The God who sees... the God who hears

People of Hope: Part 1:  Hagar
Monday devotions @ Work 16 March 2020

Read The Scripture in Gen 16 – Sarai and Hagar 

Abram and Sarai are childless and Sarai is hopeless that the situation would change. She gives Hagar to Abram but when Hagar realised she was pregnant, she became arrogant and despised Sarai. Sarai deals harshly with Hagar and she flees from her mistress, ending up at a spring of water in the wilderness. It is here that God comes to Hagar, and finds her. God comes to her in her hopeless situation. He asks her, Where are you coming from and where are you going? What is your vision Hagar? She answers Him truthfully – she is a slave, fleeing from the presence of her mistress. Then He gives her a hard command, He tells her to go back into that difficult situation and to submit. It is not time to leave yet. However, God does not leave it there. He gives her hope and vision. He tells her that He will multiply her descendants so much that they will not be able to be counted. God names her child – He calls him “Ishmael”, that means “God has heard my affliction”, and He blesses the child. Then Hagar names the well Beer Lahai Roi for she said “I have seen the God who sees me”. 

Read the scripture in Gen 21:8-21 – Hagar and Ishmael 

Some years later we find Hagar and Ishmael in the wilderness again. Abram and Sarai have just sent her and her son away, and God this time allowed her to leave, but once again not without a blessing of becoming a great nation. When the water she had with her was used up, she placed Ishmael under a shrub and went to sit down in the wilderness some distance away from him because she did not want to see him die, and she weeps ... She had a promise from God that he will become a great nation but her faith fails her as she once again cannot see the well God provides for her. This time God hears Ishmael and once again He comes to Hagar. She does not go to Him. In his grace He comes to her and meets her again in her hopeless place. He opens her eyes so that she can see the well that is already there. She fills the skin of water and gives Ishmael the life-giving water to drink – and they both lived and he became a mighty man in the wilderness and became an archer. Neither she nor Ishmael died prematurely for God provided life-giving water. 

Points to Ponder

• Where do I come from and where am I going to? 
• What is God’s vision for me? 
• Ask Holy Spirit to meet you in your place of vision- and hopelessness. 
• Ask the Lord to open your eyes so that you can see the well He wants you to drink from and to open your ears so that you can hear the blessing He pronounces over you. 

Excerpt from "Come to the Well"

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