men made a treaty. ²⁸ Abraham set apart seven ewe lambs from the flock, ²⁹ and Abimelek asked Abraham, “What is the meaning of these seven ewe lambs you have set apart by themselves?” ³⁰ He replied, “Accept these seven lambs from my hand as a witness that I dug this well.” ³¹ So that place was called Beersheba, because the two men swore an oath there.” (Genesis 21 v 25-31)

1. Speak up to the right person. Instead of speaking to many about the complaint, go directly to the person who can really deal with it. Sometimes that can be the person who committed the offence or an authoritative figure who can best deal with it. You don’t need to start a campaign against who you think is responsible. Just speak up.

2. Listen to the complaint. It is okay to say you didn’t know about something. You are not omniscient. “I don’t know who did this …” is the proper response at times. It isn’t defensiveness; it is the truth. Listening is hugely important.

3. Conclude and, at best, agree. Don’t just hope everyone leaving a complaint meeting will remember all that has been said and, importantly, agreed upon. The seven lambs were a visible reminder of that agreement. Taking notes and then ensuring everyone agrees they are correct would be a cheaper option! Of course, the parties may not agree, but the conclusion is still essential.

4. Create something new out of the complaint. Resolution is more than just solving a complaint. It can be a commitment to celebrate covenant over conflict. The well of water where the initial complaint started is now named Beersheba (meaning the well of seven or the well of the oath). There can be a temptation to try to forget the complaint as quickly as possible. However, it is possible to memorialise the wound and the healing. So that generations to come will ask, ‘Where did they get the name Beersheba from?’ To be told that this came about because two men decided to address the complaint, find a resolution and then to celebrate that with an oath. A decision that said this complaint will not divide us but unite us.

Let’s hope 2026 has more of this.

I was reading someone’s social media feeds and noticed that a particular person hadn’t been appearing over the last few months. That person isn’t dead. But they don’t seem to be part of their life anymore. Then I read someone else’s summary of their year 2025, and they openly said they had ‘cut certain people out of their life.’ In both those posts, the world could see their story. Of course, there are many posts, especially at this time of the year. Posts of reflection like the ones I noticed, but also of thankfulness for all that has happened in our lives and those of family and friends. The majority of us lay bare a particular part of our lives to the world; for some, they reveal everything in a cathartic fashion. Whether or not you are a social media activist or follower, all of us are under scrutiny from those around us. George Orwell’s ‘Big Brother’ is understood far more now than in his 1949 published work of 1984, with increased government surveillance and corporate data collection, not to mention the loss of privacy in our digital world. Big Brother is watching you indeed. The world is watching you. This is all the lead-up to a revealing verse in this story of Abraham as a pagan king, and his army commander approaches him with his observation. He had been watching Abraham.

“At that time Abimelek and Phicol the commander of his forces said to Abraham, “God is with you in everything you do. ²³ Now swear to me here before God that you will not deal falsely with me or my children or my descendants. Show to me and the country where you now reside as a foreigner the same kindness I have shown to you.” ²⁴ Abraham said, “I swear it.” (Genesis 21 v 22-24)

Abraham’s life revealed the work of God, even though he had previously deceived Abimelek by claiming Sarah was his sister. You don’t have to be perfect for people to see the work of God in your life. This pagan king could see the hand of God’s blessing on Abraham’s life.

What will people say about us this year? Not about what we say, but about what they see in our actions, reactions, decisions, and character.

Abimelek wanted a covenant with Abraham because of God. He had this healthy respect for God because of seeing Him in Abraham’s life.

He asks for a reciprocal kindness. Not only for himself. He was asking about the future. He had somehow seen that Abraham’s descendants would be as blessed as Abraham was (he was so close to faith, wasn’t he?).

“God is with you in everything you do” wasn’t based on Abraham’s words but on Abraham’s life. May that be said of all of us in 2026.

This year, you will become exactly who you were created to be.

You may wake into a new year and know you are not in the place you chose to live. You may realise you are having to make decisions around things that were not initially of your making. It could be that you feel forgotten or left behind. However, these are just one set of feelings based on your circumstances. There are truths to hold on to.

God is with you.

These difficult days won’t destroy you.

You will grow through them.

This year, people will look at you and see not someone drowning in a sea of hopelessness but someone who God was with throughout the whole story.

We have come to the end of this particular chapter of Hagar and Ishmael’s story. In a couple of verses, we have the most profound truth. Let’s read.

