Living Like Aliens: Hope, Mess, and Planting Trees

Genesis 21 shows Abraham living as an alien in the land of the Philistines, and that alien life is not about staying distant or just waiting to get out. God calls his people to go all in on his story, even when that story moves slower, gets messier, and asks more than they would choose for themselves.

The Lord comes to Sarah exactly as he said, at the appointed time, and Isaac’s birth makes clear that only God could have done it. Abraham and Sarah had spent years trying to write their own story through control, fear, lying, Hagar, and Ishmael. God’s promise pushes them back into “the vulnerability of hope,” where they have to believe that what is impossible with man is possible with God. The resurrection of Jesus means Christians cannot say God raises the dead but cannot heal, restore, provide, or move in the places that feel completely done.

Genesis 21 also refuses to make God’s promise neat and tidy. Ishmael’s mocking, Sarah’s demand, Abraham’s grief, Hagar’s wilderness, and the lingering shrapnel of old sin all show how badly people can make a mess of life. Yet God meets Abraham with a word, meets Hagar in the desert, hears Ishmael’s cry, and opens Hagar’s eyes to see the well already beside her. God’s goodness may be hard to see in the mess, but his word, his Spirit, his church, his forgiveness, and his presence remain right there. The well is there. God is there.

Abraham’s life also makes Abimelech say, “God is with you in everything you do.” Abraham does not demand his rights over the well or live like a tourist who consumes the best parts of a place and gets out. Abraham plants a tamarisk tree, a tree whose shade he likely will never enjoy, because he is investing in the place where God has him. The tamarisk tree becomes a picture of relationships, churches, generosity, service, and faithfulness that bless people long after the original planter is gone.

Jesus fulfills that picture more deeply. Jesus hung on a tree so sinners can rest in the shade of the cross. Christ did not enter the world as a tourist. Christ went all in, trusted the Father through the mess, and poured himself out for the good of those who would come after him. God’s people therefore live as aliens by trusting his story, seeing his goodness in the mess, and planting trees whose shade future generations can enjoy.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. Enter the vulnerability of hope God’s appointed time can feel painfully slow, especially when the thing being prayed for has become humanly impossible. God does not ask for pretend optimism or control dressed up as faith. God invites his people to ask boldly because his power is not limited by the boundaries that limit them. [31:14]
• 2. God meets people in the mess Sin leaves shrapnel that can reach years into the future, breaking trust and making life feel off the rails. God does not stand far away from that wreckage. God speaks, sustains, corrects, comforts, and keeps moving broken people toward his goodness. [38:48]
• 3. Look up and see the well Hagar could not see the water because grief and fear had swallowed up her view of reality. God often opens eyes before he changes circumstances, showing his people gifts already present in the mess. God’s word, Spirit, church, adoption, and forgiveness are not small comforts but real wells in the wilderness. [40:42]
• 4. Plant trees for future shade Abraham planted a tamarisk tree knowing somebody else would benefit from it. Christian faithfulness refuses the tourist mindset that takes, consumes, and moves on. God calls his people to invest deeply in relationships, churches, and places that may outlive them by generations. [48:42]
• 5. Rest in the cross’s shade Jesus hung on a tree so guilt, shame, and death would not have the final word. Christ went all in for sinners and created a future they could never build for themselves. The cross gives both rest for the weary and a pattern for lives poured out for others.
  
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Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [14:08] - Feeling Out of Place
• [23:30] - Living as Aliens
• [24:29] - Isaac Arrives at God’s Appointed Time
• [26:20] - The Vulnerability of Hope
• [31:14] - Asking God for the Impossible
• [34:00] - God Meets a Messy Family
• [39:50] - Hagar Sees the Well
• [42:56] - A Life That Shows God Is Present
• [45:16] - Abraham Plants a Tamarisk Tree
• [48:07] - Planting Trees for Future Generations
• [50:40] - Investing in Relationships and Church
• [53:39] - Resting in the Shade of the Cross
• [54:38] - Living as Aliens, Not Tourists

