Photo credit: Mills Baker (Flickr)
As Christians, we are concerned about whether God is listening to our prayers, but do we really understand that God is watching and listening to our lives?
In Genesis 16 and 21, we find the story of Hagar, an Egyptian woman who was Sarah’s servant and who found herself in a very difficult situation with Abraham and Sarah.
The Situation
As many of you know, Abraham and Sarah (at the time their names were Abram and Sarai) were unable to have children. In an attempt to fix this situation, Sarah gave her servant to Abraham in hopes of conceiving a child. Abraham agreed.
But after Hagar became pregnant, things unfolded differently than Sarah expected. Hagar’s pregnancy elevated her status in the household and she despised Sarah, who sought revenge.
Abraham, after taking Hagar as his wife, left her to Sarah’s abusive behavior—while Hagar was pregnant! Sarah’s abuse was so bad that Hagar tried to run away. Think about that for a moment. Sarah, renowned for her beauty, abused a pregnant woman out of anger—anger at a situation caused by Sarah’s own actions! And Abraham, who had willingly engaged in sexual relations with Hagar, abandoned her to the will of someone who wanted to hurt her, when he could have stopped it. All this while Abraham was in covenant with God.
God Finds Hagar
While Hagar was away, God came and found her, and was very interested in her situation. He did not despise her because she was a slave, nor did He reject her because she was Egyptian. Instead He sent her back to Abraham and Sarah but with promises about her son, a prophecy about his life, and a name for him from God (Gen. 16:7-13). His name was to be Ishmael, which means in Hebrew, “God is listening.”
We aren’t told about what happened when Hagar returned to Abraham and Sarah, but imagine what Abraham must have thought when he heard Ishmael’s name.
Wait, you mean God is listening? To Hagar?
In the naming of Ishmael, God put Abraham and Sarah on notice that He was aware of their actions. And if you know anything about God, when something gets His attention, He does something about it. We’ll get to that later.
Here We Go, Again
After Isaac’s birth (Genesis 21), Sarah started things up again—she wanted Hagar kicked out of the house entirely! This time God consented and Abraham sent them away with some water and bread. That’s it. Abraham, who had 318 servants in his house to help him rescue his nephew Lot (Genesis 14:14), only gave Hagar water and bread. No animals, no servant to protect them, nothing. And this was his first-born son!
But God was listening and He found Hagar and Ishmael again, reminded her of His promise to her, and helped Hagar and Ishmael to survive (Gen. 21:15-21).
The story doesn’t end there.
The Outcome
Hundreds of years later, Abraham’s descendants found themselves in the land of Egypt—Hagar’s country—and there they were enslaved, oppressed, and treated unfairly by the Egyptians. God, based on his covenant with Abraham, delivered the Israelites—who in their deliverance traveled the same path as Hagar.
Hagar left Egypt as an enslaved woman (Gen. 16:1); the Israelites left as enslaved people (Ex. 13:3). Hagar was cast out of Abraham’s house (Gen. 21:9-14) and the Israelites were cast out of Egypt (Ex. 12:33) . After leaving Abraham’s house, Hagar wandered in the desert seeking water (Gen. 21:15-19), as did the Israelites after leaving Egypt (Gen. 17:1-6).
It is not a coincidence that Abraham and Sarah’s descendants ended up in the same position as Hagar, the enslaved woman that they mistreated. There are consequences for our actions, the full ramifications of which we cannot comprehend. So whatever you are doing, or whatever action you’re taking, imagine that God is right there listening to you.
Because He is.
