Genesis 17 - What is time to God?

Genesis 17 OK I have a question about the conversation that God has with Abraham, verses 15-22.

(In addition God here tells him to have all the males in his household circumcised. Ouch.)

Well anyway I was struck by God’s comment in verse 20: “’And as for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold I will bless him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly.’”

OK, now how can God have heard him, in the sense of taking his advice, this being a totally new idea and all. Because before Ishmael was born God sent an angel to Hagar his mother telling her “’I will greatly multiply your descendants so that they will be too many to count.’”(Genesis 16:10) This was how the angel got Hagar to go back to Sarai and Abram. Otherwise she would have died in the desert or escaped back to Egypt and raised Ishmael by herself. No doubt she would have given him a different name too.

So how can God say that he heard Abraham (implying that God is taking his advice) if he already knew this would happen and even engineered it by making sure Hagar stayed with Abraham?

Is it because God already knew Abraham would ask him this so he planned for it ahead of time? So somehow time means nothing to God. Does a prayer asked after the fact has the same force as one asked beforehand?

Sometimes people encourage us this way. God can hear a prayer said for someone after the event that we wish to pray for has happened. I'd like to believe that somehow. I have prayed for something that I know has happened already maybe far away from me perhaps because I forgot to pray before or maybe I just found out about it. I love the people involved and I want to ask God to bless or protect someone. I always hope God can sort it all out. Is God lord of time? Sure he is.

Or was God just sort of playing with Abraham here, when he said he was listening to him he was really trying to butter him up, trying to make him feel important? I can’t believe that because God does not lie. Yet sometimes it seems God only tells what we can understand. He does not tell us the whole truth, especially about the future. Is this my cynicism coming out? If so I apologize.

I wonder how God can seem to tell Abraham that his plea to accept Ishmael is acceptable to God but in a different way than Abraham had expected. God still maintains that Sarah will bear a son and it will be soon. But Ishmael will also be circumcised with the rest of the household. He is now a part of God’s plan. It seems he was always in God’s plan, at least since he was conceived. Does the plan change now that Abraham has asked Him to make him his primary heir? If so it seems only subtly so. God acts on the sense of what Abraham asks if not the literal meaning?

Anyway I wonder if anyone else sees this as a problem. Or do you understand this better than I do? Can you share with me if you do?