Genesis 16:7-16. 7The angel of the Lord found [Hagar] by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur. 8And he said, “Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?” She said, “I am fleeing from my mistress Sarai.” 9The angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress and submit to her.” 10The angel of the Lord also said to her, “I will surely multiply your offspring so that they cannot be numbered for multitude.” 11And the angel of the Lord said to her, “Behold, you are pregnant and shall bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael, because the Lord has listened to your affliction.12He shall be a wild donkey of a man, his hand against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen.” 13So she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, “You are a God of seeing,” for she said, “Truly here I have seen him who looks after me.” 14Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi; it lies between Kadesh and Bered. 15And Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram called the name of his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael. 16Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.
I remember running away from home a couple times when I was a kid. One time I told my mom I was running away. I left the house with nothing. Walked around the block several times. Then went back home. It was all pretty pathetic.
In Genesis 16, Hagar is running away from home. She is running from Sarah, her mistress or master, and who can blame her. Sarah has been mean to Hagar for things that were not Hagar’s fault. Sarah could not have a baby, but Hagar could, and so Sarah was jealous, and her jealousy turned into meanness. Have you ever been jealous of someone else? Has your jealousy ever become meanness?
The Bible keeps reminding us that Hagar was from Egypt. Probably Pharaoh gave his servant Hagar to Sarah when Abraham and Sarah were in Egypt (do you remember that story?). So for Hagar to want to return to her life in the palace makes perfect sense. The benefits of Egypt far outweigh the hassles of life with Abraham and Sarah.
But God doesn’t want Hagar to return to Egypt. He has an even better plan for her. A plan to make Hagar herself into a great nation. So when Hagar is alone in the desert on her way back home to Egypt, God appears to her as the Angel of the Lord – The angel of the Lord found [Hagar] by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur.
Now here’s something cool, the Angel of the Lord is Jesus. Before God the Son became a little baby in Bethlehem at Christmastime, he would often come down to Earth as the Angel of the Lord (the Angel of Yahweh). So Jesus appears to Hagar, this runaway slave, with no money, no status, no family, and he tells her to trust God and return back to Sarah. Jesus blesses Hagar and tells her that she will have a son who will become a great nation, just like Abraham will.
Then Hagar does something incredible. She gives God a name. El-Roi. The God who sees me. Hagar is the first person in the Bible to name God. Not Adam, or Noah, or Abraham, but Hagar the Egyptian slave woman. Truly God loves and sees everyone, even the people that are mistreated and uncared for.
I’m pretty sure Hagar must have thought that if she left Abraham, Sarah, and the Promised Land behind, she would also be leaving their God behind. But Hagar isn’t just an Egyptian slave. She is part of the family of faith. She is an outsider who has been brought near to God. When she ran away, Hagar forgot who she was. When she bragged to Sarah about becoming a momma, she had forgotten who she belonged to. Not Abraham or Sarah, but God. The blessings promised to Abraham were promised to all who live with him. That included Hagar.
And God will never let Hagar run away from the blessing. In the same way, God will never let us run away from his blessing either. No matter how far we run, Jesus will find us in the desert and bring us back home. The Christ that brought Hagar into the blessing will never let her run away from that blessing. In fact, even when Hagar tries to run away from God, he gives her even more blessings. Blessings about her son Ishmael, whose name means “God hears me.”
Just like Hagar, with Jesus we are never alone. He is our El-Roi. Just like with Hagar, Jesus always sees us, he always hears us, and he always understands what we are going through. And usually, Jesus will ask us to do the hard thing – Return to your mistress and submit to her. Jesus told Hagar to go back home and serve Sarah. I’m sure Hagar didn’t love hearing that, but she did it anyway. Hagar trusted God to give her the kindness and grace to put up with someone and something that was going to be really hard. And he will do that for you too.
With Jesus we always have all the blessings of God. His love. His kindness. His power and protection. That’s how we know that we can make it through hard times. Hard times that God will use to make us more like Jesus – obedient, humble, and faithful.
You: Have you ever tried running away from someone or something? Maybe something that you didn’t want to do.
You with Jesus: How does knowing that we have everything Jesus has (all God’s love, kindness, and protection) allow us to stay in hard situations and still trust God?
Prayer: Father, I know I often either get angry and fight, like Sarah, or I get frustrated and run away from hard things, like Hagar. Help me to do the right thing and stay with people, even when they make me mad or frustrated. I know that Jesus sees me and hears me through it all. Amen.
TLICfamily 