Bible Reading

Genesis 21:1-34
“The LORD visited Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did to Sarah as he had promised. And Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the time of which God had spoken to him. Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore him, Isaac. And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. And Sarah said, 'God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh over me.' And she said, 'Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.' And the child grew and was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, laughing. 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.' And the thing was very displeasing to Abraham on account of his son. 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.' 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. When the water in the skin was gone, she put the child under one of the bushes. 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. 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. Up! Lift up the boy, and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make him into a great nation.' 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. And God was with the boy, and he grew up. He lived in the wilderness and became an expert with the bow. He lived in the wilderness of Paran, and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt. At that time Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his army said to Abraham, 'God is with you in all that you do. Now therefore swear to me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me or with my descendants or with my posterity, but as I have dealt kindly with you, so you will deal with me and with the land where you have sojourned.' And Abraham said, 'I will swear.' When Abraham reproved Abimelech about a well of water that Abimelech's servants had seized, Abimelech said, 'I do not know who has done this thing; you did not tell me, and I have not heard of it until today.' So Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech, and the two men made a covenant. Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock apart. And Abimelech said to Abraham, 'What is the meaning of these seven ewe lambs that you have set apart?' He said, 'These seven ewe lambs you will take from my hand, that this may be a witness for me that I dug this well.' Therefore that place was called Beersheba, because there both of them swore an oath. So they made a covenant at Beersheba. Then Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his army rose up and returned to the land of the Philistines. Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba and called there on the name of the LORD, the Everlasting God. And Abraham sojourned many days in the land of the Philistines.” [24:29]

Matthew 19:26
“But Jesus looked at them and said, 'With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” [31:14]

Jeremiah 29:7
“But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.” [48:42]

Observation questions

1. In Genesis 21, what details show that Isaac’s birth happened according to God’s promise and timing rather than through Abraham and Sarah’s ability? [29:09]
2. What happens between Sarah, Ishmael, Hagar, and Abraham after Isaac is weaned, and how does God respond to Abraham’s distress?
3. In Hagar’s wilderness crisis, what does God do before she receives water, and what does that reveal about her situation? [40:09]
4. What does Abimelech notice about Abraham, and what actions does Abraham take in Beersheba after settling the dispute over the well? [43:05]

Interpretation questions

1. Why might Genesis emphasize that Isaac arrived at the “appointed time”? How does that timing make God’s faithfulness and power clearer? [29:17]
2. Abraham and Sarah tried to manage God’s promise through fear, control, and their own plans. What does their story show about the difference between trusting God’s story and trying to write one’s own?
3. God does not remove every painful consequence from Abraham’s family, yet he speaks to Abraham, hears Ishmael, and provides for Hagar. What does this show about God’s care for people living with the fallout of sin? [38:37]
4. Abraham planted a tree whose shade he likely would not enjoy. How does this picture help explain Jeremiah 29:7’s call to seek the good of the place where God has put his people? [48:15]

Application questions

1. What is one situation in which you have become afraid to hope because the wait has been long or the outcome feels impossible? What would it look like to bring that desire honestly to God again? [31:28]
2. Where are you most tempted to take control and write your own story—through anxiety, self-protection, rushing, or making plans without prayer? What is one next step of trust you could take this week?
3. Is there a mess in your life that includes guilt, broken trust, painful consequences, or fear about the future? How does God meeting Hagar in the wilderness give you a reason not to hide or give up? [37:47]
4. When stress or grief narrows your view, what “wells” of God’s kindness are already near you—his Word, forgiveness, the Spirit, a friend, the church, or another gift? Which one do you need to receive more intentionally this week? [41:02]
5. Do the people around you have reasons to see that God is with you—not because life is easy, but because of your peace, honesty, generosity, or faithfulness in difficulty? What might make God’s presence more visible through your life? [42:59]
6. Where might you be living like a tourist—mainly consuming what a place, relationship, or church can offer you? What “tamarisk tree” could you plant through serving, giving, welcoming, mentoring, or building a relationship that may outlast your time there? [49:30]
7. Jesus went all in for sinners and made rest possible through the cross. How can resting in his forgiveness free you to pour yourself out for others without needing recognition or immediate results? [53:17]