Earlier today, I saw a facebook post of a woman and her daughter. The woman was one of my best friends when I was 10 years old. When I migrated back to Antigua from Tortola, we lost track of each other. But as I looked at her facebook page, I smiled with pride for her. I was so happy for the accomplishments that she had made and the mark she was making on her island home.
Then I thought to myself, I wonder what things transpired in her life between the time we parted and now, that shaped her into the woman she is today. What choices were made for her and by her that set her on the path that took her there? Those thoughts brought me to our Bible Study character today – Hagar.
I can imagine Hagar doing this type of introspection as well as she sat near that spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. We are first introduced to Hagar in Genesis 16:1 – Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar.
Genesis 16:1
- Hagar was Sarai’s handmaid or female slave. Based on the culture of the day, she was considered a member of their household.
- Hagar was an Egyptian.
- Her name means flight.
Genesis 16:2-3
- Hagar might have been obtained in Egypt among the servants that Abraham received in Genesis 12:20 – 13:2.
- Based on the wording of the text, it would seem as if Hagar had been with the family for about 10 years. What might this imply in regard to Hagar? Maybe that Sarai trusted her with this task of bearing the “Promised Son”?
- It was not unusual in those time for a slave/servant to be used as a surrogate mother to bear children for a barren wife. In such cases, the child would be considered as the child of the wife and not the slave. (Genesis 30:3; Exodus 21:4)
Genesis 16:4
- When Hagar “saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes.”
- Hagar’s change of focus (from bearing a child for her mistress to bearing her own child and what that meant for her status) changed her perspective, then her behavior.
- Her changed behavior had repercussions. She was no longer treated with care by her mistress. She now received harsh treatment, that pushed her to take flight.
Genesis 16:7-12
- The angel of the Lord found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur.
- Shur was a desert town just outside the northeastern border of Egypt. Could it be that Hagar was trying to return home?
- Note what the angel asks her: “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?” Her reply was: “I’m running away from my mistress Sarai.”
- As Hagar’s focus returns, the angel gives her insight into her and her unborn son’s future. She is the first person recorded in the Bible for whom God named her child – Ishmael (God hears). Read what the angel says in verse 11 – “You shall name him Ishmael, for the Lord has heard of your misery.”
Genesis 16:13
- She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.”
- Hagar’s response to the visitation of the angel was an acknowledgement of the fact that while she was being mistreated, while she was going through affliction, God was aware and was ready and willing to intervene.
- When she ran away from her place of blessing for that season, he came looking for her to call her to him and speak a word of deliverance over her life.
- Hagar entered the desert of Shur weighed down by affliction but returned to Sarai free of that weight. She was straight again.
TIME FOR ACTION:
- In what ways might you be like Hagar, losing perspective of what you were commissioned to do and as a result are
– going through affliction?
– running away from where you know you should be at this season? - What are those questions that God has been asking you? The questions that will re-focus/correct your vision? What are the answers to those questions?
- Spend some time alone in God’s Presence so he can speak a word of deliverance over your life.
- After you have been set straight again, write a prayer of thanksgiving and praise to God.
Isn’t it comforting to know that despite the choices we make or those that are made for us, we have a God who hears and sees us? He responds to the cry of his children.
DIG DEEPER:
1. Blog Post – Bent Over!