Wednesday, January
17, 2018
The angel of the Lord found Hagar beside a spring
of water in the wilderness, along the road to Shur. The angel said to her, “Hagar, Sarai’s
servant, where have you come from, and where are you going?” “I’m running away from my mistress, Sarai,”
she replied. The angel of the Lord said
to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit to her authority.” Then he added, “I will give you more
descendants than you can count.” And the
angel also said, “You are now pregnant and will give birth to a son. You are to name him Ishmael (which means ‘God
hears’), for the Lord has heard your cry of distress. This son of yours will be a wild man, as
untamed as a wild donkey! He will raise
his fist against everyone, and everyone will be against him. Yes, he will live in open hostility against
all his relatives.” Thereafter, Hagar
used another name to refer to the Lord, who had spoken to her. She said, “You are the God who sees me.” She
also said, “Have I truly seen the One who sees me?” So that well was named Beer-lahai-roi (which
means “well of the Living One who sees me”). It can still be found between Kadesh and
Bered.
Genesis 16:7-14(NLT)
It’s foreign to our 21st
century Western culture, but being barren drove Sarai to have her husband
Abraham take another wife, Hagar, Sarai’s slave/servant , and perhaps gain an
heir to the family.
Once pregnant, the slave
girl became a thorn in Sarai’s pride. She
flaunted the treasure in her womb and it was just too much for Sarai, so she
proceeded to work on driving a wedge between Hagar, Abraham and herself. It worked, and Hagar was sent packing into
the desert. The Angel of the Lord found
Hagar and in the ensuing conversation told Hagar her son, would be a wild
man, untamed, and always ready to fight!
The legacy of the union
between Sarai’s servant girl, Hagar, and Sarai’s husband, Abraham is not much
different than the rest of humanity: anger, defiance, rebellion and violence
against one another. It’s hard to lay
all the blame on Hagar’s back; after all, she was just continuing a family
tradition that got started by humanity’s parents at that special tree in Eden.
Hagar didn’t help with the
problem much; neither did Sarai and Abraham.
Hagar shares one trait in common with her ancestor Adam, that peculiar
bent towards denial. If you noticed, the
Angel of the Lord asked her from where she came, and to where she was
headed. Although she gives a factual
answer (running away), it belies the greater truth of her
beginnings. Hagar had a pivotal role in
this drama. She had gotten a bad deal,
something she hadn’t asked for; she had also acted with disdain and anger.
It’s a subtle point, but the
angel told her to name her child Ishmael, meaning God hears. She did that, but notice she referred to the
Lord as the one who sees me. This
seemingly diminutive perspective shift on Hagar’s part is like a 1° change in
course as a ship starts out from San Francisco on a voyage to Tokyo. If you’re off target just a smidge North it
won’t make much of a difference passing the Golden Gate Bridge, but by the time
you’ve gone 5,600 miles to Japan you won’t be in Tokyo, you’ll be 100 miles
North in Iwaki.
The point here is that humans
have had a hard time staying on course in our relationships, both with God and
each other. It has to do with the beast
within. The legacy of Hagar’s wild,
fighting, untamable son, Ishmael is constant strife, distrust, anger and war.
That’s quite a legacy!
For You
Today
Hagar ran away from her
problems to no particular place. Hagar’s
descendants wander still, and carry on the family tradition of Ishmael as they
cannot abide peacefully with anyone. By
comparison, another Son came as the Prince of Peace. Jesus ran TO our problems,
and He has a place prepared for us that He’s been working on for quite some
time…in perfect peace.
Which legacy will you prolong this day?
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