My mistress, Sarai, is not getting pregnant. Everyone in the household knows that God had promised Abram a son. Yet they are getting so old! How can they have children in their old age? What is God doing that He is taking so long. Sarai is getting more frustrated every day. It is grating on my nerves too since Sarai tends to get angry easily and often takes her frustrations out on me. Why me? I am just a teenage slave girl from Egypt. M,Let me introduce myself. My name is Hagar. I was born into an extremely poor family, and I was the third girl. My parents tried their best to feed all of us but there was not enough food to go around usually. So, when I was eight years old my parents sold me to a man named Abram and his wife Sarai. I know it broke their hearts as it did mine. I was very afraid as these people were so much different than I was and worshipped a different god from the ones I grew up worshipping. I cried every night for a week. Sarai would come and comfort me sometimes. That helped me with the grief of losing my family. Before long we packed the tents and headed for land called Canaan. We have been staying there for the last ten years. I am Sarai’s personal servant. She tells me a lot of things she does not tell anyone else. She told me about God telling her husband Abram that they were going to have a son. It has been years since Abram was told that, and it has not happened. As time goes on Sarai is becoming increasingly worried. She is too old for childbearing age. Shocking DecisionOne day Sarai came to me and told me she wanted me to bear Abram a son. I was shocked! First, it made me doubt the great faith in their God by taking things into their own hands. What kind of God makes a promise like that and does not keep it? Sure, the gods of my country do not make promises, but this God of Abram and Sarai seem more powerful and loving. Secondly, why me? I am just a lowly servant. To bear the head of the household children is someone far above my status. Yet as a servant little choice, so I will obey. Sarai arranged it all and I became Abram’s wife. When I realized I was pregnant I was overjoyed. But then I started to look at Sarai differently. Yeah, I know she is Abram’s first wife and the one he loved, but I was the wife who was giving him a child. She has not done that! The more my belly grows, the more I feel superior to Sarai. Sarai must sense it because she has started to treat me badly. She started to call me names and prevents me from doing anything with Abram. And she is starting to accuse me of things that are not true. Last night she slapped me. I need to leave as I cannot take the abuse anymore.I gathered some of my things, some water and a loaf of bread. I waited until everyone was asleep. I headed out into the wilderness thinking I could find my way back to Egypt. I had no idea which direction to go or how long the food and water would last but at least I was gone from that abusive situation. I stopped by a spring and the sun was just coming up. I was exhausted. I sat down on a large rock and tears started streaming down my face. I had no hope for my future. I did not know where I was, nor did I have any food left. I shouted to the sky, “Oh God, if you are real help me!”Suddenly, there was a strange being in front of me. It looked like a powerful warrior with wings. At first, I was scared he was going to kill me. Then suddenly I felt calm and knew he was an angel of the Lord. He said to me, “Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?” I replied, “I am fleeing from my mistress Sarai.” Then he said to me, “Return to your mistress and submit to her. I will surely multiply your offspring so that they cannot be numbered for multitude.” The angel continued, “Behold you are pregnant and shall bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael because the LORD has listened to your affliction. He 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.” I knew this was El-roi, the God who sees me. He has seen me in my trouble and answered me. I found my way back to Abram and Sarai’s tents. Somehow it seemed different after I returned. Sarai no longer was abusive towards me. Yet I knew I could face all the difficult times ahead for me because I had met with the Almighty God in the wilderness and He sees me. Seven months later I gave birth to a son, and I told Abram his name was to be Ishmael. It means “God hears” as He heard me in the wilderness when I cried out to Him.Thirteen years later things were starting to change. A year ago, the LORD appeared to Abram again and changed his name to Abraham. Then the LORD changed my mistress’ name to Sarah. The LORD said to Abraham that he and Sarah were going to have a son in one year’s time. I heard Abraham’s first reaction was to fall on his face laughing. He said to God that it would be impossible since he was one hundred and Sarah was 90 years old. But God did not get mad, He just told Abraham it was going to happen in a year. Abraham asked about Ishmael first and God said Ishmael would be the father of twelve princes and from him there would be a great nation. But, the LORD said, Sarah’s son, to be named Issac, would be the one God establishes His covenant. Even though I wanted more for my son, my faith told me this was right. So, just last week Issac was born. Sarah was beside herself with joy!After Issac was weaned, Abraham threw a huge feast. Ishmael was fifteen at the time. We attended, as expected. At one point Sarah looked over at us with anger on her face. Ishmael had been laughing at a joke someone near us had told. I heard later that evening she told Abraham she would not allow the son of the slave woman to be heir with her son. Send her away! I also heard Abraham was terribly upset and went to the LORD about it. Abraham told me the LORD told him not to be upset because, while Issac was the one God would make a covenant with, Ishmael would be father of a great nation also because he was Abraham’s son. Abraham gave us some food and a container of water and placed them on my shoulder. He sent us away. While heartbroken and worried we walked out into the wilderness of Beersheba. After a couple of days our food ran out. Two days later so did our water. We continued to wander but without food and water until we could not go on. We were very weak, and I thought we were going to die. It did not make sense because I was trusting God to keep His promise to make a great nation of my son. Yet we were about to die in this wilderness. I told Ishmael to sit down under a bush. I went a short distance from him but close enough to hear him crying. It nearly killed me to hear a nearly grown boy cry like that. I could not bear to watch my son die. I started crying, too. Why God? I thought as my end was nearing.Suddenly, I heard God’s voice from heaven. He said “Hagar, what is wrong? Do not be afraid! I have heard your son crying under the bush. Go and comfort him because I will keep my promise of making Ishmael a great nation. I looked toward Ishmael and there was a well. I shook my head. Were my eyes deceiving me? I quickly filled my water container and ran a gave Ishmael a drink. We recovered and were able to find food. Ishmael became a skillful archer. God was with him. When he was old enough, we settled in the wilderness of Paran. I sent a message to my family in Egypt to find Ishmael a wife. They ended up having twelve sons just like God promised.I look back now at my two times in the wilderness where I lost all hope. Yet the LORD saw and heard me both times. He saved me and I can always trust Him to keep His promises. DiscussionAre you in a situation where there is no way out? Please do not lose hope. The God of the Bible, both sees you in your situation and hears you when you cry. There are steps you can take. First, talk to God. He wants a relationship with you. Invite Him into your life. Next, take small steps to rectify your situation. Look into resources such as nearby churches for help. Contact your social services or other community services for help. Whatever you are going through, you are not alone. It may feel like it right now, but there are people out there who would love to help you! A few years ago, I interviewed for a position at a home for single mothers. The name of this place was The Hagar House. Named after the woman in this story. While I was not chosen, I did get a tour before they opened their doors to mothers. Hearing how they were devoted to single moms brought back memories of when I was a single mom struggling with many of the things these moms are struggling with. I wish this kind of help were available to me when I was going through this. Below is their website for you to check out. https://thehagarhouse.org/
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