This week I was asked to give a short ‘focus’ on our bible lesson. It is to sum up what I got out of the reading of Genesis 16:1-15. The lesson turned out to affect me more than I realized so I thought I’d share my focus with you today.
Genesis 16:1-15
Abram’s wife Sarai had borne him no children. Now she had an Egyptian maidservant named Hagar. Sarai said to Abram: “The LORD has kept me from bearing children. Have intercourse with my maid; perhaps I will have sons through her.” Abram obeyed Sarai. Thus, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, his wife Sarai took her maid, Hagar the Egyptian, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife. He had intercourse with her, and she became pregnant. As soon as Hagar knew she was pregnant, her mistress lost stature in her eyes. So Sarai said to Abram: “This outrage against me is your fault. I myself gave my maid to your embrace; but ever since she knew she was pregnant, I have lost stature in her eyes. May the LORD decide between you and me! Abram told Sarai: “Your maid is in your power. Do to her what you regard as right.” Sarai then mistreated her so much that Hagar ran away from her.
The LORD’s angelfound her by a spring in the wilderness, the spring on the road to Shur,and he asked, “Hagar, maid of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?” She answered, “I am running away from my mistress, Sarai.” But the LORD’s angel told her: “Go back to your mistress and submit to her authority. I will make your descendants so numerous,” added the LORD’s angel, “that they will be too many to count.” Then the LORD’s angel said to her:
“You are now pregnant and shall bear a son; you shall name him Ishmael, For the LORD has heeded your affliction. He shall be a wild ass of a man, his hand against everyone, and everyone’s hand against him; Alongsideall his kindred shall he encamp.”
To the LORD who spoke to her she gave a name, saying, “You are God who sees me”;she meant, “Have I really seen God and remained alive after he saw me?”That is why the well is called Beer-lahai-roi. It is between Kadesh and Bered.
Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram named the son whom Hagar bore him Ishmael.
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This week’s lesson is a great example of how God can bring good from even the most dysfunctional of situations. I don’t know who I relate to more, Sarai or Hagar…but both have been subjected to what others wanted and forced into obliging without ever being ‘heard’.
I get that.
Think about what Sarai went through before she could even try to bore Abram a son. She was forced by Abram to go live with the Pharoah because she was ‘so beautiful’ that she would most likely cause Abram to get killed (or so he feared) so he lied and said she was his sister. Because of this lie she most likely endured being subjected to the Pharoah which is why the Lord put plagues upon the house. So Pharoah gave Sarai back to Abram. (Genesis 12:10-20)
Can you imagine? I think sometimes we read the old testament and think it is so outlandish that it seems more like a fiction novel which helps us to grasp such boorish behavior. But it wasn’t fiction…just like so many truths of today that we still don’t want to face.
So, now we have Sarai who has been most likely abused in some form or fashion by the Pharoah who is now back with her husband whom she loves dearly which is why she lied to begin with and went along with saying that he was her brother. So she has already sacrificed for him. And now all she wants to do is bore him a child. But for ten years she tries and nothing happens. The Lord has promised Abram a multitude of descendants but how is that to happen if she can’t bore him a child?
Sarai didn’t just give up…she tried for ten years! Her only hope to feel complete and fulfilling her purpose was to go to Hagar her slave which was a custom at the time so not so far out of the ordinary. She was desperate and felt there was no other choice.
I personally can relate to where Sarai was at this time. I have been so broken, so beat up that I felt there was no way I could ever be the wife that Neal needed me to be. There was a time, before I came to a place of fully accepting that God could do all things even in someone as broken as me… that I would beg Neal to give up and leave me…or even find someone else who could make him happy in ways I didn’t feel I could so that it would take the pressure off of me. I loved Neal that much that at that time I felt I would only be happy if someone else could make Neal happy.
I didn’t have the hope that it could ever be me.
The difference between Neal and Abram was that Neal believed in me more than I believed in myself and was smart enough to flat out refuse to ever think of such a thing or play into the ridiculous notion. Our marriage was saved because Neal believed that no matter how long it took, that one day I would finally believe in myself and realize that it would only be me that could make him happy.
But Abram, probably anxious to make God’s promise happen, did as Sarai asked.
Now, Hagar didn’t ask for this either. She knew what having this baby (that would not fully be considered her ‘own’) would mean. She didn’t believe in the same God and she didn’t sign up for this crazy situation. She acted out, who could blame her? And then she ran away.
But God felt her anger and went to her. This is my favorite line because I believe it is one that both Hagar AND Sarai needed to embrace:
“You are God who SEES me”
Whether or not we are a woman or a man we all want to be ‘heard’ or ‘seen’…
This section of Genesis is an example of sometimes how we rush what is meant to be because of our lack of faith.
Abram was promised a multitude of descendants….who’s to say God wasn’t ever going to make that happen with Sarai? Maybe it wasn’t time after ten years. Maybe it was supposed to be 20 years down the line before she got pregnant? But Sarai had just endured a lot in her life as well and all she wanted was to be normal, to give to her husband what God promised but she gave up.
Hagar was just an innocent caught in the crossfire but God took the bad situation and made it all good.
So there is hope no matter which way we turn. We can be easier on ourselves and allow God to work in His time…or even when we rush it He will make the mess into a masterpiece.
Blessings
Shannon