Sarai gave her servant Hagar to
Abram as a wife in order to have children through her. Sarai and
Abram didn't want to wait any longer on God's promises, but decided
to take matters into their own hands. They wanted to 'force God's
hand' so to speak. Their plan worked and Hagar became pregnant with
Ishmael. At first it looked as if God was helping them and approved
of their plan, but then the trouble started. Trouble came because
they had acted outside of God's will.
Hagar started to treat Sarai with
contempt; Sarai yelled at Abram for doing this to her and in turn
Abram told Sarai to do with Hagar as she pleased. So she allowed
her insecurity to take hold of her and began to treat Hagar
harshly. Hagar couldn't handle it and once she has had enough she
ran away.
When I read this, I cannot help but
feel sorry for Hagar. In those days servants didn't have any rights
and when Sarai made the decision to give Hagar to Abram to bear his
children, she didn't really have a choice in the matter. She was
forced into this situation. She was made a part of her mistress'
impatience. Now when she became pregnant, she shouldn't have
treated Sarai with contempt. That was a mistake on her part, but
now her life was made miserable. Her so called 'husband' didn't
care about her, and her mistress treated her harshly despite her
pregnant condition. It was so terrible that she ran away with no
place to go and no resources. She was lost. She had no future.
But God saw her and sent an angel
to comfort her. And not only that, God also made a promise to her
that she will have more descendants than she could count. He also
told her to name her son 'Ishmael' which means 'God hears'. Isn't
it beautiful? God was there for her even when no one else was. God
knew that she was forced into this situation and He reached out to
her and was kind to her, even blessing her. But God also knew that
she sinned against Sarai by treating her with contempt and
therefore He sends her back to make it right:
"Return to your mistress and
submit to her authority." Genesis 16:9
God knew her situation and He
promised to help her and bless her, but He also told her to go and
sin no more. And she did. She went home and had her baby there.
God knows your situation too. He
knows that people have forced you into situations that are unfair.
He knows that you haven't been treated with the respect and dignity
that you deserve. He knows that you are sad and lonely, running
away from your circumstances. But He wants to tell you today that
He will be with you. He will bless you and He will help you. But He
also wants to tell you to go and sin no more. Where some of the
'unfairness' has been your own fault, go back and make amends. Even
if you didn't start the whole debacle, go and say you are sorry for
the part you played, go and sin no more. That is all God asks of
us. He wants us to love Him and portrait His character to a lost
world. Then you can stand up as the heir that you are, heir to
everything that God has in store for you, in this life and
definitely in the life to come. God blessed Hagar and He is more
than willing to bless you, His son.
Thank you Father that we can know
that You are always there for us, always ready to reach out to us,
always trying to help us. Please forgive us our sins and please
help us to sin no more. Philippians 2:13 tells us that You give us
the power to do what pleases You. We claim that power over our
lives today. In Jesus' Name. Amen