Hagar Meets the God Who Hears and Sees Her

How does God accomplish his will in our lives?

Sometimes when Katie and I are having a discussion about something where we are sharing our opinions, we will notice that both of us are getting more and more frustrated as the discussion goes on. The topic could be anything - parenting Hudson, fixing something in our house, how to handle our money, ministry. It doesn’t have to be a certain topic for us to sometimes notice that the discussion is getting more and more heated. Eventually we realized that this was happening because neither of us felt listened to. One person would share their thoughts then the other person would share their thoughts, oftentimes with some pushback on the other person’s ideas. Then the other person would do the same thing and it would go back and forth like this until both of us were frustrated. Katie one time realized, “Hey, neither of us are showing that we understand the other person or affirming any of their ideas. We are both just saying what we disagree with and sharing our own thoughts.” Because of this, neither of us felt listened to.

Let's think about this question for a bit: How do you feel when someone really listens to you?  Answers given: Loved, Important, Valued, Valuable, Affirmed, Respected

Series Introduction
This evening we are continuing our series called Beginning the Journey Home in the book of Genesis after a two week break. We are still in the story of Abram. God’s plan is to bring blessing back to the world through Abram. God wants to use Abram to bring humanity back home to himself.

Sermon Introduction
We last saw Abram struggling with the fact that, even though God promised to make him a great nation, he is still childless and landless. How can he be a great nation without any children and without any land? In the midst of these doubts, God met Abram to reassure him that he would fulfill his promises. God was taking full responsibility to do it but it would happen in his timing. Abram’s faith in God put him in right relationship with God.

This week, Abram isn’t the focus of the story. The focus is on two women who find themselves in difficult situations where they need to trust God’s will for them.

The big question this passage answers is: How does God accomplish his will in our lives? How does God accomplish his will in our lives?

This passage breaks down into two scenes. Let’s start with the scene focused on Abram’s wife, Sarai, in verses 1 through 6.

Sarai’s Scene (Genesis 16:1-6)

Verse 1 introduces us to Sarai’s difficult situation. It says:

1 Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children. (Genesis 16:1a)

That’s her problem. She wants to have kids, Abram wants to have kids, God promised they would have kids, but they have no kids. Where does she turn to solve this problem? Look at the second half of verse 1:

She had a female Egyptian servant whose name was Hagar. 2 And Sarai said to Abram, “Behold now, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. Go in to my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children by her.” (Genesis 16:1b-2)

Sarai has a problem: she isn’t pregnant and God is to blame. So she comes up with a solution apart from God: she wants Abram to sleep with her maidservant, Hagar. This was a common practice during their time. Infertility has always been painful for women. In Sarai’s day, women didn’t have a career outside the home and being a successful wife meant giving their husband lots of kids. So Sarai felt like a failure and was probably even seen as a failure by others. She longs to have a child and be a mom but is unable. It’s heartbreaking. It was painful for Abram too and he expressed that to God in the last chapter. For Sarai, the pain is even more acute because she is the problem. But instead of turning to God, she turns to her own solution: she offers her servant to Abram to produce a child for them.

The end of verse 2 says:

And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. 3 So, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her servant, and gave her to Abram her husband as a wife. (Genesis 16:2c-3)

These words are a deliberate echo of Genesis 3. What happens in Genesis 3? God tells Adam and Eve that deciding right and wrong for themselves is off limits. They are to trust God for that by not eating the fruit of defining good and evil on their terms. But in a moment of temptation from the serpent, a creature in rebellion against God, Eve sees the fruit of that tree as good, takes it, and gives some to her husband. When God confronts them, he tells Adam that his mistake was listening to the voice of his wife instead of the voice of God.

Now, what happens here? Sarai takes Hagar and gives her to Abram. And what does Abram do? He listens to the voice of his wife. Abram and Sarai are repeating the unbelief and sin of their ancient ancestors, Adam and Eve. They are falling for the temptation of the serpent. Instead of trusting God, they are choosing their own way. Sarai looks at her situation and says, “Look Abram, it’s been 10 years since God made that promise to us about having kids but he has prevented me from getting pregnant. Let’s try our own way.”

I’m sure you can identify with Sarai’s situation. Frustrated by her circumstances. Wondering if God is ever going to show up. Doubting whether he will do what he said.
What does Sarai need in this situation? Answers given: comfort, love, patience, all of the above we answered before
Which 4G would give that to her?

The big question this passage answers is: How does God accomplish his will in our lives? Here’s the first answer: God’s will is accomplished in God’s timing and in God’s power. God’s will is accomplished in God’s timing and in God’s power.

God’s will for Sarai is that she will be pregnant and that he is going to make their family into a great nation and bless the world through them. But it is going to happen in God’s timing and it is going to happen in God’s power. He will let he become pregnant at the right time.

But the great lie of the serpent, later known as Satan, is that God is against us. He convinced Adam and Eve that God was holding out on them, that he didn’t have their best interests in mind, that they would be better off getting out from under his authority and doing it their way. Sarai believes the same here: God has prevented me from getting pregnant, we’ve been waiting 10 years for him to fulfill his promise, let’s do it our way.

