Hagar bears Abram a son, and Abram names him Ishmael. The angel told Hagar the name; Abram gives the name at the birth — a dual naming that connects both parents to the child's identity. Abram's act of naming is an act of acknowledgment: this is his son, however he came to be. The name 'God hears' will carry the weight of Hagar's wilderness encounter for the rest of the son's life. The act of naming is always significant in Genesis — to name something is to acknowledge what it is and accept responsibility for it. The application: acknowledging what our decisions have produced — even the consequences of compromised plans — is part of integrity. Abram names Ishmael. He does not deny the son who was produced by the workaround. Whatever decisions you have made that have produced consequences, naming them — acknowledging them honestly — is the beginning of responsibility.

COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS

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