Genesis 21:17 Do not be afraid, God has heard

     So Abraham rose early in the morning, and took bread and a skin of water, and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, along with the child, and sent her away. And she departed and wandered about in the wilderness of Beersheba.

The Repudiation of Hagar

Steen, Jan Havicksz. (1626-1679). Painter

Around 1655/57

Dresden Gallery, Old Masters, Germany

     When the water in the skin was gone, she cast the child under one of the bushes. Then she went and sat down opposite him a good way off, about the distance of a bowshot; for she said: “Do not let me look on the death of the child.” And as she sat opposite him, she lifted up her voice and wept.

     And God heard the voice of the boy; and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven, and said to her, “What troubles you, Hagar? Do not be afraid; for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. Come, lift up the boy and hold him fast with your hands, for I will make a great nation of him.”

    Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. She went, and filled the skin with water, and gave the boy a drink.                                                  Genesis 21:14-19 NRSV

     

     The story of Hagar and Ishmael can be found in Genesis 15-21, with a brief interruption for the story of Sodom and Gomorrah in parts of chapters 18 and 19.

     The first time she leaves Abraham’s and Sarah’s tents, pregnant Hagar felt compelled to flee. She left without permission or notice, an act forbidden by law. The angel of God found her, and in the act of justice sent her back to be submissive to a bitter and jealous mistress. God does send a soothing promise for her wounded spirit. Ishmael might not be the Child of Promise as Isaac will be, yet he would be the child of a promise made to her. She names the well Beth-laharoi: the well of Him that lives and sees me.

     For fourteen years Hagar and her son live with all the tension and bitterness Sarah’s impatience brought about. Then after Isaac’s birth Hagar and Ishmael begin to manifest their jealousy. When Ishmael begins to maltreat Isaac, Sarah has Abraham ostracize, repudiate, and expel Hagar and her son to certain death in a barren wilderness with only as much water and bread as she could carry. Hagar’s extremity becomes God’s opportunity. Abraham gave her a bottle, God gives her a well.

adapted from “Hagar” in All the Women of the Bible 

by Herbert Lockyer.  

     The life and experiences of Hagar teach us:

• ·         The temptations incidental to a new position;
• ·         The foolishness of hasty action in times of trial and difficulty;
• ·         The care exercised over the lonely by the all-seeing God;
• ·         The Divine purpose in the life of everyone not matter how obscure or friendless;
• ·         How God works out His gracious purposes by seemingly harsh, but just, methods;
• ·         And the strength, comfort, and encouragement that accompanies the hardest experiences of               His children.

adapted from “Hagar and Ishmael” in The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia 

by Dr. James Chrichton. 

Recall a time in your life when you felt invisible to the world. Abandoned. Alone. Isolated. 

In the comment section below, share what happened that caused you to know you had not escaped God’s notice. 

Tell how God saw you – right where you were. 

How did you experience God’s freedom and grace, instead of the justice you deserved?

Follow Those Who Have Gone Before

My New Year’s Resolution for 2016 is to take one step at a time. I hope you will join me on my journey.

January 1, 2016

Day one, step one: Follow those who have gone before.

In my observation and experience, those who follow successfully become everything God made them be. I would like to become a part of that parade.

O my soul, bless God.
    From head to toe, I’ll bless his holy name!
O my soul, bless God,
    don’t forget a single blessing![1]

Bless: to praise and glorify[2]

Blessing: help and approval from God[3]

Since childhood, an important part of New Year’s Day is watching the Rose Bowl Parade. Floats made of flower petals and marching bands from across the country.

One of the things for which I bless God is the blessing of marching in parades as part of junior high, high school, and college bands. To be an active component of the group, one needed to step off on the same foot as everyone else, and then stay rhythmically in step with everyone else be it forty, ninety or three hundred. Not only remaining “in step“ but also “in line.”

A well-practiced marching band is made of straight lines from front to back and from side to side. Staying in step means awareness of those before you from beginning to the person directly in front of you. Keeping a row requires using one’s peripheral vision to maintain a straight line from curb to curb. When marching perfectly in line and row, with precise distance in each direction, the lines also create perfect diagonals. A thing of geometric symmetry and beauty.

Walk out of the gates. Get going!
    Get the road ready for the people.
Build the highway. Get at it!
    Clear the debris,
    hoist high a flag, a signal to all peoples!
Yes! God has broadcast to all the world:
    “Tell daughter Zion, ‘Look! Your Savior comes,
Ready to do what he said he’d do,
    prepared to complete what he promised.’”[4]

A parade has an exact and designated path. The floats and bands are staged and move out in such a manner as to keep the procession moving past those who line the streets from beginning to end. Being a part of the cavalcade not only means marching in a band that follows the drum major, but also being a part of a larger procession designed to not only to bless God but also to bless others by simply taking one’s place. Just marching step by step into the New Year and all it holds in store.

Lord, I praise you, I honor and glorify your holy name. Thank you for your help already waiting for me in the New Year. Help me know my place in the parade. Let me follow those who have served you, not because of individual abilities and gifts, but because they learned to be a part of the blessed and perfect band. Those in the scripture who are unnamed, but crossed the Reed Sea on dry land because they trusted you. Those who marched around Jericho, working together to complete your purpose. Help me walk beside those who follow your Son, not because of what he can do, but because of who he was, and is, and evermore shall be. Help me feel the rhythm, look straight ahead, use my peripheral vision, and move forward with a precisely consistent measured step. Help me step out and be a part of your parade.

---

[1] (Petersen, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002) Psalm 103:1-2

[2] (Merriam-Webster Dictionary)/bless

[3] (Merriam-Webster Dictionary)/blessing

[4] (Petersen, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002) Isaiah 62:10-12

Do We? A Psalm

January 12, 2013
Psalm 98, 99, 100, 104
Isaiah 66:1-2, 22-23; 61:1-9
Revelation 3:14-22
Galatians 3:23-29; 4:4-7
John 9:1-12, 35-38

God created order from chaos. God maintains that peace. There are, however, those who would choose chaos. Those who seek to disrupt the perfection of God’s creative work.

Do we disrupt the goodness of God’s creative work by trying to limit the meaning of "church" as the place where we gather to worship? Do we get too proud of the buildings we fabricate and maintain? God is less concerned with where we worship, than that we be respectful and contrite in spirit. That we seek to create order from chaos. That we become a part of the perfection of God's creative work.

Do we blind ourselves by not attending to all the nudges given to us by the Holy Spirit to see those who need encouragement and steadfast love? Do we live spiritually blinded by our confusion with other races, classes, and genders? That blindness is blindness to the presence of God’s Son.

Do we forget Christ is the essence of the law and has already satisfied the law’s demands? Do we get so legalistic that we forget Christ’s commandment to love one another? Do we get so caught up in our own lives, our own pain that our faith becomes lukewarm? Do we get not only blind, but deaf?  Jesus is knocking at the door. He cannot enter unless we hear his voice, open the door and see.

Set a feast, a spread of time, love, steadfastness. O sing to the Lord a new song. Praise God, for He is righteous. Praise the Son, for he has taken away the sin of the world. Praise the Holy Spirit, for our God-breathed life and the God-breathed Word.  Praise the three-in-one, the triune God, for power and mystery, for order and peace, for steadfast love and holiness, for righteousness and forgiveness, for the ability to see and hear.

Amen, and Amen.

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