“God was with the boy as he grew up. He lived in the desert and became an archer. ²¹ While he was living in the Desert of Paran, his mother got a wife for him from Egypt.” (Genesis 21 v 20-21)

Let these words fall upon your soul today.

It may be the end of a part of the story, but it is also a beginning. Mark that.

“God was with the boy as he grew up.”

God was with him.

In that desert. In those moments of wondering why his father had agreed for him to be sent away with his mother, God was with him. Rejection by people does not mean in the slightest that God has rejected you.

“He lived in the desert and became an archer.” The desert was the making of him. He became that way because of where he was living. His circumstances demanded that he adjust to life and become something he perhaps never thought he would.

Maybe what you thought was your enemy is your friend? What if the place you have been thrown into is actually a training ground for a whole new beginning that is far from banishment?

“While he was living in the Desert of Paran, his mother got a wife for him from Egypt.”

Hagar was a resilient woman. Even though she had gone through so much, she didn’t have a victim mentality. She went back to her roots, her homeland, and found a wife for her son. Her son would have an identity, heritage, and he would belong.

Your situation doesn’t have to be perfect; the desert of Paran wasn’t the Promised Land, but God meets you where you are.

As we begin this new year, no matter what life is like right now, know this: God is with you. Your difficulty doesn’t define you, but His presence does.

Maybe arriving at a place where you feel unseen and unheard is the very place where God will meet you? Perhaps we have to come to our very end for God to give us a new beginning?

As we move from one year into the next, maybe this is an apt story to read?

“The child grew and was weaned, and on the day Isaac was weaned Abraham held a great feast. ⁹ But Sarah saw that the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham was mocking, ¹⁰ and she said to Abraham, “Get rid of that slave woman and her son, for that woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac.” ¹¹ The matter distressed Abraham greatly because it concerned his son. ¹² But God said to him, “Do not be so distressed about the boy and your slave woman. Listen to whatever Sarah tells you, because it is through Isaac that your offspringwill be reckoned. ¹³ I will make the son of the slave into a nation also, because he is your offspring.” ¹⁴ Early the next morning Abraham took some food and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar. He set them on her shoulders and then sent her off with the boy. She went on her way and wandered in the Desert of Beersheba. ¹⁵ When the water in the skin was gone, she put the boy under one of the bushes. ¹⁶ Then she went off and sat down about a bowshot away, for she thought, “I cannot watch the boy die.” And as she sat there, shebegan to sob. ¹⁷ God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What is the matter, Hagar? Do not be afraid; God has heard the boy crying as he lies there. ¹⁸ Lift the boy up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.” ¹⁹ Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. So she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink.” (Genesis 21 v 8-19)

Maybe arriving at a place where you feel unseen and unheard is the very place where God

will meet you? Perhaps we have to come to our very end for God to give us a new beginning?

Reread this story. Do you know when you have come to the end? The end of your tether?

Hagar, who had named God ‘El Roi’ because He is a God who sees her, had reached the lowest point in her life. God might have seen her before, but now she couldn’t even face seeing her own son die before her eyes.

Where did the well come from? Did God create it there and then? Or was her pain and

despair so traumatic that it had blinded her to what was in front of her? In front of her, all the time, was the well. She had come to the end of her life at the very place which would save her and her son.

This place you are in right now may not be the end, but the beginning of a new chapter in your life. Dry your eyes and look up. God’s provision may be closer to you than you realise.

Hagar’s story echoes across millennia because it speaks to something universal: the longing to be seen, to be known, to matter. Her ancient cry from the wilderness still resonates today—in the barren places of our lives, in the moments when we feel used and discarded, when shame becomes our identity and rejection our companion.

I have met people all over the world who, like Hagar, have known the feeling of being of no value. It seems it is part of the chapters of our lives, and for some, sadly, it becomes many chapters. But just as the angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert, God has seen them, and if this applies to you as we venture into a new year, then He will find you also.

God gave Hagar dignity, and she gave Him a name: El Roi, “the Seer,” and it is a name that you can use today, for He sees you and knows your name. The well that saved her life represents hidden provision amid despair. Just as Hagar named her son Ishmael, meaning “God hears,” remember that being cast out isn’t the end. Your trauma is real, but so is your God. He sees you, hears you, and has the final word on your life.

