I. Introduction (2 Timothy 2:3)
“Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.” - 2 Timothy 2:3
- What did you expect would happen when you started following Jesus?
- That He would take away all the problems?
- Never ask you to do hard things? Things that hurt?
- Well, to be honest, following Jesus, and living by faith sometimes hurts us
- Just remember, no matter what he asks of us, he makes it worth it!
- Let’s listen to what we learned from last week in Genesis Chapter 16:1-6
- Sounds like a nightmare - Hagar was used and abused - yet God was there, and made a lesson for us about Frustration, Faith and Faithfulness
- All God asks is, for us to do the hard things completely by faith, even though they are hard and hurt! But we do them because they are RIGHT
II. Review
A. Still No Baby (Genesis 16:1)
“Now Sarai Abram’s wife bare him no children: and she had an handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar.” - Genesis 16:1
B. Sarai Takes Control
- Rejects God’s way - waiting
- Comes up with a plan - her own plan - Another way to have children - through a servant woman named Hagar
C. What Could Go Wrong?
What DID Go Wrong:
- Hagar gets pregnant - the start of the Arab people, sworn enemies of Israel
- Hagar now sees herself as BETTER than Sarai, and begins to despise Sarai, and gets all of Abram’s attention, and rubs it in
- Sarai is hurt deeply - she is a complete failure now, and she has to live with this now!
D. Blame, Blame, Blame
- She blames God - “God is against me - won’t let me get pregnant - this is HIS fault”
- She blames Abram - “you let me bring Hagar into our bedroom”
- Then blames Hagar - “Oh YOU!…”
- But, she never blames herself - never takes responsibility for her choice - she did this
E. Abram Gives In to Sarai’s Anger
“But Abram said unto Sarai, Behold, thy maid is in thy hand; do to her as it pleaseth thee…” - Genesis 16:6
- He tells Sarai to do whatever you want to Hagar if it helps you handle your hurt
- Is THAT good advice?
F. Sarai Took Out Her Frustrations on Hagar
”…And when Sarai dealt hardly with her, she fled from her face.” - Genesis 16:6
- Sarai could not hurt God, or Abram, but she sure could take out her wrath on Hagar
- Sarai makes life for Hagar a living hell!
- Dealt hardly / harshly / cruelly / horribly with Hagar
- Constant emotional abuse, physical abuse - affliction
- The same word used to describe what God said would happen to Israel 400 years later when THEY become slaves in Egypt!
“And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years” - Genesis 15:13
- Hagar was probably given 10x her normal work; there was probably some punching, yelling at her, stressing her out
- Nothing you do when you are hurt will make you feel better - only hurts everyone
- She is in real danger and so is her unborn baby
- She is afraid of losing the baby, or her life at the hands of Sarai
- Hagar has no one to turn to - no one who could help her
- Millions of women live like this today
- Abram decided to NOT protect Hagar (a wife), nor her unborn baby - “turns a blind eye”
- This is awful! You might ask, WHY would God record such things?
- NOT because He is promoting it, but showing how WE really are - no sugar coating even the best of us
G. Hagar Flees (Genesis 16:6)
“…she fled from her face.” - Genesis 16:6
- All Hagar can do is run for her life! No one cared for her - at least so she thought!
- God is going to meet Hagar at the bottom, at a well, alone and without any hope
- Having authority over someone does not give anyone the right to abuse
- It is not always wrong to flee for your life when being hurt
- This chapter is how God wants us to respond to being hurt - even by people of faith
III. Message - The Rest of the Story (Genesis 16:7-16)
“And the angel of the LORD found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur.” - Genesis 16:7
A. The Angel of the Lord (Genesis 16:7)
- The first time this phrase “the angel of the LORD” appears in the Bible
- Not ‘an’ angel - a messenger, a created being that delivers messages from God
- But ‘the’ Angel - a specific “angel” - appearance of God Almighty
- Not an angel with wings, but an appearance of Jehovah God as a man
“And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I.” - Genesis 22:11
“And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush…” - Exodus 3:2
- This was the presence of God visibly - a Christophany - an appearance of Jesus Christ BEFORE He was born
- The God of Israel goes looking for a rejected, abused Gentile female slave
B. God Found Her (Genesis 16:7)
- God went after this pagan slave woman
- Just like God did in Genesis 3:8,9 - “Adam, where art thou?”
- God knows where you are - no matter how far down or away you are from Him
- God’s eye is on every sparrow, and He keeps count of every hair of your head
Where did God find her?
- She is sitting beside a small fountain of running water - a well
- THIS IS THE WOMAN AT THE WELL OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
- She is alone, lost - she didn’t know God, and did not know how to find home
- She was trying to get to the only place she knew - home back in Egypt
- And it was still 300 miles away! So, she is not out of danger!
