Read Genesis 21:8-21
[Photo by Juli Kosolapova on Unsplash.]
Hagar is not in a good place. She is in the desert or the wilderness. And she is not there by choice. And she is not there alone because she has her son with her. Ishmael is not a baby but the wilderness is not the ideal place to look after a boy of maybe 15 or younger. Hagar was an Egyptian who had become a personal maid to the wife of Abraham who was especially wealthy by the standards of his day. So Hagar was used to being well fed and, in particular, to have a good supply of drinking water. And she is not only in a bad place physically - she is in a bad place mentally and emotionally and perhaps spiritually.
She had been thrown out of her home and had been driven out into the desert and Hagar did not see a future for herself or her son. She is very dramatic about it. She decided to place Ishmael under one of the bushes and she sat down opposite him some distance away so that she would not watch the slow agonising death of her son. She sees no future for herself or her son. She is downcast and in despair. This is her second time in the wilderness. The first time was largely her fault although even then there was some unfairness. She had given birth to Ishmael because Sarah had offered her maid to her husband to produce a son. But when Hagar became pregnant, Sarah began to despise her maid because she herself was barren and unable to have children. Sarah was angry and punished Hagar - it says that 'she dealt harshly with her' [Genesis 16:6 ESV] and Hagar was forced to flee to the wilderness. But this second incident was not her fault although Ishmael seemed to have followed his mother's lead in taunting his half-brother Isaac who was only a baby. Sarah has decided to get rid of this troublesome maid once and for all and Abraham reluctantly agrees.
But that is when God intervenes. He was aware what had happened to her on both occasions. God promised Hagar that Ishmael would be the father of a great nation. When she met God on her first experience in the wilderness, Hagar learned the lesson that God is a 'God of seeing.' She had discovered that God looks after her. Bearing in mind that her nationality was Egyptian, it is great to see that Hagar had learned about Yahweh, the One God. And God preserves her again this second time.
But there are times when we find ourselves like Hagar - in the wilderness and we are bewildered and upset. Why has this happened to us? We feel the injustice of it all - we did not deserve this. It's not fair, we cry from the depths of our heart. Like Hagar, we feel that we have had a raw deal. Anne Graham Lotz describes a personal experience of discovering God while she was in a spiritual wilderness.
A wilderness is defined as an uncultivated, uninhabited, inhospitable region. At least that’s the definition I was given when I googled it. I would also describe a wilderness as dry, barren, lonely, and rocky. And it was in a spiritual wilderness that I found myself several years ago. Because it was a time in my life that was dry... seemingly devoid of the rain of God’s blessing; barren... seemingly devoid of evidence of real fruit in my life; lonely... devoid of any conscious awareness of God’s presence; and it was rocky... littered with problems and obstacles and hard things. [Adapted from Anne Graham Lotz: Wounded by God's People. ]
She inadvertently, or guided by the Holy Spirit, found a verse which spoke loudly to her in her 'wilderness' situation.
The people stood far off, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was. [Exodus 20:21 ESV]
She grasped the truth that God's presence was in the darkness and that God wanted Moses to draw near to experience this darkness. The people are not experiencing God's presence in the way that Moses was. To quote Anne Graham Lotz, God is saying to us, "Look closely. You will see My glory in the dark cloud."
She said that the verse in Exodus 20 seemed to be illuminated. It leaped up off the page as she heard God whispering to me through the words,
"Anne, most people shy away from the wilderness. They don’t like the darkness of oppression, loneliness, dryness, barrenness. They don’t like to be in a hard place. If they think I’m going to lead them there, they resist, back off, and want no part of following Me. But, Anne, Moses approached the thick darkness. Because that’s where I was. And that’s where I still am, Anne. Embrace the darkness."
[Anne Graham Lotz: Wounded by God's People].
I have been in the wilderness many times. I have wondered why I was in this hard place. I longed to be out of this trial. I did not want the darkness. My sense of justice had been turned upside down. I need to learn that God wants us to have experiences like Hagar and like Anne Graham Lotz to teach us the reality of His presence. In her depths of despair, Hagar discovered a well of water. She went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy to drink (Genesis 21: 19) However, I have missed out a vital phrase from this verse - 'God opened her eyes.' The well was there all the time but in her despair and desolation, she was too upset to see it. I have remembered an old hymn which is very appropriate, even if the language is old fashioned.
Rise, my soul! Thy God directs thee;
Stranger hands no more impede;
Pass thou on. His hand protects thee,
Strength that has the captive freed.
Is the wilderness before thee?
Desert lands where drought abides?
Heavenly springs shall there restore thee,
Fresh from God's exhaustless tides.
Light divine surrounds thy going;
God Himself shall mark thy way;
Secret blessings, richly flowing,
Lead to everlasting day.
In the desert God will teach thee
What the God that thou has found;
Patient, gracious, powerful, holy,
All His grace shall there abound.
Though thy way be long and dreary,
Eagle strength He'll still renew;
Garments fresh and foot unweary
Tell how God hath brought thee through,
There no stranger God shall meet thee;
Stranger thou in courts above!
He who to His rest shall greet thee,
Greets thee with a well known love.
[Believers' Hymn Book 239
Hymns of Light and Love, 411]
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