Walk with Sophie through the stories of Hagar and Sarah as an example of God's promises to us.
The thing about uni and daily work life is that it takes up A LOT of your time, and we can lose sight of God.
It’s very easy to get caught up in were we fall short and get stuck in that mind frame, and it festers away at your relationship with God. We project what we think of ourselves onto what God thinks of us. When in reality, He loves us more than we can comprehend, no matter how broken or messy or how many times we mess up. He promises to never leave us, to always love us.
When I think of an example of God’s promises to us - I think of the stories of Sarah and Hagar. You may be familiar with the story of Sarah, Abraham’s beau, the woman too old to conceive is blessed with a beautiful boy. But who is Hagar?
Let’s delve into Genesis 16.
Here we are introduced to the stories of these women and their rather different situation.
‘Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar; so she said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.”
Abram agreed to what Sarai said. ‘So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. He slept with Hagar, and she conceived.
When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress. Then Sarai said to Abram, “You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my slave in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the Lord judge between you and me.”’
“Your slave is in your hands,” Abram said. “Do with her whatever you think best.” Then Sarai mistreated Hagar; so she fled from her.
The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. And he said, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?”
“I’m running away from my mistress Sarai,” she answered.
Then the angel of the Lord told her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her.” The angel added, “I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count.”
The angel of the Lord also said to her:
“You are now pregnant
and you will give birth to a son.
You shall name him Ishmael,
for the Lord has heard of your misery.
He will be a wild donkey of a man;
his hand will be against everyone
and everyone’s hand against him,
and he will live in hostility
toward all his brothers.”
She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen[c] the One who sees me.” That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi[d]; it is still there, between Kadesh and Bered.
So Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son she had borne. Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael (Ishmael meaning God HEARS).' Genesis 16
Let’s zoom in on Sarah for a moment, - I’ll admit from the get-go that I am not the biggest fan of Sarah. When I first read of her treatment of Hagar, even though she was the one who commanded her to sleep with her husband due to her own impatience, I was exasperated by the end of the chapter.
Contrasting this with the character of Hagar, not only is her name Hagar, as if that’s not enough, she is of low status, unmarried, a servant. Now, she is being mistreated for doing her best to submit to her master. She is following the rules. She is gentle, and submissive.
In chapter 18, the saga continues. The Lord promises a child to Sarah, and this part of the story is rather well known. Sarah laughs in the face of the Lord. How preposterous, that she would bear child? At this age? Even in this day and age with advances in medical history - would that be possible. Yet, of course, the Lord provides. He keeps His promise and Isaac is born, despite Sarah’s many attempts to take matters into her own hands and lack of trust in the Lord’s power.
As you can imagine, this does not bear well for Hagar and Ishmael. Sarah no longer has a need for them, and certainly no longer wants another son around to steal Isaac’s inheritance. Due to further mistreatment, and spurred by wanting the best for her child, Hagar flees, Abraham sends her away with a skin of water and she leaves. Yet, she is protected by the Lord.
Hagar has trusted the Lord thus far, she has held tight to the promises that He is with her. In chapter 21 we see her situation has become unbearable, she has no food, no water, no home and no means to provide for child. She has reached the bottom and no longer knows what to do. She places the boy under a bush, as she cannot bear to watch her son die.
At this point, I find her faith astounding. Her faith is unwavering. At this point I would be screaming, crying out to God, wondering why is this happening to me, but Hagar accepts her circumstances, remains calm and the Lord shows up and speaks to her directly, in verse 16 we read:
' …as she sat there, she began to sob.
God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What is the matter, Hagar? Do not be afraid; God has heard the boy crying as he lies there. Lift the boy up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.”' Genesis 21v16-18
And he did. The Lord promised Hagar He would not leave her, He would be with her and He would provide for her. Just sometimes we cannot see the big picture, we cannot see why things happen the way they do as we are finite human beings, but Isaac was necessary for the line of descendants. God hears us, he is with us and he meets our needs, we need only trust him fully.
Let’s rewind a moment. We see how the story has played out, the Lord has prevailed and provided for Hagar. The happy ending is in play, yet, I still can’t get past the distaste I have towards Sarah. There’s still an air of injustice hanging in the atmosphere.
And I know why. I expect that happy ending, and I will always enthusiastically root for the underdog to come out on top. Just call me Hagar’s number one cheerleader minus the impressive flips and handstands. I’ve been engineered to crave the fairytale. Yet, the Bible is real. It is honest.
God does not only use to best, most perfect human beings in His narrative. No. He has no bias. We are all sinners. Sarai may have doubted, manipulated her circumstances, had an impulsive need to have control over everything, but when have we not.
The person of Sarai may have been a horrid person, yet God changes everything. He takes the massive mess and by his grace and mercy we are changed. Sarai (self-made noblewoman) becomes Sarah (chosen princess).
It is important to recognise that our faith may be imperfect, we fall short, yet, even when we do not trust, the Lord promises to be faithful. He promises to work for our good. He is at work, even when we think He is not. He is at work when we think we know best, and He is at work when we know nothing.
Through both these women, though polar opposites, the Lord uses them, and if we had more time we could explore their line of descendants, and I encourage you to do so.
By Sophie Chadwick.
Opmerkingen