The Lord Heard Their Cries

Scripture For The Day 

 May 2, 2023

"The Lord Heard Their Cries" 

Yesterday, I shared about Hagar, the servant of Sarai who ran away and encountered The Lord. and called Him El Roi- Hebrew for The God Who sees me. Genesis 16:13 I love this name of God. At times when we feel forgotten or feel like no one sees us we can feel secure in knowing that God sees us. He is aware of our struggles and hurts. He understands our tears. El Roi.

Soon, Hagar had her son and named him Ishmael as The Lord had told her to. Fourteen years pass and Sarah gives birth to Isaac. Not long after Isaac was weaned, Sarah saw Ishmael taunting Isaac and she went to Abraham about it. She was angry. “Get rid of that slave woman and her son, Abraham for I will not allow her son to have any part of my son’s inheritance” Reluctantly, Abraham sends Hagar and his firstborn son packing. He provided them with supplies and turned them away into the desert. Poor Hagar. She had been used and abused and mistreated through this whole situation to honestly no fault of her own. Sarah was jealous and hateful. She wouldn’t trust God’s timing and then got angry when things became too complicated.  

 Brokenhearted Hagar and her son wandered in the desert until the supplies ran out.  She didn’t know what to do. She had her son sit under a bush in the shade and then walked a few steps away from him in order to watch him die. Now, contrary to all the pictures you have seen that depict this story, Ishmael was not a baby. Remember Isaac wasn’t born until 14 years after Ishmael was born and this incident didn’t occur until Isaac was weaned. Ishmael would have been a strapping teenage boy. The point is that both of them were near death from wandering the desert without food or water and Hagar goes off to pray. She had already experienced God once years before so she began to cry out to Him- Genesis 21:17. As she wept, The Lord called out to her from heaven with words that comforted her. “Lift the boy up and take him by the hand for I will make him a great nation.” Then God opened her eyes to see a well of water. God saved them, gave them Hope, and led them in the right direction. verse 20 tells us that God was with Ishmael as he grew up in the desert. But because of this sinful tryst between Sarah, Abraham, and Hagar, the boys grew up to hate each other and their descendants let that hatred grow. Generation after generation have been enemies and much bloodshed has resulted from this hatred.  Through Ishmael, the Muslim faith began. Sarah's impatience, jealousy, and disbelief resulted in so much pain. There are always consequences for our sinful behavior. 



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