Where is God? - Hagar's Story

Discarded

“I feel so discarded.” Those heavy-hearted words rang through on a text. I knew my friend was in the midst of a painful breakup, but the word “discarded” implied so much more than just the loss of a relationship. In that one word were feelings of being used up, unnecessary, rejected, and unwanted. When we spoke on the phone later she asked me, “Where is God? WHERE IS HE??” Her broken heart reminded me of a story of another “Girl Like Us” from the book of Genesis. One who is often overlooked and undervalued.

Hagar is introduced in Genesis 16 as Sarah’s female, Egyptian servant. Female…strike one. Egyptian…strike two. Servant…strike three. Hagar came into the picture with a major deficit. First of all, she was female in a patriarchal society where women were often marginalized and objects of discrimination. If that were not enough, She was Egyptian. What place could Hagar possibly have among the matriarchs and patriarchs of God’s family? She was a foreigner, an outsider. She grew up worshiping idols and following the pagan customs of her culture.

But worse than all of those, was the fact that Hagar was a slave. She was most likely acquired by Abraham and Sarah during their journey through Egypt. “It came about when Abram came into Egypt, the Egyptians saw that [Sarai] was very beautiful. Pharaoh’s officials saw her and praised her to Pharaoh; and the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house. Therefore he treated Abram well for her sake; and gave him sheep and oxen and donkeys and male and female servants and female donkeys and camels..” (Gen 12:14-16 emphasis added) Hagar was hustled away from her homeland like so many heads of cattle or a herd of swine. There was no regard for her humanity. She was devoid of dignity, value and freedom.

In Genesis 16:1-2 (NIV), her role in the household of Abraham and Sarah took on a new dimension. “Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar; so she said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.” Sarah’s desperate attempt to build a family through Hagar were the result of taking matters into her own hands. Years and years of infertility and unmet longings got the best of her. But Sarah’s story is for another day. She “took Hagar and gave her to Abraham” -no questions asked. To put this in context, surrogacy was a common practice in that culture.

Nevertheless, Hagar was simply the means to an end. Even her body was not her own. Soon, she felt the stirring of a new life inside her. At this, “Hagar looked with contempt on Sarah”. Some translations say, she despised her. Was it because she felt superior? She was able to do something Sarah only dreamed of doing. Or was it because she realized that a place as sacred as her own womb, belonged to others to use as they pleased? Maybe she dreaded the thought of carrying and bearing this little one, only to hand him over to her mistress.

Her haughty attitude enraged Sarah. Hagar most likely heard the heated interchange between she and Abraham through the tent curtains. Sarah was fuming, blaming the whole mess on Abraham. (Things haven’t changed much in the last few thousand years.) “Then Sarai said to Abram, “You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my slave in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the Lord judge between you and me.” (Gen 16:5)

Abraham shrugged off any responsibility to care for Hagar and the child he had planted within her. “‘Your slave is in your hands’, Abram said. ‘Do with her whatever you think best.’ Then Sarai mistreated Hagar; so she fled from her.” (Gen 16:6) Whether it was her anger over years of infertility, Hagar’s disrespect, or the idea that a common slave could do what she could not, her harsh treatment was more than Hagar could bear.

Sought out

Pregnant and alone, she wandered in the direction of her homeland. Unbeknownst to her, she had been followed. I imagine Hagar cradling her belly, wondering what the future held for her and her little one. Did she hope she could go home and find freedom? Did she consider turning back? Even as the questions tumbled in her mind, she heard a voice. “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, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?’” (Gen 16:7)

Did you notice something unique about the way the Angel addressed Hagar? For the first time in the narrative, someone called her by name. I’ve heard it said that the sweetest sound a person hears, is the sound of their own name. She who had been referred to only as “my slave” and “your slave” and “her”, heard her name on the lips of the Angel of the Lord.

He asked her questions. “Tell me your story.” He knew her story. He had seen it all unfold. Yet He engaged the rejected, abused slave girl. She could say where she came from. ‘I’m running away from my mistress Sarai,’ she answered.” (Gen 16:8) But to the question, “...and where are you going, she had no answer.

