Dysfunctional Families and a Loving God, part 1" with Dr. Tom Richardson - June 21, 2026

The Abraham story first shows the familiar model of faith, the man who heard God say “go” and went, without asking where or why and without whinging about the inconvenience. Yet Genesis also gives a less flattering picture of Abraham and Sarah, and that unflattering picture matters because the Bible does not hide the bad behavior of even its heroic figures. The old stories of Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Rebecca and Jacob, Jacob’s wives, and Joseph’s brothers show families marked by deceit, jealousy, poor communication, abuse, and even murder. God, however, keeps protecting and caring for people who live less than perfect lives.

Abraham’s treatment of Sarah in Egypt and Gerar shows fear and failure, as Abraham tries to save himself by calling Sarah his sister. God comes to Sarah’s rescue when Abraham’s choices put her in danger. The same pattern appears in the story of Hagar and Ishmael. Sarah’s scheme gives Abraham a son through Hagar, but Sarah then turns on Hagar with anger and jealousy. Ishmael receives a name full of irony and mercy: “God hears.” God hears Hagar’s affliction when Abraham and Sarah force her into the wilderness.

Genesis then brings the story forward to Isaac’s weaning feast. Isaac and Ishmael play together happily, but Sarah sees Ishmael’s claim on Abraham’s household and demands, “Cast out this slave woman with her son.” Abraham is distressed on account of his son, yet he sends Hagar and Ishmael away with bread and a skin of water. The scene is heart-rending: a mother and child pushed out into the wilderness until the bread is gone, the water is gone, and Hagar cannot bear to watch her son die.

God hears the boy and the mother’s cries. God tells Hagar to lift up the boy and hold him fast, and God opens a well of water so they may drink and live. This is the character of God: a God who seeks the banished, saves the helpless, and gives water in the wilderness.

The wilderness also names the places people inhabit now: poverty, disease, greed, envy, loneliness, failed relationships, busyness, fear, sinfulness, self-righteousness, and exclusion. God still seeks out people there and opens wells of life. Abraham’s place in Christianity, Judaism, and Islam also presses the point that God transcends the barriers people create. The God of Abraham is a God of unity, inclusion, grace, and mercy, calling God’s people to hear cries of distress and to become hands that provide water and life.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. Faithful figures still fail badly Abraham’s faith is real, but Genesis does not polish his life into a clean example of religious success. The text allows a faithful person to be seen in fear, selfishness, and moral weakness. That honesty keeps faith from becoming performance and turns attention toward the God who remains vigilant even when human beings are contrary. [28:02]
• 2. God hears the cast-out Ishmael’s name means “God hears,” and that name becomes the truth of Hagar’s wilderness. Abraham and Sarah push her outside the household, but God seeks her where the righteous have sent her away. The banished do not become invisible to God simply because they have become inconvenient to God’s people. [34:18]
• 3. Wilderness takes many modern forms The wilderness is not only desert sand and an empty skin of water. The text names poverty, pain, greed, envy, loneliness, overwork, fear, sinfulness, and even self-righteous exclusion as places where people lose life. God’s mercy meets human beings not in imagined strength, but in the real places where thirst has become undeniable. [39:22]
• 4. Grace outruns religious exclusion The story of Ishmael shows one God transcending the divisions people construct and the labels people defend. God saves and prospers the one whom the chosen household has cast out. The concern of God reaches deeper than theological pride, because grace is not granted as a reward for having every boundary correctly drawn. [42:11]
• 5. God’s people become God’s hands The God who hears distress also calls God’s people to hear it. The God who opens a well also calls God’s people to provide water and life to the needy, the outcast, and the spiritually thirsty. Compassion becomes faithful only when it takes shape as attention, provision, and welcome.
  
