Have you had someone suddenly mad at you or suddenly lost a friend and had no idea why? In that moment, you were probably stunned, sad, angry, hurt. Sometimes you figure it out and become friends again, sometimes you do not. Sometimes you just never know.
Hagar was Sarah’s maidservant. Sarah was barren and advanced in years, but desperately wanted a family. So Sarah convinced Hagar to sleep with her husband Abraham to bear them a child. I imagine it was hard to bear a child for a man who would never love her, who already had a wife he loved. But she did. I imagine that Hagar felt like she had done something special for Sarah and Abraham.
Fast forward a few years and now Sarah is pregnant and bears Abraham a son named Isaac. Sarah becomes jealous and protective and wants Hagar and her son Ishmael sent away into the wilderness. Abraham is unwilling but God reassures him of he plan and he sends Hagar and son out into the desert with some bread and water – presumably to die. As this happens, can you imagine what is going through Hagar’s mind? Do you hear her thinking, “But after what I did for you…?”
After they run out of water, Hagar walks off a little way from Ishmael and resigns herself to death. She cannot bear to be near him and to hear his cries for water. Hagar is in anguish. But then suddenly a strange thing happens. God sends an angel who asks her, “What is the matter?” What a question! God provides water, reassures her, and continues to watch over them as the boy grows up. It all turns out OK for them.
Has God ever asked you, “What is the mattter?” Has God ever entered into your brokenness? You and I are blessed – always just a prayer away from God’s presence. Yet sometimes we too are like Hagar – too broken and distraught to even offer up a prayer. In these moments God will seek us out too. Our God is a God of love. A God who will seek out to lost and the broken. Praise be to our God!!
pastorjohnb 