There are moments for all of us when we need to go from nothing into something—or, should I say, someone. What about you? Despite a stigma that follows you like a shadow, a disability the world uses to define your limits, feelings of inadequacy, whispering untruths in quiet

moments and failures replaying in your mind like a film on loop—you can say goodbye to being nothing and embrace your destiny by allowing God to meet you. That is what Hagar did thousands of years ago at a spring in the desert. As we step into a new year, this is what we can also do. Are you ready for this?

My granddaughter has been staying over the Christmas period, and it has been a joy. I should say she is a bundle of joy. One of the things I’ve enjoyed is making her laugh. Her laugh has melted my heart. So I try again and again to make her laugh, to hear the sound.

Laughter, of course, can mean many things.

I’ve met people in different cultures of the world who laugh even when they’re angry. In my culture, we laugh at times when we cannot believe what we have heard or seen.

When Sarah’s visitors first announced that she would give birth herself, she laughed. It was a laughter born out of bitterness and pain and not a little cynicism. However, all that would change; the reason for the laughter would take on a wholesome one, for God would do what He said He would do. Sarah was going to name the newborn, Isaac, his name importantly meaning ‘laughter’, and this time, this old lady was indeed filled with perfect laughter at what God had done for her.

For, thankfully, it still does mean unbelievable joy.

“Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what he had promised. ² Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him. ³ Abraham gave the name Isaacto the son Sarah bore him. ⁴ When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God commanded him. ⁵ Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. ⁶ Sarah said, “God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.” ⁷ And she added, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.” (Genesis 20 v 1-7)

God said it, and God did it.

Bitter laughter has become wondrous laughter, and Sarah knew this would be a shared experience for many. Her impossible hope is now a reality.

I have seen many people roll their eyes and laugh at the thought that God would fulfil His promise to them. Why? They have waited so long.

Is this you? Are you waiting? For healing? For a breakthrough? For wisdom?

Will you laugh with cynicism if what is in your heart is raised in a conversation? God transforms bitter laughter into blessed laughter, and this new year to come could well be your year of thankful laughter.

Can you imagine having a child who, every time you called him, you were saying, ‘Hey, laughter, come here’, or something similar?

Sarah’s laughter is echoing towards you today. Hold on, be patient, don’t let go of hope, laughter is on its way to you, and it is in the purest form, full of joy and thankfulness.

Have you heard someone say something like this, “The people outside the church have better standards than those within it”?

If you have, you will understand this story of a king who didn’t fear God as Abraham did, yet had more integrity than the father of faith.

“Early the next morning Abimelek summoned all his officials, and when he told them all that had happened, they were very much afraid. ⁹ Then Abimelek called Abraham in and said, “What have you done to us? How have I wronged you that you have brought such great guilt upon me and my kingdom? You have done things to me that should never be done.” ¹⁰ And Abimelek asked Abraham, “What was your reason for doing this?” ¹¹ Abraham replied, “I said to myself, ‘There is surely no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.’ ¹² Besides, she really is my sister, the daughter of my father though not of my mother; and she became my wife. ¹³ And when God had me wander from my father’s household, I said to her, ‘This is how you can show your love to me: Everywhere we go, say of me, “He is my brother.”’ ¹⁴ Then Abimelek brought sheep and cattle and male and female slaves and gave them to Abraham, and he returned Sarah his wife to him. ¹⁵ And Abimelek said, “My land is before you; live wherever you like.” ¹⁶ To Sarah he said, “I am giving your brother a thousand shekelsof silver. This is to cover the offence against you before all who are with you; you are completely vindicated.” ¹⁷ Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelek, his wife and his female slaves so they could have children again, ¹⁸ for the Lord had kept all the women in Abimelek’s household from conceiving because of Abraham’s wife Sarah.” (Genesis 20 v 8-18)

The king who had no faith, in a kingdom that had no fear of God, had a conscience that the cowardly father of the faith didn’t have. Abraham had thrown his wife under the bus to save himself, bringing disaster upon another family. How did he justify doing this deception again? Only that he presumed the pagans had morals lower than his. In doing so, not only was he prejudiced against the people of the city, but he had also decided not to trust God for protection.

But he was wrong.

Are we ever guilty of the same charge as Abraham? Guilty of the half-truth. Sarah was his step-sister. This half-truth/half-lie was certainly misleading. The truth was that Sarah was his wife, and he had withheld the truth.

