Episode 48: Hearing God when feeling unseen, uncared for, abused, or overlooked.

Jul 14, 2024 | 0 comments

Episode Description:

Hagar’s story includes exclusion, oppression, jealousy, desperation, powerlessness, hopelessness, uncertainty, cruelty, humiliation, impatience, broken promises and flawed people. It is messy and chaotic. It is life. God met Hagar in the middle of her pain and abandonment. God meets us amid our sorrow, pain, brokenness, and desert experience. Join us in this latest episode of ‘Hearing God’ as we unpack all these truths and how Hagar met and experienced God.

Episode Notes:

Background to Hagar:

  • Genesis 16 & 21:8-21
  • Hagar means alien, and she was an alien/foreigner in Sarah and Abraham’s household. She was an Egyptian slave.
  • God had promised Abraham he would be the father of a great nation, but as years went by, nothing was happening. It looked like God wasn’t coming through on His promise.
  • Genesis 16:1 Sarah, Abrahm’s wife, had borne him no children. Sarah was impatient and desperate. She had been pulled out of her comfort zone, traipsed all over the countryside with Abraham, followed her husband where he went, and obeyed him. Sarah said to Abram – take my slave Hagar and sleep with her. Hagar conceived.
  • Genesis 16:4 – Once Hagar was pregnant, she despised Sarah and looked with contempt at her mistress. Hagar wasn’t the innocent girl in this. She’s not spotless.
  • Verse 5 – Sarah is jealous, scared, and losing faith in God and His promise, so Sarah takes matters into her own hands and blames Abraham. Fear can cause us to react in ways we wouldn’t normally – jealousy, anger, etc.
  • Verse 6 – Abraham wipes his hands of it and doesn’t take responsibility. Spineless. Abraham says, “Sarah, you sort it out. It’s your problem.” So Sarah abuses/mistreats her. Interestingly, Sarah & Abraham never call her Hagar but ‘that Egyptian slave’. She was nameless to them.
  • Hagar flees and runs away to die.
  • Verse 7 – an angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert. Talks with her to find out what she is doing.
  • Verse 9 – The angel of the Lord tells her to return to her mistress and submit to her. God will bless her with descendants too numerous to count, but the baby will be a son and live in hostility toward all his brothers. It is interesting to note yet again that in Deuteronomy 23:15-16, the legal code God gave the Israelites regarding runaway slaves was that they shouldn’t be returned to their masters.
  • Verse 13 – first person to name God – El Roi – You are the God who sees me. I don’t know if I would have said that after being told my son would live in hostility toward all his brothers. But it was based on her experience.
  • Hagar’s son Ishmael (means God hears)
  • The next we read of Hagar is in Chapter 21, after Sarah gives birth to Isaac.
  • At the celebration of Isaac’s birth, on the day he was weaned, Sarah noticed Hagar mocking her. Sarah saw the threat that Ishmael was to her child Isaac. When does protection turn to jealousy? She told Abraham to send Hagar away.
  • Abraham was greatly distressed as Ishmael was his son. God said not to be distressed; both sons will have offspring as a nation.
  • Verse 14 – Abraham gave Hagar food and water and sent her and Ishmael away.
  • They wandered until the water was gone. Hagar put Ishmael under a tree, and she went off as she couldn’t watch him die.
  • Verse 17 – God heard her crying, said open your eyes. I’ve supplied a well of water for you both. They then lived in the desert.
  • This second time she was sent away, it was a permanent exile. Both times, an angel of the Lord meets her and saves her.
  • The irony of Hagar’s story is that it flips the power dynamics of the Israelites.
    • The Israelites were a threat to Pharoah once they increased in number. Hagar was a threat to her mistress once she gave birth to a son.
    • The Israelites suffered abuse at the hands of their Egyptian masters. Hagar, the Egyptian, suffered abuse at the hands of Sarah.
    • The Israelites escaped from bondage under the Egyptians. Hagar ran away from her cruel mistress.

First Principle: God sees you.

  • You are not overlooked.
  • Two-way conversation. Calls God – El Roi, the God who sees.

Second Principle: God wants to speak to us personally.

  • Like Hannah and Mary, God spoke to them personally and not through their husbands, saying they would have offspring and their child would be extraordinary and have a unique destiny.
  • The angel of the Lord spoke audibly twice.
  • Every person is important to God.

Third Principle: God meets us where we are.

  • God met Hagar in the middle of her pain and abandonment.
  • God meets us amid our sorrow and pain in our desert. Like God met Moses with the burning bush in the desert, God met Hagar.
  • Don’t try to short-circuit God or take matters into your own hands. Like we know better than God – not a good outcome!!
  • God will sustain, love, and rescue us.
  • Sometimes, we are so caught up in our circumstances that we miss God and His best for us.
  • Don’t try to fulfil God’s will in your way. Wait on God.
  • God wants to reveal solutions to us that we can’t see.

Summary:

  1. God sees you.
  2. God wants to speak to us personally.
  3. God meets us where we are.

Prophetic activation:

Turn your heart and thoughts to Father God and ask Him –

  • “God, where do I need You to come through in my life at the moment?”
  • “God, where am I feeling desperate?”
  • “God, where do I need to feel seen, heard, or known?”

Time Stamps:

[1:30] – Gary & Jane share briefly how they have heard God this week.

[5:13] – Background to the story of Hagar.

[11:49] – First Principle: God sees you.

[18:36] – Second Principle: God wants to speak to us personally.

[21:02] – Third Principle: God meets us where we are.

[27:31] – Recap the principles.

[28:07] – Prophetic activation.

[29:10] – Gary & Jane both share a prophetic word for a listener.

[31:05] – Gary prays for you.

Resources / Links Mentioned:

Bible Verses Mentioned:

  • Genesis 16
  • Genesis 21:8-21
  • Deuteronomy 23:15-16

Connect with Gary & Jane:

Support the show:

  • Please share this podcast with someone who would value hearing from God.
  • Follow and leave a rating + review on your favourite podcast listening app.
  • If God is leading your heart to donate or support the show in any way, please visit https://buymeacoffee/garyandjanM Thank you so much.
0 Comments

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *