First, a little background: God shows up in Genesis 12 and
calls this man Abram to leave his home and follow Him. He promises to make
Abram a great nation, to bless him and make his name great, and even promises
that Abram would be a blessing to others. God promises to bless those who
blessed Abram and curse those who cursed him…”and in you (Abram) all the
families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Genesis 12:1-3, KNJV). So Abram leaves
his home and follows God, but let it be known that He was childless. His wife Sarai was barren and they were old.
Biologically speaking, the time for popping out babies was over. So where was
this nation going to come from? Sarai decides that the only way for Abram to
have a kid, a future heir, is to give him her handmaiden Hagar (a common
practice for that time and culture, but still a bit screwed up). So Abram and
Hager have a son together named Ishmael.
Before Ishmael is born, Hagar runs away from Sarai (they had a little
tension), but God appears to her and calls her back to Sarai and Abram. In
Genesis 16:13 says, “Then she (Hagar) called the name of the LORD who spoke to
her, “You-Are-the-God-Who-Sees”; for she said, “Have I also here seen Him who
sees me?”” Hagar goes back to Abram and
Sarai, and God shows up and makes a covenant to Abram – changes his name to
Abraham and Sarai’s name to Sarah – and promises Abraham and Sarah a son of
their own – Isaac, the son of the promise, the son of the covenant – through which
the Hebrew nation would be born. Sarah
laughs at God when she hears this – because again, the baby making days were
long gone.
Genesis 21 begins… “And the LORD (Yahweh) visited Sarah as
He said, and the LORD did for Sarah as He had spoken. For Sarah conceived and
bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to
him.” (v1-2).
Can we just sit in that for a second? The LORD not only makes promises, He keeps them…and He doesn’t just
fulfill His promises, He fulfills them at
the set time.
Moving on: When Isaac is weaned, Abraham throws a huge
feast, and Sarah happens to catch Ishmael (now about 13, if I’m doing my math correctly)
scoffing (what teen doesn’t scoff,
right?) and tells Abraham to cast out Hagar and Ishmael. This distresses
Abraham, because Ishmael is his son too! But God shows up and tells Abraham to
heed the voice of his wife Sarah, indicating that He will take care of Ishmael
as well. So Abraham obeys God again, and gives Hagar some bread and water and
sends her and Ishmael away. They wonder
in the wilderness and eventually run out of water. Hagar hides Ishmael under
some bushes and walks away – “for she said to herself, ‘Let me not see the
death of the boy.’ So she sat opposite him, and lifted her voice and wept (Genesis
21:16).”
Here’s where it gets good: “And God heard the voice of the
lad. Then, the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said to her, ‘What
ails you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the lad where he is.
Arise, lift up the lad and hold him with your hand, for I will make him a great
nation. Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. And she went and
filled the skin with water, and gave the lad a drink. So God was with the lad;
and he grew and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer. He dwelt in the
wilderness of Paran; and his mother took a wife for him from the land in Egypt
(Genesis 21:17-21).
Few things that stood out to me:
1.
Hagar had already seen God show up in her life –
“You are the God who sees me.” She had already been given a promise by God that
He would take care of Ishmael as well. And yet, at the end of her rope and what
she thought was their lives, she speaks to herself. She weeps. And when God shows up, He doesn’t say that it
was her voice He heard, but Ishmael’s.
2. God
hears us and shows up. He heard Ishmael where
he was and met Hagar and Ishmael in
the middle of their desert, where they were, as they were – hopeless, weeping,
fearful, and what they thought was near death.
3.
God addresses Hagar by name – He recognizes her agony and encourages her not to fear. He is
personal – He sees her and speaks hope into her seemingly hopeless situation.
4. God opens her eyes. In Hagar’s desperation, in the middle of the
desert she found herself in, God opens her eyes to see a well of water. When Hagar's resources had run out, God opened her eyes to His provision.
When all Hagar saw was a desert – was pending death –God shows up and
shows her a well of water – He provides life-giving, sustaining, replenishing,
refreshing water.
5.
God was
with Ishmael – and while His covenant with Abraham was fulfilled through
Isaac, He kept His promise to Hagar. He
keeps His word. He is present with us. The same God who showed up and
visited Sarah, fulfilling His promise to Abraham and Sarah through Isaac, is
the same God who showed up in the lives of Hagar and Ishmael.
I’m not sure where this hits you, if it hits you at all, but
maybe you just need to know that God
sees you. He knows you’re name, He hears you where you are, and He will
meet you there. Maybe you’ve never heard that truth, or maybe (like me) you
need to be reminded that you are known, heard, and seen by God Most High. Maybe
you need God to open your eyes to see a well of water in the middle of your
desert – maybe you’re at the end of your rope, or you’re in a low place and you
just need life-giving and life-sustaining refreshment. Maybe you’re just
struggling to see what God sees as God sees, like me, and you just need Him to
open your eyes, to renew your vision. Maybe you've exhausted all of your resources, options, and wisdom and you just need new eyes to see His faithful and full provision. I
believe He will open our eyes, all we need to do is ask in faith. In the middle of our lowest, darkest, driest and barren places – the living
God meets us there. Maybe you need
to hear that God is present. He
doesn’t just see you – He stays with you. His heart is for you – He loves you
completely and constantly, and no matter where you are, in whatever season, He
is with you. You are not alone in the desert,
and you are not outside of the grace of God. Maybe you just need to be
reminded that God keeps His word –
He is trustworthy. He is for your good, and at the set time He will show
up and provide for you. Like it was in Sarah’s situation, it might not look
like what you think – she acted in her own wisdom with suggesting Abraham have
a baby with Hagar. However, God redeems
all things. He makes all things beautiful.
lots of love,
a
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