It reminds me of a Pastor overseas that I found had been blatantly lying. I confronted him, and he said, “I wasn’t lying, I was just withholding the truth.” It was technically accurate but totally misleading.

.”

God steps in, and the king doesn’t commit adultery with Sarah. He then responds with a generosity that, to say the least, is surprising and reveals that in all humans there is the capacity to tap into the image of God.

What does this strange story tell us?

• Religious identity doesn’t automatically prove moral superiority.
• Half-truths are lies.
• You can be a person of faith and yet, through fear, become a coward.

Years previously in Egypt, Abraham claimed his wife was his sister to save his life. His fear caused him to lie. The person in authority could kill him for his beautiful wife.

He is now temporarily settled in Gerar, and we are going to read that he hasn’t got over the anxiety in his life. This man of God, who walked with God and had promises from God, is again filled with such fear. But perhaps we know all too well what this is like.

Time goes by, but we remain the same anxious person.

“Now Abraham moved on from there into the region of the Negev and lived between Kadesh and Shur. For a while he stayed in Gerar, ² and there Abraham said of his wife Sarah, “She is my sister.” Then Abimelek king of Gerar sent for Sarah and took her. ³ But God came to Abimelek in a dream one night and said to him, “You are as good as dead because of the woman you have taken; she is a married woman.” ⁴ Now Abimelek had not gone near her, so he said, “Lord, will you destroy an innocent nation? ⁵ Did he not say to me, ‘She is my sister,’ and didn’t she also say, ‘He is my brother’? I have done this with a clear conscience and clean hands.” ⁶ Then God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know you did this with a clear conscience, and so I have kept you from sinning against me. That is why I did not let you touch her. ⁷ Now return the man’s wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you will live. But if you do not return her, you may be sure that you and all who belong to you will die.” (Genesis 20 v 1-7)

“She is my sister.” King Abimelek gets dragged into this mess through no fault of his own. But in a dream, he learns (and we do) there is a difference between sin committed in ignorance and that through rebellion. God stepped in and prevented Abimelek from sinning any further. Isn’t that an amazing grace with a pagan king? God stepped in to stop the mess even before it was created. There was no adultery committed and no resulting judgment; there was no disaster because God stepped in and made a way out even before the king knew he needed one.

If we were God, maybe we would have brought about a different ending. At the very least, giving Abraham a good telling off, perhaps. But God strangely and very graciously says the liar who is a prophet will be the one to intercede, stand in the gap and in effect save the king.

Abraham isn’t disqualified from his ministry as a prophet or an intercessor.

Grace never makes sense to us.

Maybe, like me, you have sinned in the same way twice and maybe because of fear. Don’t worry, you are in alignment with the father of faith, and God’s faithfulness is greater than our failures.

You may have thought you were being wise to protect yourself, and yet lies and deception can mean that others suffer the consequences we never intended.

The father of faith had feet of clay, and we are glad he did, for we know these anxious self-protecting plots we choose: a small lie here and there, all for a good cause. But every time we need a gracious God to step in to sort the mess before things implode.

Abraham stood at a crossroads, the ruins of Sodom and Gomorrah behind him, cities he had tried to save. His nephew Lot’s family was shattered, with only Lot and his two daughters surviving. How could he process the events that transpired?

You might find yourself in a similar situation, grappling with family troubles and outcomes that defy your hopes, despite your prayers. Disturbing memories linger, and unanswered questions cloud your peace.

“Now Abraham moved on from there into the region of the Negev and lived between Kadesh and Shur. For a while, he stayed in Gerar, ² and there Abraham said of his wife Sarah, “She is my sister.” Then Abimelek king of Gerar sent for Sarah and took her.” (Genesis 20 v 1-2)

 What did Abraham do?

• He moved on – He got back to his own purpose in life, to explore Canaan. This is still the invitation today for us to explore all that God has for us.
• He moved into – He went into a new place. Sometimes we need to turn a new page, bring new people into our lives, and do something different.
• He lived between – He was between two places. This best sums up Abraham’s life. Earth was not all there was. “He was a stranger in a foreign country” (Hebrews). That’s how we should live our lives with an eternal focus; we are in between.
• He stayed in Gerar – It was here that he sinned in precisely the same way – “She is my sister”. But something happened here in this place where he stayed. His sin affected his son, who learnt from his father and did the same thing to his wife, Rebekah, in the same place, in Genesis 26. Sometimes, the decisions we make out of fear lead the next generation into the same sin.

