Ishmael and Isaac

The two sons of Abraham still live today.
Their voices are battling in my mind each day!
Ishmael, the son of a bondwoman, wants to keep me enslaved.
But Isaac, the son of a Promise, is the one who was saved!

Father Abraham knew of the rivalry his sons would face:
Ishmael tried so hard to earn his place.
But Isaac knew something Ishmael couldn't see,
His Father's Kingdom was meant to be free!

Still Ishmael persists, trying to live by the laws,
While Isaac looks inward and sees his own flaws.
Oh, how Ishmael mocks and taunts his brother,
"Father, loves me best, he doesn't need another!
For I was born first, my way is right!"
And he lived by the law with all of his might.

Isaac, wounded and weary by his brother's laments,
runs to his Father and weeps and repents,
"Father, I don't deserve to be called your son,
for my life doesn't deserve the throne you won!"
And Ishmael looks on and says in disgust,
"Yes, Father, he'll never be a son you could trust!"
Father Abraham listened to each son's plea,
and ponders inside over how this rivalry came to be...

Abraham remembers the day when God's Voice he heard,
Saying, "I will give you a son by my spoken Word."
But, as the years went by, no son yet appeared,
"Perhaps, God's waiting for me," Abraham feared!
So he decided to make it happen and took another wife,
and soon Hagar, a slave, was blessed with Ishmael's life.
But years after that, God's Promise came to pass,
and Sarah finally gave birth to Isaac at last!

And Abraham winced when he remembered these things
for not waiting on God he sees the trouble it brings.
As he watched Ishmael and Isaac as they grew,
a time of decision was coming, he knew.
For though he loved them both as a son,
His inheritance could only belong to one.
So Abraham went to God and inquired of His Word,
"Father, I made a mess again, please help me, Lord!"
And when Abraham heard God say, "I forgive you."
He knew then what he had to do...

He beckoned both of his sons, "Come here!"
And Ishmael and Isaac both drew near.
And he wept as he looked down at each son,
yet, knew in his heart, there could only be one.
"Though Ishmael came first, Isaac was promised before,
and this strife in my family, I can't bear no more!"
And he turned away as he spoke the way it now must be,
"Cast out the bondwoman's son, for my Heir is free!"

Today the battle of Abraham's sons still lingers in me.
How many times I forget I am free!
And I start to let Ishmael tell me what I must do,
and how to the law I must remain true.
And in my struggles another voice I hear,
"It's me, Isaac, let me come near."
But I push him away, "I'm too busy," I say,
"I have so many things to do for Father today!"

And when I finally get weary and can see that I'm weak,
Ishmael gets silent, and Isaac begins to speak,
"Why are you trying to earn Father's Kingdom somehow?
You are a child of Promise and it's yours NOW!"

I heard it so many times; somehow, I let it get old,
But how could I ever forget what I was first told?
Somehow, in my zeal to do my best,
I have forgotten the Promise of Rest!
And I listened to the wrong voice inside,
For in the Word It says simply, "Abide!"

Then It struck me, "Yes, Isaac, I AM free!"
"Oh, Ishmael, you're a liar, be gone from me!"
I cast out the bondwoman's son, and I sing,
"Hallelujah! Thank God, I'm a child of the King!"

December 11, 1995

"Nevertheless, what saith the scripture?
Cast out the bondwoman and her son:
for the son of the bondwoman
shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.
So then, brethren,
we are not children of the bondwoman,
but of the free."
Galatians 4:30-31

Holy Bible (KJV)