Hagar was the young woman servant of Sarah, the honored and privileged wife of Abraham. He was beloved and chosen of God to be the father of a nation through which He would bless the whole sin-darkened world. Perhaps as a young and submissive servant, Hagar had been favored by Sarah. Whatever the reasons, Hagar had been chosen by Sarah. Since her own fertility had ended, who better to bear ‘in her stead’ the son God had promised her husband? Hagar, the biological mother of a son who Sarah would claim as her own – yes, this had to be the answer!
Genesis 16 tells us that Hagar despised Sarah after she conceived. We are not told exactly why. Was she jealous of Sarah as the superior wife or did she resent feeling used to accomplish Sarah’s agenda in spite of her own wishes? Regardless of Hagar’s motives, it was Sarah who had the listening ear of Abraham when she placed the blame of being despised by her maid (now her ‘sister-wife’) on him. He in turn gave his beloved Sarah permission to deal with the circumstance as she saw fit.
Sarah’s harsh treatment toward Hagar (putting her in her place) drove the pregnant woman to seek escape in the wilderness, where the angel of the Lord found her. He told her to return to her mistress and to submit to her authority. Abraham’s tribal camp would be a place of safety and provision for her and the child. He also told her that she was to have a son and descendants “too many to count” – Hagar also would have a place of honor in due time. She was told to name the child Ishmael to remind her of the angel’s words, “the Lord has given heed to your affliction” (v. 11).
Fourteen years later Hagar found herself again in the wilderness, having been driven from the camp via the long brewing jealously and resentment between her mistress and herself. In faith and with a broken heart Abraham had sent Hagar and Ishmael away from his tribe and family at God’s command, with His assurance that Ishmael too would become a great nation - but it must be through Isaac, “the son of promise,” through whom God would fulfill his promises to Abraham. After their packed provisions were gone, faint from hunger and thirst, Hagar placed her son in the shade of a bush and walked a distance away, weeping and pleading that she would not have to see her child die. Again the angel of the Lord, the one Hagar had called “a God who sees,” spoke to her there and led her to the provisions and deliverance she and her son needed (see 16:13). “And God was with the lad…” (Genesis 21:20) [Also, Genesis 16 & 21].
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Hanna had long had a rival wife who seemingly had the most fertile womb in all Israel, while she had been given a closed womb. Not only did her arms ache from emptiness, but ‘the other wife’ constantly and consciously made her feel ‘the lesser’ and ashamed of her bareness with the birth of each new son or daughter. With all her effort to love her husband’s children as her own, nothing could satisfy her deep longing to feel the miracle of human life inside her and to nurture her own little one to her heart’s delight. With all her husband’s assurances that he loved her more than he could love the ten sons she might have given him, she could not find the comfort for which she longed.
One year during the yearly trip to Shiloh to sacrifice to the Lord, her heart and spirit were finally completely broken. She could no longer hide the emotional wheel spinning wildly inside her. Jealousy, anger, hurt, envy and a deep questioning of God’s providence. She could not eat because of her heavy sadness and uncontrolled outbursts of weeping. Even there, on this special occasion of rejoicing, her husband deliberately gave her a double portion of the celebration meal to display his honor and affection toward her, but to no easement of her suffering.
In her desperation she made her way to the temple to pour her heart out as water to the God who had, in His sovereignty, withheld conception of the child she had so often asked of Him. She pleaded as never before in her bitterness of soul, making no audible sound but only moving her lips in the words she spoke in prayer. She knew that her God could change her circumstances to those of great joy, if only He willed to grant her petition. She promised God that if He would give her the honor and joy of mothering her own son, she would gladly give him back to God as a special servant to Him. If He would use her so! After words of encouragement from the prophet Eli, she left the temple with an un-weighted heart and a face that shone with hope.
Not long after their visit to Shiloh, Hannah conceived the son she had prayed for so often and then, finally, with all her being. At his birth she named him Samuel, saying, “Because I have asked him of the Lord.” With her husband’s permission she would not return to Shiloh for the family’s yearly sacrifice and celebration until the child was weaned – weaned from nursing and from the special love and care a small child would need. She knew that when she did return to Shiloh she must offer the child himself to serve in the temple. Her heart knew that this child was called of God for a special purpose to Himself. The thought of leaving him at the temple sometimes gave her a pang of sadness, but it was always swallowed by the joy and privilege of being used of God to nurture and prepare him for his calling. But the over-shadowing joy, as she fed, cuddled, disciplined and played with her son, was that of teaching him of the God who had heard and answered her prayers in creating her little Samuel.
In the years to come she would visit her son at the temple annually and give him the new robe she had lovingly hand stitched. Her joy was then unfailingly renewed in seeing her son grow in the knowledge and ways of his God. She would greatly rejoice in future days with the birth of each of the five children her God was to give her as comfort and reward for the one she had literally given to Him. (I Samuel 1 & 2)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
While Hagar did not seek her son, Ishmael, from God (and possibly felt victimized by her pregnancy) she came to love him as much as Sarah would love her Isaac. She fled to the wilderness and it was there that the Lord spoke to her.
Hannah very much desired a child of her own and pleadingly petitioned God for her heart’s desire. In her desperate and opportune hour she fled to the Temple. It was there that God heard her pleading and answered with abundant grace.
Whether we come to our brokenness in the wilderness or while in a church pew makes no difference. His all-knowing presence and willingness to hear what our hearts speak to Him is the same. We speak to him through prayer, but He also speaks to us – and we best hear Him when we are willing to separate ourselves from all distractions, read the Scriptures, and listen with our hearts (Hebrews 1:1 & II Timothy 3:16-17). ~ DLA
“Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” – Hebrews 4:16
No comments:
Post a Comment