After Pentecost Devotional - Day 03

“And Yahweh heard the voice of the boy; and the angel of Yahweh called to Hagar from heaven, and said to her, “What troubles you, Hagar? Do not be afraid; for Yahweh has heard the voice of the boy where he is. Come, lift up the boy and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make a great nation of him.” Genesis 21:17-18

We saw Hagar fleeing from the abuse of her mistress a few chapters back. Here she is fleeing once again, this time due to Sarah expelling her from the retinue of Abraham's protection. For the second time, we find her expecting to die. For the second time, we find God intervening with an unexpected way forward. For the second time, we hear God's promise to make her son, Ishmael a leader of nations.

In the midst of uncertainty, loss, and turmoil, it is easy for us to despair. Hagar had every reason to allow despair to consume her. She was still a foreigner with no hope for the security of belonging to a society. She was still an unattached woman, this time with a young son in tow. She was still in unknown territory with no means of support. She was still in need of water, food, and shelter.

She was a refugee, seeking a new lease on life. As with refugees the world over, hers was a delicate situation, as an outsider with no support network. She had no home. She had no income. She had no wealth. She had no sense or means of belonging.

Hagar had been used, abused, and cast aside as no longer relevant to those who had used her. If there is an inglorious side to Abraham's actions and character, it was in relation to allowing Sarah to mistreat Hagar in this manner. Following the norms of the day, Abraham and Sarah had treated Hagar as property, chattel, one from whom they could benefit and then cast aside as unwanted rags.

What is most interesting, however, is that we find Yahweh entering the picture once again to offer hope, promise, and provision. Yahweh enters the picture to support a woman whom society deemed worthless, a non-entity, disposable.

Instead of accepting the social realities and definitions of the day, Yahweh enters the picture once again to offer protection, support, and hope in the midst of despair. Yahweh offers Hagar a complete reversal of expectations. Rather than allow her to continue to see herself as disposable chattel, Yahweh assures her that the promise to Abraham will extend through her child, as well.

It is not only in Isaac that Yahweh's blessing and promise would flow, but also through those touched by Abraham and cast aside by the social order. God's blessing, after all, is for all those who we tend to ignore, overlook, and cast aside. While we act as thought there is not enough of God's grace to share with all, God enters the picture to remind us that grace is able to multiply to include all those we are too willing to deem worthless.

Who are those you tend to consider unworthy of your attention? Determine to allow God to bless all those you encounter, regardless of society's willingness to devalue.


"Lord, make me a willing instrument of your grace and provision for all, beyond all the categories I have erected to disqualify others as unworthy."

—©Copyright 2016, Christopher B. Harbin
http://www.sermonsearch.com/contributors/104427/ 
My latest books can be found here on amazon

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