Islamic terrorism continues as the opposition once directed primarily toward Israel assumes an ever-enlarging capacity for violence and scope of outreach. The implications are obviously significant. Nor is one likely going too far afield to suspect, at least on occasion, a self-generating dynamic of violence for violence's sake.
Interestingly, the Mid-eastern world of today is largely descended from Abraham, "the father of faith" who, at the instigation of his barren wife Sarah, fathered a son, Ishmael, by her servant girl. In keeping with norms of the day, Ishmael would then be considered Sarah's son. Thus the Abrahamic ancestry of today's Mid-eastern Muslim peoples.
Many have, perhaps correctly, portrayed the episode as a lapse of faith on Abraham's part while awaiting the birth of the promised son, Isaac. We sometimes miss the point that while to some degree complicit in the matter, Scripture ascribes Ishmael's birth primarily to the efforts of Sarah. Given her seeming propensity toward a sometimes less than pleasant disposition (Gen. 16:5,6; 18:12,13; 21:10) - with which, at least on occasion, Abraham apparently struggled (21:11) - there may well have been more involved than we have sometimes recognized. Whatever the details, Hebrews 11 yet lists both Abraham and Sarah among those who "obtained a good report through faith."
The overall pattern here is not an isolated incident. Moses, for example, attained spiritual greatness following a rather notable self-initiated failure in fulfilling his sense of calling (see Acts 7:25). Episodes of a later time also come to mind. Discouraged and smitten with the governor's wife while a missionary to the American Indians in colonial Georgia, John Wesley returned to England in despair. On the way home, he encountered a group of Moravian believers whose peace and assurance made a great impression upon him. Coupled with his subsequent Aldersgate experience, he was then mightily used in shaking the English speaking world for God.
Numerous other examples could be cited - the attendant lessons of which include: 1.) God restores, and; 2.) One of the greatest dangers to spiritual life and integrity is self sufficiency. It was not to the unconverted that Paul wrote, "Let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall" (I Cor. 10:12).
What about Ishmael and today's Muslims? While Islamic culture would, in many instances, seem to nuture much that is disturbing, it is wrong to color all with the same brush of violent inclination. There are those who desire peace and justice. And, while a minority, it must also be remembered that there are modern day sons and daughters of Ishmael who bear the name of Jesus Christ. They merit our prayers.
Burl Ratzsch