Isn’t that how it goes when the rug gets pulled out from under us? We can look back and say where we’ve been. But the future is one looming question mark, casting a shadow over our lives.

Life is unpredictable.  Whether we’re facing a tragedy or simply dealing with the normal ebb and flow of life’s seasons, uncertainty about what is around the next bend can be frightening and often paralyzing. We have no idea where we’re going.  But we have a God who walks with us in our wondering.

The God who sees

Hagar had a conversation in which God acknowledged her pain, and made a promise to her regarding the son in her womb. He instructed her to return and submit to Sarah.

And then Hagar did something no one else in scripture ever did. It may have been her joy at finally being seen and known. It may have been her encounter with a God who, unlike the gods of her childhood, saw her tears and heard her weeping. Whatever the reason, Hagar named God. She proclaimed, “You are [El Roi] The God who sees me… Truly I have seen Him who looks after me.” Hagar, the female, Egyptian,slave met someone who was looking out for her! Did she realize at that moment that she was not disposable after all?

She went back to Sarai as directed by the LORD, but she did not go alone. She went in the arms of a God who she knew would look after her. She bore a son and named Him as God had instructed: Ishmael (which means “God hears”). Every time she called her son’s name, she would be reminded of the God who heard her misery and came looking for her.

The God who hears

After fourteen years, Hagar was a witness to the miracle of God Almighty bringing life out of Sarah’s dead womb when she gave birth to Isaac. When that promised child was weaned Abraham threw a party, where Ishmael was caught mocking Isaac. That was just the excuse Sarah needed to at last banish the two of them. After all, there was no longer any use for those who had no part in God’s promise.

“But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, laughing. So she said to Abraham, ‘Cast out this slave woman with her son, for the son of this slave woman shall not be heir with my son Isaac.”(Gen 21:9,10) So much for, “Perhaps I can build a family through her.” (Gen 16:2). Still, after all those years, they were simply “this slave woman and her son.”

Once again, Hagar found herself wandering in the wilderness, sent off with a loaf of bread and a skin of water. “When the water in the skin was gone, she put the child under one of the bushes. Then she went and sat down opposite him a good way off, about the distance of a bowshot, for she said, ‘Let me not look on the death of the child.’ And as she sat opposite him, she lifted up her voice and wept. And God heard the voice of the boy, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, ‘What troubles you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is.

Up! Lift up the boy, and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make him into a great nation.’ Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. And she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink. And God was with the boy, and he grew up. He lived in the wilderness and became an expert with the bow. He lived in the wilderness of Paran, and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.”(Gen 21:15-21)

Faithful to His promise, God heard, not just Hagar, but he heard her son. As Ishmael grew, God was with him. Can you see His extravagant grace? Ishmael was not the promised son. Hagar and Ishmael appeared to be simply a blot on the screen of Abraham and Sarah’s story. And yet, God cared for them. He sought them out. God revealed Himself to Hagar personally and intimately. He came to a desperate, lonely slave woman, and called her by name. He heard the cry of a teenage boy, and rescued him.

I love when it says “Up! Lift up the boy…” It’s as if God is saying, “Hagar, this is not the end of your story! I have plans for you and your son!” And God came through on His promises. He proved Himself true to Ishmael; “God hears”.

Listen for Him

Sometimes God brings us into the wilderness, so that we can hear His voice more clearly. We may come by way of a divorce,a diagnosis, or a financial crisis. Sometimes a job loss or the rejection of a prodigal child, reduces us to feeling invisible, even to God. But there, in the wilderness, we can come to the same beautiful realization Hagar did “You are the God who sees me. I have seen Him who looks after me”.

When the people in your world tell you you’re nothing to them and you sit in a desolate place, God is not finished with you. When you feel completely alone in the world, you can be sure you have been followed. Listen closely, open His word and hear His voice. Where is God my sweet friend? WHERE IS HE?? He is in the desert. He has come looking for you. He hears your weeping, He sees your tears, and right this moment, He is calling your name.

This story is taken from Genesis chapters 16 & 21. I encourage you to read it for yourself. I’d love to hear what God teaches you through Hagar’s story.