No choice, no action, no decision made and carried out remains without consequences. There were consequences in the story with Abimelech too, who decided to make an alliance with Abraham. The story briefly mentions a clash between Abraham's shepherds and Abimelech's shepherds over a well, a very ordinary matter in the Samaritan steppe (then Samaria was a dry steppe, not a desert as today), where water was a far scarcer resource than pastureland. Abimelech is a straightforward man. He does not want conflicts with Abraham, a man from whom, in Abimelech's experience, it is completely unclear what to expect, and Abimelech wants to formalize his relations with him so as to avoid uncertainty in the future. The alliance is also advantageous to Abraham: in Abimelech's eyes he thereby acquires a quite specific legal status, allowing him in the future to claim appropriate treatment within Abimelech's possessions.

God knows how to use difficulties in relationships between people to accomplish His purposes. During the story with Abimelech and Abraham's wife, whom Abraham passed off as his sister, God not only made both Abraham and Abimelech understand who He is, but also settled relations between them for the future. Another story also continued: the story of the concubine once offered to Abraham by Sarah, the story of Hagar, who bore the one Sarah was ready to consider a son and heir, but only until the day when her own son was born. Everything that followed is explained by simple jealousy and rivalry: neither the concubine nor her son was now needed, and both were simply driven away.

God again "sorts out" the situation, not only saving Hagar and her son, but also finding a place on earth for two peoples, for the descendants of Isaac and for the descendants of Ishmael. The situation repeats again and again: a person, striving to "fulfill the will of God," successfully creates problems out of nothing; God no less successfully resolves them for the sake of His people. But the first, of course, is far easier than the second.

The birth of Isaac, as the fulfillment of the promise, happens at the moment when there is no hope, but only faith. For the sake of this child, the slave woman's son has to be sent away from the house, and there are no guarantees that he will survive, but there is only faith. When death in the wilderness from thirst comes closer and closer, there is no certainty of rescue, but there is faith. Every episode of this chapter brings us back to what must become the foundation of stability, confidence in tomorrow, and the guarantee of life and health in our own lives. Not the fact that we are full of strength and young, and not the fact that we have plenty of food and water with us. The only foundation for us is the Word of God, who is faithful to His promises and will do according to His word. All that remains for us is to believe.