In chapter 15, we saw the promise God made to Abram. A promise of son, who is his own flesh & blood. As we look at chapter 16, we will learn what happens when we try to fulfill God’s promise on our terms and on our timing. Sarai decided to be pragmatic. She believed in the promise God gave but she tried to make it happen on her own strength. She looked at her present circumstances. She was in her 70’s & Abram was in his 80’s. To her having children was not possible at her age and thus she decided to take matter into her own hands and came up with solution which created a problem that is not resolved even today.
Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. And she had an Egyptian maidservant whose name was Hagar. 2 So Sarai said to Abram, “See now, the Lord has restrained me from bearing children. Please, go in to my maid; perhaps I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram heeded the voice of Sarai. 3 Then Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar her maid, the Egyptian, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan. 4 So he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress became despised in her eyes.
Abram listened to his wife and went along with her plan. Abram had just cut a covenant with God, he was walking with God and had experienced the faithfulness of God from the time he left Ur to now.Before going along with the Sarai’s plan, he should have checked with God. He should have prayed and asked for guidance from God. How many time we fail to ask the guidance from God? In our personal life or if you serve in church or work with ministry, we should always ask God for direction. It does not always have to make sense intellectually. There are numerous example throughout bible where God’s solution just did not make sense but those who trusted and followed in faith were rewarded with blessing. Joshua was asked to run around the wall, Gideon was asked to just take 300 men against an army of 30000 men, Moses led the Jewish people out of slavery with just a rod in his hands, Daniel was in den of lions, we can go on and on. God has supernatural way of fulfilling his promises. Abram failed once again and he tried to make it happen on his own.
5 Then Sarai said to Abram, “My wrong be upon you! I gave my maid into your embrace; and when she saw that she had conceived, I became despised in her eyes. The Lord judge between you and me.”
Those who are married will understand above statement. Now Sarai is angry at Abram for the way Hagar is acting. Suddenly, it is Abram’s fault although the idea was hers and she was the one who made it happen. We as human have very limited foresight. What seems like solution today might just be adding to the problem. If you a need solution, ask for God’s guidance and wait for his solutions. I remember when I was in leadership of particular church, I along with couple of other people were working hard and we were getting burned out for there was lot to so and only few of us. I started asking others in church to get involved and help out. In my own understanding, I was doing the right thing. I was making others part of the church. In reality what happened was, we ended up having people whose agenda was not Christ based and church was never the same. There was nothing wrong with asking for help but I should have prayed to God and asked him to provide the people and I am sure he would have. Of course, like Abram I am still on my journey of faith and I just thank God he is faithful even when we are not.
So Abram said to Sarai, “Indeed your maid is in your hand; do to her as you please.” And when Sarai dealt harshly with her, she fled from her presence.7 Now the Angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur. 8 And He said, “Hagar, Sarai’s maid, where have you come from, and where are you going?”She said, “I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai.”
If you have been reading other studies, you know the importance of first mention. In verse 7 “Angel of the Lord” is mentioned and this is no one else but Christ. This is another appearance of Jesus in Old testament. This is very important scripture and what a great hope and lesson for those who are lost or feel that God will never look for them because of their sinful past. Here Jesus seeks out Hagar, a Egyptian slave and for first time in scripture he appears as an angel to a slave woman. He did not appear to Abram or Lot or Sarai but to Hagar. In new testament, we read the parable of “Lost Sheep”. He comes searching for 1 lost sheep. Oh what a great hope we have in Jesus. Are you running from something? Jesus is there for you, just like he was there for Hagar.
9 The Angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit yourself under her hand.” 10 Then the Angel of the Lord said to her, “I will multiply your descendants exceedingly, so that they shall not be counted for multitude.” 11 And the Angel of the Lord said to her:“Behold, you are with child,And you shall bear a son.You shall call his name Ishmael,Because the Lord has heard your affliction.12 He shall be a wild man;
His hand shall be against every man,And every man’s hand against him.
And he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.”13 Then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, You-Are-the-God-Who-Sees; for she said, “Have I also here seen Him who sees me?” 14 Therefore the well was called Beer Lahai Roi;[a] observe, it is between Kadesh and Bered.15 So Hagar bore Abram a son; and Abram named his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael. 16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.
Earlier I said this was no ordinary angel but Jesus himself. You might say on what basis am I saying this? If you look at Bible, Angels do not want to be worshiped. Here we see, Hagar worships Angel and call him BEN LAHAI ROI .. God who sees. This was an Egyptian woman who worshiped other Gods but when she came in contact with Jesus, she was changed. Above passage tells me Hagar was born again on this day and don’t be surprised if you see her in heaven. Why do I say she was born again or found her salvation? Look what Paul says in Romans ch 10: 9-10
If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
Did Hagar do this? Absolutely. She believed in his promise and called him God. She Obeyed him and although she was being treated badly by Sarai, she went back. Not only she went back but when boy was born, she named him Ishmael as told by God. I also have to believe when she went back her attitude toward Sarai was different. She probably did not look down on her as before. It is impossible to remain same once you come in contact with Jesus and are born again. If you say you are born again but there is no change in your attitude, how you treat others, your attitude toward life, you might want to reexamine your salvation. By no means, I am saying you become sinless or perfect but there is definite change.
I hope you are blessed by the word today. I urge you to pray for me as I write this that God may continue to use me for his kingdom. I urge to keep reading the scripture, keep growing spiritually and in your relationship with Christ. Remember we do not follow a religion but we serve a Risen God.
I will close with few words from popular Hymn.. Trust & Obey. This is what Hagar did.
While we do His good will
He abides with us still
And with all who will trust and obey
For there’s no other way
To be happy in Jesus
But to trust and obey
We will sit at His feet
Or we’ll walk by His side in the way
What He says we will do
Where He sends we will go
Never fear, only trust and obey
only savior jesus 