But what are the results? Look at verse 4:

4 And he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, she looked with contempt on her mistress. 5 And Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done to me be on you! I gave my servant to your embrace, and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked on me with contempt. May the Lord judge between you and me!” 6 But Abram said to Sarai, “Behold, your servant is in your power; do to her as you please.” Then Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she fled from her. (Genesis 16:4-6)

Sarai’s plan works! But is she any happier? Does she have a great life now? No. Trying to go around God and do it her way didn’t lead to happiness. It actually led to more pain and anger. Hagar gets pregnant but then she looks down on Sarai. Literally, Sarai “became small” in her eyes. It’s pretty cruel to treat an infertile woman like you are better than her because you can get pregnant. Then Sarai lashes out at Abram. She basically pronounces a curse on him. Abram hands over control of Hagar to Sarai and then Sarai is so abusive that Hagar runs away. These results reflect what happened in Genesis 3: blame, curse, and broken relationships. Sarai’s godless solution, even though it works, leads to a broken family.

Like Sarai, we too can believe God is against us. “God, you say you love me, but why is my life so hard? Why am I struggling with sin? Why am I sick and in pain? Why are things at work so hard? Why is it so hard to pay the bills? Why are my kids rebelling? Why aren’t you fixing all this God??” In those situations, we need what Sarai needed. We need to believe the truth about God. Sarai’s been waiting for 10 years on God so she makes her own plans, but even when God isn’t working according to our schedule, we need to trust his timing and his power to fulfill his promises in our lives.

Parents, isn’t it true that your kids don’t always appreciate or understand what you are doing in their lives? They don’t appreciate you limiting their video game time or requiring them to make their bed or not buying them every toy they beg you to buy them at the store. They don’t understand or appreciate that you don’t buy them everything they want so that you can put food on the table, shoes on their feet, clothes on their backs, and a roof over their head. Maybe they get frustrated that you have a curfew for them and chores for them. Maybe they are annoyed that you don’t let them watch certain movies or TV shows. I remember when I was in middle school, I was annoyed that my mom wouldn’t let me watch Austin Powers. I begged her and reasoned with her. As an adult with my own son, I know exactly why she didn’t want me to watch that movie.

If this is true of earthly parents and their kids, how much more true is it for our heavenly Father and his children? We don’t always understand or appreciate why he makes us wait or why he tells us “no” or why he doesn’t take away hard things in our lives. But what we can do is trust that he is good and wise and has our best interests in mind. Parents, wouldn’t it be great if your kids said to you, “I don’t fully understand why you are doing this, mom, but I trust that you know better than me and want what’s best for me." That’s what we should say to God.

The next scene focuses on Hagar. The camera moves from Abram and Sarai to follow Hagar who has run away. In this scene, we learn an extremely important truth about God for each of us to remember.

Hagar’s Scene (16:7-16)

Let’s start in verse 7:

7 The angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur. (Genesis 16:7)

Throughout this scene, notice what God does with Hagar. First, he seeks her and finds her. This spring is on the route back to Egypt. Hagar is an Egyptian returning to her homeland.

Next, God addresses her by name and asks a question: “Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?” Her answer gives the short story: “I am fleeing from my mistress Sarai.” (Genesis 16:8b). But what is Hagar’s full story? If we go back further, where has she come from? How did she come to be Sarai’s servant? Well, remember in chapter 12 when Abram went down to Egypt to survive the famine? Remember how he lied about Sarai being his sister so that it would go well with him in Egypt? Remember how that plan worked and the Egyptians gave him lots of possessions, including female servants? Then he was kicked out of Egypt when Pharaoh find out that Abram lied. But he left with the female Egyptian servants, one of whom was Hagar. So Hagar is serving Sarai and Abram because of a time in Abram’s past when he failed to trust God, made his own plan, and it worked. Now Hagar is on the run because Hagar did the same thing.

What does God do next? Does he say, “I’m glad you escaped from her, she was being a jerk.” No, he tells her, “Return to your mistress and submit to her” (Genesis 16:9b). God sends her back to her difficult situation.

God has more to say starting in verse 10.

10 The angel of the Lord also said to her, “I will surely multiply your offspring so that they cannot be numbered for multitude.” 11 And the angel of the Lord said to her,
“Behold, you are pregnant
and shall bear a son.
You shall call his name Ishmael,
because the Lord has listened to your affliction.
12 He shall be a wild donkey of a man,
his hand against everyone
and everyone's hand against him,
and he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen.”
13 So she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, “You are a God of seeing,” for she said, “Truly here I have seen him who looks after me.” 14 Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi; it lies between Kadesh and Bered.
15 And Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram called the name of his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael. 16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram. (Genesis 16:10-16)

Hagar is the only woman in the whole Old Testament to get a promise like this. She is just a slave girl that Abram acquired in Egypt and now God is speaking to her directly with promises concerning her son. It’s not all rainbows and roses because God tells her that while Ishmael is going to be free and independent, he will be so much so that he comes into conflict with others. But now she knows that she is going to live through Sarai’s treatment of her to have a son and she is assured that he will grow up to be a man.

