This post is from Moms Take Ten episode 8 , “Moms in the Bible–Hagar”, which you can listen to wherever you listen to podcasts or at https://sites.libsyn.com/403493/moms-in-the-bible-hagar.
Hagar’s story is messy and painful. It calls to all of us in our moments of despair. She was a woman who understood heartache and turmoil. She could empathize with our struggles. In her story, shining through the darkness, we see a kind and gracious God who lifts us out of that despair and fills us with hope.
Hagar was an Egyptian slave in the household of Abraham and Sarah. At their mercy, her role was to do whatever they bid her to do. By the time we meet her in Genesis 16, she had received numerous commands from her masters. Yet they had one command that was so much harder than any of her previous assignments.
If you remember Sarah’s story from the Bible, you will remember that she waited a long, long time for a child. The Lord had promised a child. Sarah wanted to have that child in her arms, to see that promise fulfilled. After waiting for what felt like long enough, she decided to take matters into her own hands. From Sarah’s vantage point, clouded by desperation and self-reliance, Hagar looked like the perfect solution. Of childbearing age, Hagar was Sarah’s slave, required to do whatever was commanded of her. There were no obstacles in the way of Sarah enacting her plan, except perhaps her husband. However, Abraham passively allowed Sarah to do what she desired, going along with her schemes.
Sarah called Hagar and gave her the new assignment of bearing the child that the Lord had promised to Abraham years before. With that one act, mess and brokenness and sin wreak havoc in the household.
Hagar conceived. Suddenly, Hagar found herself bearing the same title of wife as Sarah, and doing what Sarah herself could not do by getting pregnant. From this new status, Hagar began to disdain Sarah. We do not know exactly how she expressed this contempt aside from the fact that she made Sarah’s life difficult. That stirred up all of Sarah’s insecurity, bitterness, and jealousy. Sarah brought the situation to Abraham and he gave her leave to handle it in whatever way she deemed best. Turning to Hagar, Sarah released all her pent-up emotions in such a way that Hagar fled into the wilderness.
Hagar chose being alone and vulnerable, a foreign woman far from home, with a child in her womb, over enduring what Sarah was doing to her. The Lord was so kind and gracious to her. He met her in the wilderness.
The Lord responded to her cries by calling her to trust him. He called her to trust him above what she was seeing in the situation. He called her to trust that he was good and he was going to take care of her. He called her to trust him in doing something incredibly hard by humbling herself and going back to Sarah. And she did.
Her response was not one of questions. It was one of wonder and awe that the Lord had met her. Here was someone who was so insignificant to so many people and yet the Lord, the God of the universe, knew her name and was seeking after her. Not only did he call her, he also offered her an incredible promise for the future of her family, of the child she was carrying.
Hagar obeyed God and returned to Sarah. For about thirteen years, everything seemed to be moving along in her favor. Then Isaac was born to Abraham and Sarah. Hagar’s child, conceived out of flesh and man’s plans, was not of the promise after all, but Isaac, who was conceived miraculously in the Lord’s power and plans, was. In response to Ishmael mocking Isaac one day, Sarah’s insecurity, jealousy and bitterness sprang out and Hagar found herself in the wilderness.
The Lord met her again. He provided sustenance. He restored her faith, and he reminded her of the promise that he had made to her.
Hagar’s story is one of brokenness, but it is also one of beauty. When we are in this world and experiencing the trouble that comes with it, we can know that there is a God above who sees us.
The first time that Hagar encountered the Lord, she bestowed on him a name “El Roi” God sees.
Perhaps your life was crashed into by the sin of another and you were left to pick up the pieces. Perhaps you thought things were headed one way when suddenly the actions of someone else sent you in a completely different direction. Perhaps you have experienced physical, emotional, sexual, or spiritual mistreatment or abuse at the hands of another.
God sees you.
Perhaps you are a single mom doing your best to provide for your child. Perhaps you feel the weight of raising, disciplining, and instructing your children without the help of their father. Perhaps you are struggling to navigate coparenting and the uncomfortable dynamics of that relationship. Perhaps you lost your husband far too soon, and suddenly found yourself parenting alone.
God sees you.
Perhaps your child is in a situation that seems so beyond you that you feel all you can do is watch in sadness or despair. Perhaps it is your child’s health. Perhaps they are making choices that are taking them far down a road you know will hurt them. Perhaps they have been hurt by someone else, and it will take much time for them to heal.
God sees you.
Perhaps like Hagar, you feel unloved, or you can relate to the emotions that she experienced: fear, loneliness, disappointment, despair, hopelessness.
God sees you.
He is El Roi, the God who sees. He is the one who created you and knows you better than anyone else does, better than you know yourself. He calls you by your name, as he called Hagar in the wilderness. He promises over and over again that he will be with you and take care of you. He hears your cries. He wants you to come to him and find rest.
Lift up your eyes, dear one. Above your emotions. Above the faces of those around. Above your circumstances. Lift up your eyes and look to El Roi. Find him looking back at you with love so amazing, so divine. Remember that “for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” Remember, and take heart. God is not done with you yet.
Here are a few verses that highlight these truths.
Psalm 139:1-6
O Lord, you have searched me and known me!
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways.
Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.
You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is high; I cannot attain it.
Genesis 16:8
And 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.”
Isaiah 61:10
I will greatly rejoice in the Lord;
my soul shall exult in my God,
for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation;
he has covered me with the robe of righteousness,
as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress,
and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
Psalm 10:17
O Lord, you hear the desire of the afflicted;
you will strengthen their heart; you will incline your ear
Matthew 11:28-30
Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Lyssa Stoyko 