Joel M Bradshaw

8And the child grew and was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. 9But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, laughing. 10So she said to Abraham, “Cast out this slave woman with her son, for the son of this slave woman shall not be heir with my son Isaac.” 11And the thing was very displeasing to Abraham on account of his son. 12But God said to Abraham, “Be not displeased because of the boy and because of your slave woman. Whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for through Isaac shall your offspring be named. 13And I will make a nation of the son of the slave woman also, because he is your offspring.” 14So Abraham rose early in the morning and took bread and a skin of water and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, along with the child, and sent her away. And she departed and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba.

15When the water in the skin was gone, she put the child under one of the bushes. 16Then she went and sat down opposite him a good way off, about the distance of a bowshot, for she said, “Let me not look on the death of the child.” And as she sat opposite him, she lifted up her voice and wept.17And God heard the voice of the boy, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What troubles you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. 18Up! Lift up the boy, and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make him into a great nation.” 19Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. And she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink. 20And God was with the boy, and he grew up. He lived in the wilderness and became an expert with the bow. 21He lived in the wilderness of Paran, and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.–Genesis 21

My wife and kids just left to go on a trip downstate to visit Grandma. And while I didn’t get the car gassed up, I got it emptied, loaded, and made sure the tires were at the appropriate air pressure levels. All 4 were needing air, of course. I did my best to send them on their way with their basic needs met. We give Abraham credit for that as well regarding Hagar and Ishmael. But I would argue barely. It appeared as if he did the bare minimum. Bread and a skin of water? What was he expecting would happen?

It’s possible that he was taking God at his word that he would take care of them. For God can’t make Ishmael into a nation if he dies as a child. Hagar had a moment of helplessness in the wilderness that breaks our hearts. I cannot even imagine what she was feeling deep in her soul. The rejection, fear, abandonment, even possibly anger, jealousy, and resentment. And God sent a message directly from Heaven to give comfort and hope.

God meets with us in the wilderness of our situations in life. His Word offers comfort for our souls. We may feel lonely, but we are never alone. We may feel hopeless, but we have hope in and through Jesus. We are grateful for the Bible and for the church. We get both direction and community. I praise the God who hears the most vulnerable and restores the hopeless. I am thankful for the comfort and hope God provides that I am ultimately helpless to have in my own power. Hagar once marveled the God who sees, and now she got to know the God who also hears. She could remind Ishmael as he grew that God heard his cries and comforted him in the wilderness.–JMB