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?

Walk By Faith

God is righteous because of whom he is. God’s righteousness is inside; ours is outside.  Remember when God declared all that he created was good, yes, very good. Righteous. Somewhere along about Genesis 3, Adam and Eve – we – take upon ourselves the knowledge of good and evil. What did we do? We think if we listen to lies and deceit, we will become like God. God, I Am Who I Am, has created us in His image, made with all the right stuff. We are who we are, but by disobedience, we get un-right. We are no longer that who we were.

When God calls to us in the garden, we have hidden because we are exposed. Righteousness is no longer internal. We have become afraid of whom we have become. We try to make ourselves right. We sew fig leaves together; we try to hide the unrighteous shame.  We think maybe if we hide, God will not note we are no longer right when he finds us. We make excuses, thinking if we introduce the blame game, we can distract God from the wrongness. Instead, God sends us out to understand who we were. To discover who we are. Did anyone notice? Not in fig leaves. Not in shame. No, God covers us. If we would but see, he has given us a Robe of Righteousness. The flaming sword of His creative Word becomes the first law. We cannot return. We separated ourselves from God. He gives us the Law and the Prophets. He sends his only Son. God gives us everything we need to become who we were.

From time to time, we remember. Cain saw the carefully stored garments, but dies because his brother does not know. Abel banished and Seth born. Their sons hear the stories. We realize that even though we are unrighteous, we can proclaim God’s righteousness.  From generation to generation, the story can be told. The robe of righteousness can be passed. Often it is carefully unpacked. We learn to sing and dance. We call it prayer and praise. Then we carefully conceal it so it will not give out.

Along comes a great, great, ever so great grandchild. Enoch becomes a father. Enoch took the cloak out of moth balls and wore it – all the time. Then Enoch walked with God. He understood. He got it. Enoch’s grandson told that story. It is possible to recover one’s righteousness. All we have to do is put on the robe, and not take it off. Noah got it. When God finally got fed up with the pack-it-up, put-it-in-moth-balls, take-it-out, put-it-back. In all this time, two men – only two – figured it out, Enoch and Noah.

God chooses to start again, not from the beginning, but from the point of understanding. He made His instructions clear and unambiguous. Noah wears the Robe of Righteousness onto the ark.

Paul, a whole testament later, tells us the story. He gives us a roll call of the heroes who unpacked the mantle and wore it as they walked with God. He finds in in the Prophets, packed carefully away, the path of righteousness: wear the robe, live by faith, walk with God. The course he thought he knew until he learned on a road leading to Damascus. The path Jesus walked to Gethsemane.

One cannot go back beyond the flashing sword, but one can walk on by faith. The trust that Jesus God, true and righteous, took the sword of unrighteousness into his side. The story told by John, the beloved disciple, who took up the Cup of Salvation and heard Jesus say “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you. Receive the Holy Spirit. Thomas put your hand into my side. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believed.”  Wear the robe. Carry the cup. Receive His Spirit.  Walk by faith. Not from but to, Amen and amen.

Genesis 3-6, Habakkuk 2, Hebrews 11, John 20