Waiting is often difficult for people. It is particularly difficult to wait for the fulfillment of an important promise. Children often get impatient waiting for their parents or other adults to fulfill their promises to them. Children aren’t the only ones, though, who get impatient waiting for a promise to be answered. Adults also get restless and anxious when they see time passing and the answer to a promise still hasn’t been fulfilled, including when the promise-maker is God, Himself. Sometimes the person will take matters into their own hands. However, that doesn’t always turn out well, as we will see in today’s Scripture passage.
Abraham, the great patriarch of the Old Testament, and his wife Sarah, were an older couple, and were childless. When Abraham was approximately 75 years old, and his wife about 65, God promised him a son (Genesis 12:1-4). Now, some ten years later, there is still no child. Was God going to keep His promise, or had He forgotten?
At this time, and particularly in the Middle East, a barren woman was shamed and humiliated by society. It had been many years since God made His promise, a whole decade, and the couple was getting restless. So like so many of us, they decided to take the matter into their own hands, perhaps try to help God out a bit. Without going to God in prayer to seek His guidance, the couple decided on a plan. Sarah took her servant girl, Hagar, and gave her to her husband Abraham, telling him to have a child through her (vs. 2-3). What Sarah did was an accepted practice in that day. Any children the servant had would be counted as the wife’s. However, this was not God’s plan, and it showed their lack of faith that God would fulfill His promises.
When we take matters into our own hands, rather than wait for God, we only bring misery and more problems, as Abraham and Sarah found out. When she found out that she was pregnant, the servant Hagar became very proud and haughty, flaunting her condition in front of barren Sarah (vs. 4). Sarah, in her hurt and angry state, blamed Abraham, and began to mistreat Hagar, who then ran away (vs. 5-6). God does not need our help in bringing His promises to pass. If He wants us to do something, He will let us know. Whatever we try to acquire outside of God’s will turns to ashes and comes to no good.
Hagar ran away, and found herself alone in the wilderness. What was she going to do? Where was she going to go? She was just a simple servant girl with no resources. God did not forget about her. The Angel of the Lord appeared to her in her desperate situation, assured her that God cared about her, and told her to return home and be Sarah’s maidservant again (vs. 7-12).
How often does it feel as if God doesn’t see what we’re going through? Hagar, a seemingly insignificant runaway servant, out in the wilderness, was seen by God. He knew her problem, and gave her the solution. God is not surprised by our circumstances. He cares about them, and about us. He is “the God who sees me”, as Hagar called Him (vs. 13). Even this humble maid became the object of God’s gracious attention. He saw her. Our own tears have not gone unnoticed. He is close to the brokenhearted, and saves those who are crushed in spirit (Psalm 34:18). He can bring blessings out of the gravest situation.
The flesh quickly tires of waiting for the Divine promise. The path of faith is full of dignity, which would have been the case if Abraham had a son by his lawful wife. The path of unbelief was full of degradation, shown in Abraham going and having a child by the servant girl. Tired of waiting, they no longer set their hopes on God, but instead it was on their own plans. God’s plan was not going to be fulfilled through Ishmael, and that decision had terrible repercussions for the children of God, still felt today.
In closing, ask yourself if you get impatient when you are forced to wait for God to act? Do you try to take matters into your own hands, interfering with God’s plan? Remember, God keeps all of His promises (Joshua 21:45). Also, we can take comfort in knowing that no matter what we are going through, God sees us, and cares about us. He cared about Hagar, and He cares for us, as well.
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