Gtcotr/ss011523
This morning we are going to continue with the story we began last week recorded in the Book of Genesis, chapter 16. As you may recall, Abraham was about 85 years old and his wife, Sarah, who was 75 was barren. Abraham was promised an heir from his own offspring to inherit the promises and the land God had given him.
In light of the promises of God, Abraham and Sarah, mostly Sarah as the account affirms, decided to take matters into their own hands instead of waiting on God to do what only He should do. Sarah asked Abraham to take her Egyptian maid, Hagar, and have a child by her. Abraham readily agreed.
Genesis 16 says that when Hagar became pregnant by Abraham, she became insolent and rude towards Sarah. Perhaps she felt she had the upper hand now or maybe it was hormones, we don’t know. However we do know that Sarah felt despised and offended by Hagar and complained to Abraham.
Abraham told Sarah, “She’s your handmaid, do with her whatever you want to.” So Sarah made it hard on Hagar and it ended up Hagar ran away into the wilderness going South, heading towards Egypt.
I’ve been in that desert south of Beersheba a few times and there is nothing there but sand and wilderness. Just like you’d imagine, it is a really hot and barren place in certain times of the year and a cold and barren place the rest of the time. It is a desert wilderness.
Hagar walked along the trail that led from water source to water source, which are some great distances apart from each other in most cases. She ended up at a certain spring of water near Kadesh in the wilderness of Shur.
Hagar was pregnant by Abraham and all alone in the desert. She was no doubt in danger and had no clear direction. You see, Leaving something does not equal going to something. Leaving in and of itself gives us no direction … going does.
If all you have is leaving on your mind, you may need to start thinking bigger. Life is about going somewhere.
Just like the children of Israel coming out of bondage. They weren’t just leaving Egypt; they were going to the promise land. Those who could not connect with the promise land were always tempted to go back to slavery.
When Sarah dealt harshly with Hagar’s disrespectful attitude towards her, Hagar ran away.
Genesis 16 NKJV
7 ¶ Now the Angel of the LORD
found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to
Shur.
8 And He said, “Hagar,
Sarai’s maid, where have you come from, and where are you going?” She said, “I
am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai.”
9 The Angel of the LORD said
to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit yourself under her hand.”
10 ¶ Then the Angel of the LORD said to her, “I will multiply your descendants exceedingly, so that they shall not be counted for multitude.”
13 Then she called the name
of the LORD who spoke to her, You-Are-the-God-Who-Sees; for she said, “Have I
also here seen Him who sees me?”
14 Therefore the well was called Beer Lahai Roi; observe, it is between Kadesh and Bered.
The well of the God who sees me is also the place where I see Him and hear His will for my life.
Wouldn’t it be great if there was a place where you could go and see Him who sees you and hear His will for your life? Well there is …
53 years after Hagar named that well, Beer Lahai Roi, we find Isaac lonely and alone, seeking the will of God for his life. Where do we find him? He is at the well of the God who sees me … he is hoping to hear God for his future.
Genesis 24 NKJV
62 ¶ Now Isaac came from the
way of Beer Lahai Roi, for he dwelt in the South.
63 And Isaac went out to
meditate in the field in the evening; and he lifted his eyes and looked, and
there, the camels were coming.
64 Then Rebekah lifted her
eyes, and when she saw Isaac she dismounted from her camel;
66 And the servant told Isaac
all the things that he had done.
67 Then Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent; and he took Rebekah and she became his wife, and he loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.
Verse 63 says Isaac went out to meditate. God was getting Isaac ready for what He already had ready for Isaac.
What is meditation … I mean in real terms?
Meditation
is having a conversation with yourself.
·
Meditating
on God’s Word is having a conversation with yourself about God’s Word.
· Meditating on God’s will is having a conversation with yourself about God’s will.
Hagar found the will of God in this place as she was considering what in the world was she going to do. No doubt she was having a conversation with herself. But it wasn’t until she saw the God who saw her, and included His message in the conversation that she turned around and obeyed Him.
We can ill afford to leave God’s word out of the conversations we have with ourselves.
Joshua 1: 8 “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.
The place of meditation, the place where you see the God who sees you is such an important place that Isaac ended up wanting to live there the rest of his life.
Genesis 25:11 ¶ And it came
to pass, after the death of Abraham, that God blessed his son Isaac. And Isaac
dwelt at Beer Lahai Roi.
Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly
There
is a place where you can see the God who sees you.
1.
Make
an appointment to have a conversation with yourself.
2.
And
decide where you’re going in life?
