LastCall: Ishmael and Hagar -Jon Courson


And she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beer-sheba.

 

Genesis 21:14

 

Paul calls the story of Ishmael and Hagar an allegory (Galatians 4:24) in which Ishmael is a type of the flesh and Isaac a type of the Spirit. We see in this story Ishmael mocking Isaac—something that happens in each of our hearts constantly.

For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. Galatians 5:17

There’s a constant battle going on, and here’s the question: Who are we going to allow to win? The Bible says the solution is to cast out Ishmael, the flesh. 

How do we cast Ishmael out?

By doing what Abraham did: by giving him no provision. 

Abraham didn’t give Ishmael a Visa card and a Ford Explorer. He gave him nothing more than prisoner’s rations—a little bread and water. That is why Paul emphatically tells us to “make no provision for the flesh” (see Romans 13:14). 

Every fleshly thing I see or hear is a seed planted in the soil of my soul that will come up eventually. Likewise, every godly thing I take in will also come to fruition. Perhaps the best illustration of this is one I shared recently with a group of junior highers . . . 

It’s as if there are two dogs inside of you: one black, one white. The white dog is life, the black dog is death. At any given point, you’re feeding one of the dogs—through the type of people with whom you associate, through what you choose to listen to, watch, and take in. If you feed the black dog, he gets bigger and stronger. He bares his fangs and starts ripping on the white dog while the white dog gets smaller and smaller. Once the black dog decimates the white dog, he turns on you and begins to sink his jaws into your innermost being, leaving you wondering why you’re so down, defeated, depressed, and discontent. On the other hand, if you feed the white dog, the spirit, by doing what’s right in God’s sight, the white dog grows bigger and stronger as the black dog grows punier and weaker, until he’s no bigger than a Chihuahua. At any given moment, you’ll feed one of the two dogs. Which will it be?

Devotions with Emotion

Michael James Stone

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