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"Your servant is in your hands,"
Abram said. "Do with her whatever you think best." Then Sarai mistreated
Hagar; so she fled from her.
The angel of the LORD found
Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road
to Shur. And he said, "Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from,
and where are you going?"
"I'm running away from my
mistress Sarai," she answered.
Then the angel of the LORD told
her, "Go back to your mistress and submit to her." The angel added, "I will
so increase your descendants that they will be too numerous to count."
The angel of the LORD also said
to her:
"You are now with child
and you will have a son.
You shall name him Ishmael,
for the LORD has heard of your misery.
He will be a wild donkey of a
man;
his hand will be against everyone
and everyone's hand against him,
and he will live in hostility
toward all his brothers."
She gave this name to the LORD
who spoke to her: "You are the God who sees me," for she said, "I have now
seen the One who sees me."
It can be understood why Hagar felt so upset to
run away, she had been used by her mistress to produce a child, she
(although it may have been a result of her own attitudes) was mistreated by
Sarai, and her master, Abram showed her no compassion or value. I wonder if
she was crying when the Lord found her
I find it interesting that the Lord asked her
where she had been and where she is going. Hagar knew where she had come
from, but did she know where she was going? Was He giving her an opportunity
to choose between being honest with Him or becoming defensive and hide?
Hagar was honest with Him, "I am running away from my mistress."
The Angel of the Lord tells her to go back to
her mistress and obediently submit to her.
In a lot of ways I could relate to Hagar, in
not always acting out in perfect manner and in my hurt being willing to cry
and be honest with God. The Lord doesn't rebuke Hagar, it seems He does
quite the opposite in blessing her. But it follows God's direction to be
obedient and submit to her mistress.
The Lord spoke to me gently as I imagine He did
also with Hagar, no things don't always seem right and fair.... but I am
here. Continue to walk in obedience as I have asked you, submit to those
that do wrong by you and I will surely bless you.
As Hagar drew comfort from knowing her God was
a God who saw her, so we can too.
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