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Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [28:02] - Abraham’s Faith and Failure
• [29:31] - Dysfunctional Families in Scripture
• [30:30] - Abraham Endangers Sarah
• [31:55] - Hagar and Ishmael Enter the Story
• [33:36] - Sarah’s Jealousy and Hagar’s Affliction
• [35:33] - Isaac’s Feast and Ishmael’s Exile
• [37:21] - Hagar and Ishmael in the Wilderness
• [39:22] - God Opens Wells Today
• [40:56] - Abraham Across Three Faiths
• [42:11] - God of Unity and Grace
• [44:18] - Hearing the Outcast’s Cry

Bible Reading

Genesis 21:8-21

And the child grew and was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. [35:33]

But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, laughing. [35:40]

So she said to Abraham, “Cast out this slave woman with her son, for the son of this slave woman shall not be heir with my son Isaac.” [36:07]

And the thing was very displeasing to Abraham on account of his son. [20:16]

But God said to Abraham, “Be not displeased because of the boy and because of your slave woman. Whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for through Isaac shall your offspring be named. And I will make a nation of the son of the slave woman also, because he is your offspring.” [37:06]

So Abraham rose early in the morning and took bread and a skin of water and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, along with the child, and sent her away. And she departed and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba. [37:35]

When the water in the skin was gone, she put the child under one of the bushes. [38:23]

Then she went and sat down opposite him a good way off, about the distance of a bowshot, for she said, “Let me not look on the death of the child.” And as she sat opposite him, she lifted up her voice and wept. [38:31]

And God heard the voice of the boy, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What troubles you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. [38:50]

Up! Lift up the boy, and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make him into a great nation.” [38:54]

Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. And she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink. [39:03]

And God was with the boy, and he grew up. He lived in the wilderness and became an expert with the bow. [39:09]

Observation questions

1. In this passage, what actions does Sarah take when she sees Ishmael, and how does Abraham respond to her demand? [36:07]
2. What details in the story make Hagar and Ishmael’s time in the wilderness feel so desperate and painful? [37:21]
3. What does God say and do for Hagar and Ishmael after the water runs out? [38:50]
4. What other family stories in Genesis are described as marked by jealousy, deceit, neglect, abuse, or broken relationships? [28:59]

Interpretation questions

1. Abraham is often remembered as a model of faith, yet this story shows fear, weakness, and failure in his household. Why might Scripture preserve such an unflattering picture instead of hiding it? [28:37]
2. Ishmael’s name means “God hears.” How does that meaning shape the way this passage is read, especially when Hagar and Ishmael are pushed out and nearly lost in the wilderness? [34:34]
3. God protects the very people the chosen household casts out. What does that reveal about God’s character and God’s concern for those who are unwanted or inconvenient? [42:32]
4. The wilderness is more than a desert place. How does the image of wilderness help connect Hagar’s story to forms of thirst, loss, and exclusion people face now? [39:47]

Application questions

1. Faithful people can still behave badly. Where is there a temptation to excuse personal fear, selfishness, or harshness because of stress, family pressure, or self-protection? [31:43]
2. Hagar and Ishmael were sent away by the people who should have cared for them. Who tends to become easy to overlook, avoid, or keep at a distance in ordinary life—within family, church, workplace, or neighborhood? [44:24]
3. Many people live in a wilderness of loneliness, pain, busyness, fear, greed, or exclusion. Which kind of wilderness feels most real right now, and what might it look like to ask God for the well of water that gives life there? [40:02]
4. God hears the cries of the distressed. How can a person grow in noticing cries that are quiet, hidden, or easy to dismiss, rather than only the needs that are obvious and public? [43:47]
5. God’s people are called to be God’s hands that provide water and life. What is one specific act of mercy or welcome that could be offered this week to someone who is physically needy, spiritually weary, or socially left out? [44:40]
6. Self-righteousness and exclusion can become their own kind of wilderness. Where might there be a habit of drawing lines too quickly between “us” and “them,” and what would repentance look like there? [40:35]
7. God is a God of unity, inclusion, grace, and mercy. In a time when people often divide over labels and differences, what would it look like to reflect that grace without pretending truth does not matter? [43:29]