 Abraham’s journey teaches us that moving forward is possible, but how we move matters.

I haven’t purposely chosen to write about Lot’s story during the Christmas period; it was simply because, as you know, I am reading through Genesis.

This is an alarming read for a Boxing Day morning!

In the last two days, many have had a welcome break from the stresses of life. Perhaps they have already returned to reality. If not, some will tomorrow and the day after. Christmas doesn’t erase our worst moments, nor does it pretend trauma doesn’t distort our choices. That’s not it. It announces that God has entered human darkness and redeemed a generation from even the choices their ancestors made long ago. He still does.

 Here’s the story:

^“ Lot and his two daughters left Zoar and settled in the mountains, for he was afraid to stay in Zoar. He and his two daughters lived in a cave. ³¹ One day the older daughter said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is no man around here to give us children—as is the custom all over the earth. ³² Let’s get our father to drink wine and then sleep with him and preserve our family line through our father.” ³³ That night they got their father to drink wine, and the older daughter went in and slept with him. He was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up. ³⁴ The next day the older daughter said to the younger, “Last night I slept with my father. Let’s get him to drink wine again tonight, and you go in and sleep with him so we can preserve our family line through our father.” ³⁵ So they got their father to drink wine that night also, and the younger daughter went in and slept with him. Again he was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up. ³⁶ So both of Lot’s daughters became pregnant by their father. ³⁷ The older daughter had a son, and she named him Moab; he is the father of the Moabites of today. ³⁸ The younger daughter also had a son, and she named him Ben-Ammi; he is the father of the Ammonitesof today.” (Genesis 19 v 30-38)

Yes, it’s horrible. But let’s look again. Lot’s daughters found themselves isolated in a mountain cave, convinced they were among the last people on earth. According to their thinking, their father was the only man around. Civilisation as they knew it had ended. So, how was their future? They came up with a disturbing plan. Get their father drunk and become pregnant by him. Lot wasn’t in on the plan; he was, in that sense, a victim of their traumatised and catastrophic choice.

Years later, the Moabites and the Ammonites, enemies of Israel, would emerge from these children of Lot and his daughters.

This isn’t a story the Bible celebrates or endorses. It simply tells us that in an ancient cave, certain decisions made the destruction even worse. There are many in such caves today trying to answer this question: when things are desperate, what boundaries will we cross to find a way forward for ourselves?

“Early the next morning Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before the Lord. ²⁸ He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, toward all the land of the plain, and he saw dense smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a furnace. ²⁹ So when God destroyed the cities of the plain, he remembered Abraham, and he brought Lot out of the catastrophe that overthrew the cities where Lot had lived.” (Genesis 19 v 27-29)

Abraham went back to the place. That place was where he had pleaded for the righteous people of the two cities, if any could have been found. But the people have all gone. Judgment came. In the place of his intercession, it seems that God hadn’t listened to his cries. But then see how things change in v29.

God remembered. Who? Not Lot. That would have been what we would have written. But no, God remembered Abraham and his intercessions. God had heard Abraham. God had remembered, and God had rescued.

At this moment, Abraham doesn’t know Lot is safe. All he sees is the ruins and the smoke.

Christmas often comes to us in the same way, unexpectedly arriving in the midst of ruins. The first Christmas was not announced with fanfare to everyone. In the place of powerful empires and religion, God remembers, even when everyone had forgotten or turned their gaze away from a simple town of Bethlehem.

I have just watched the Netflix series Man v Baby, and I can recommend it. It is a modern tale of how, at first, a baby was somewhat of a nuisance, but how, in the end, it brought so many together.

This Christmas Day, we celebrate the birth of the Christ-child, born in a manger, in a story that is at first hidden from many.

We may be taken up with so many things today—fears, pain and loss. It is easy to be blinded by the smoke and the ruins. It is easy to see what has gone and not what has come.

At the start of v27, it says, “Early the next morning …” Many can see the smoke today. The smoke may be rising, but friends, so does the sun, and sometimes at the same time. We often live with partial vision. God remembered Abraham, and He remembers you also. This is the message coming out of this important day.

Christmas morning symbolises the rising of the Sun of Righteousness amidst the smoke of our broken world. The Light shines in darkness, right in the midst of it. The baby in the manger represents God’s remembrance—proof that He hasn’t forgotten us, even when we only see ruins.