Chosen
Is conflict a good thing?
God said to Abraham, "As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall give rise to nations; kings of peoples shall come from her." Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said to himself, "Can a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Can Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?" And Abraham said to God, "O that Ishmael might live in your sight!" God said, "No, but your wife Sarah shall bear you a son, and you shall name him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him. As for Ishmael, I have heard you; I will bless him and make him fruitful and exceedingly numerous; he shall be the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this season next year." And when he had finished talking with him, God went up from Abraham. Then Abraham took his son Ishmael and all the slaves born in his house or bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham's house, and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskins that very day, as God had said to him. Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. And his son Ishmael was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. That very day Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised; and all the men of his house, slaves born in the house and those bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him. - Gen. 17:15-27
You could argue that God introduced conflict into the situation by having Sarah become pregnant.
She and her husband had solved the heir problem their way, and now they have Ishmael, but God has a different plan.
You could say that the descendants of Ishmael are the Arabs and the descendants of Isaac are the Jews and that would explain the ongoing tension and conflict between the two peoples. That is an overly simplistic view, but it is not out of character for God to introduce conflicts like these.
What is His motive in doing so?
He chose to bless both peoples, so why have conflict among them?
His covenant is with one and not the other, which reminds me of the favoritism God showed between Cain and Abel.
One is favored and the other winds up becoming a killer.
It seems our desire to be favored by God is so powerful it causes us to lose our minds with jealousy.
To be chosen is the ultimate prize, as if we are all players in some video game.
Maybe we should try to tame our egos a bit and realize how foolish we are being trying to please God, when He says He loves us all as children.
Ah! Not gonna happen.
More to come...