The big question this passage answers is: How does God accomplish his will in our lives? The second answer is: God’s will is accomplished in the midst of suffering. God’s will is accomplished in the midst of suffering.

God has a plan for Hagar and her son, but it doesn’t mean no suffering or hardship. In fact, God sends her back to suffering and hardship. Like Hagar, we try to run from suffering. We want to get as far away from hardship, difficulties, and discomfort as possible. We believe God’s will for us is to not suffer ever. But then when he isn’t relieving us of our trials, we get mad at him and shake our first at him, “God, where are you? Why aren’t you helping me? Why aren’t you taking this away? Why are you putting me through this?”

With Hagar, we need to remember what’ true of God in our suffering and hardship. As Hagar walks the road back to Sarai, which 4Gs does she need to believe?

Hagar shares with us what comforts her as she walks back. She actually gives the Lord a name in verse 13. She says, “You are a God of seeing. Truly here I have seen him who looks after me.” Then she names the place “Beer-lahai-roi” which means “the well of the Living One who sees me”. And her son will be named “Ishmael” which means “God hears” because God said in verse 11 that he has listened to her affliction.

What does Hagar learn about God? She is running away from home but God seeks her, finds her, listens to her, sees all she is going through, and looks after her. She doesn’t deserve any of this. Hagar was no angel in this situation. But God seeks her and finds her anyway.

What hardships, pain, trials, and difficulties do you have going on in your life right now? Do you have a difficult family situation? Work situation? School situation? Parenting situation? Friend situation? Is there a hard situation that you are running from? Is there are a hard situation that you are avoiding? God might be sending you back to it.

Here’s the good news. Know that God hears, sees, and looks after you. Know that God hears, sees, and looks after you. When we welcome God into our lives by trusting in Jesus, we are never alone. He never leaves us or forsakes us.

I was listening to a series of podcast recently and they made this point: when you feel heard, you feel loved. When nobody knows what we are going through, it feels sad and lonely and our difficulties feel like an impossible burden. But whatever we are facing, we can be assured that God hears us, sees us, and looks after us.

When God isn’t operating according to your time schedule or isn’t taking away difficult situations in your life, don’t take it as a sign that he is against you, doesn’t love you, has forgotten about you, or doesn’t care. The truth is that God is more interested in fixing you than fixing your problems. You are your biggest problem. God is in the business of changing us and often he uses the hard things in life to do it. A surgeon has to use a scalpel to bring healing. It’s painful but necessary. God is the Master Surgeon who uses the difficult circumstances of our lives to change our hearts and heal us in the deepest way possible.

Hagar was running from home and we are all runaways from home. We were all running from God. But God is on a mission to bring us home. Just like he sought and found Hagar, Jesus came to seek and save the lost. If you have trusted in Jesus, he sought you and found you to bring you back home.

When he does that, he gives us a family to listen to us, see what we are going through, and look after us. We are Jesus’ body on earth living as family together. You don’t have to go it alone. Jesus has given you a family. If you are carrying a burden all by yourself, bring Jesus into it by telling someone else.

And when someone shares their hardship or struggles with you, love them as a servant by being a good listener. Engage, ask questions, don’t make it about you, don’t offer advice. Just listen. Two of the best words we can learn to say are, “That sucks.” So often we want to tell people the silver lining or tell them about a situation we experienced that’s similar or fix the problem. Just listen and say, “That sucks. That sounds hard. I’m so sad you had to go through that.”

Then Jesus sends us out as messengers to seek and find those who are running from home with God. You know what’s a great first step in convincing somebody that God loves them? Be a good listener. Listen to them like God listens to you.

Many of you know that I go to Starbucks a lot to work. There have been at least three people there who have said to me at some point, “When does your church meet? I’d like to visit some time.” Do you know how many times I brought up the topic of them visiting our church some time? None. I just asked them questions about themselves when I saw them and listened. I think it would be helpful if our general approach in every conversation was to listen 90% of the time and talk only 10%. Of course, someone needs to be told about Jesus to believe in him. But when we feel heard, we feel loved. When we feel loved, we are willing to listen. If I listen for 90% of the conversation, I can speak the good news about Jesus to them in a custom fit, personalized way rather than a generic way unrelated to their life.

Imagine if we were a community extremely good at listening to one another and to those who don’t know Jesus. That would be transformative.

Conclusion
Some time this past year, I was on my way to meet with my mentor in Spring Grove. I was a little late and got stuck behind this big truck driving below the speed limit. I became frustrated and wanted to get around them but couldn’t.

It just so happened that I was also feeling a bit discouraged. I didn’t feel like things with the church were going as fast as I’d like. Then I realized that I felt like God was like this big truck. He’s going too slow and I’d like him to speed up or let me pass him.

I’m sure you have had a similar experience. God is going too slow. You want to get around him and go faster. You want this hard thing in your life to be over. In those moments, we need to trust that God is leading us to a good place and it’s our job to follow him and trust him.