C. God Knows Her Name (Genesis 16:8)
“And he said, Hagar, Sarai’s maid, whence camest thou? and whither wilt thou go? And she said, I flee from the face of my mistress Sarai.” - Genesis 16:8
- God knows her name - Hagar
- God knows you and me by NAME
- God knows her calling - Hagar was always supposed to be a maid/servant to Sarai still - not the wife of Abram
- Serving was God’s sovereign will for her at that time in her life
- God knows she is confused by her hurt
- God respects her enough to talk with her!
- He asks HER “Where have you come from, and where are you going?”
- God already knew, but wanted to get Hagar to THINK about what was happening
- The path you are on Hagar, away from the will of God, away from trusting God, WILL end in death in that wilderness
- God then tells her how to live and walk by faith in victory instead of victimhood
D. God Has Right Reactions to Hurts (Genesis 16:9)
“And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hands.” - Genesis 16:9
- These are general instructions to people who have been hurt, and even abused
- The devil works triple-time to ruin everything in our lives and plans
- The devil is the real enemy controlling the person who hurt you - we do not wrestle against flesh and blood
The world’s responses:
- Fight the other person, stand your ground, yell louder, don’t give in
- Get a lawyer, file for divorce
- There are times those are necessary, but they are supposed to be RARE, not the norm!
- Thankfully GOD can turn a person from Victim into MORE THAN A CONQUEROR
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? … Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.” - Romans 8:35-37
RETURN
“And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Return to thy mistress…” - Genesis 16:9
- Return to your mistress - to Sarai, the person who is in charge of your life
- Hagar ran into the wilderness to escape abuse, and yet, here is God sending her back!
- Go back to the person who hurt you
- Not as a person in power, but as a servant - that is the big step of humility
- Not as a servant of a person, but of the God you claim to trust and obey!
- God says humility and trust in God’s will must be our first response!
- Humility is the only way to fix people that are hurting
SUBMIT
“…and submit thyself under her hands.” - Genesis 16:9
- Show the deepest form of respect - the opposite of what Hagar had shown earlier
- This is the first time this word ‘submit’ appears in our Bible!
- Why is ‘submit’ such a hard word to hear? Because it is the exact opposite of what we feel like doing when hurt
- The only way to defeat the devil is to do the opposite of what HE would do
- Yield to the authority of someone who is flawed who has been human and hurt you
- THAT is love! AND that is what it means to live by FAITH and not feelings
- Take everything that happens patiently - believe God will work everything out
“Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.” - Romans 12:19
- Most Christians are tormented, not by the trauma of their past, but by their unwillingness to forgive and submit to imperfect people
Suffering wrong without fighting back is the norm for Christians
“And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.” - Luke 9:23
- It does not mean we don’t defend ourselves but that we don’t seek revenge
- God was not telling Hagar to do something He wasn’t going to do Himself 2,000 years later when He became a Man
- He submitted Himself to Jewish and Roman authorities
- Allowed Himself to be humiliated, for God’s honour, not His own
E. God Promises Blessings Ahead (Genesis 16:10-12)
“And the angel of the LORD said unto her, I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude. And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the LORD hath heard thy affliction. And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man’s hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.” - Genesis 16:10-12
- God will make it worthwhile to Hagar to return!
- God made incredible promises to this runaway, pagan slave
- “Great nations of people will come from your son” - speaking of the Arabs
Starting with a special son:
- Not the son that God promised Abram, but special anyways, unharmed by Sarai
- Ishmael - his birth will be proof that God hears - that is what Ishmael means
- God heard Hagar’s cries for help
Your son will be very wild - nobody’s slave:
“And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man’s hand against him…” - Genesis 16:12
“And God was with the lad; and he grew, and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer.” - Genesis 21:20
- Uncontrollable, living free in the wilderness, a warrior, an archer
- The Arab nations are well known as unconquerable throughout history
Do you want the God of Abram to be with you, Hagar?
- God made some amazing promises to Hagar
- But connects the promises to her returning and submission
- You and I need to trust the God of this Bible enough to humble OURSELVES and do what HE says do
“Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” - Philippians 3:13-14
- THAT is the formula for spiritual success in a world of hurts
F. Deep, Real Worship (Genesis 16:13-14)
“And she called the name of the LORD that spake unto her, Thou God seest me: for she said, Have I also here looked after him that seeth me? Wherefore the well was called Beerlahairoi…” - Genesis 16:13-14
- This is the best part - this is deep, real worship - when you are hurting
- God names the baby “I hear you”
- Hagar NAMES God - makes her worship personal
- El-Roi - “God noticed me” - “YOU noticed ME!” - “The God of Abram noticed me!”
- God is not just the God of one person, but of anyone who believes on Him and trusts Him
- She trusts God - enough to do what He said do
G. Hagar Returns to Sarai (Genesis 16:15-16)
“And Hagar bare Abram a son: and Abram called his son’s name, which Hagar bare, Ishmael. And Abram was fourscore and six years old, when Hagar bare Ishmael to Abram.” - Genesis 16:15-16
- Hagar was now going to live by obedient faith!
“And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” - Luke 6:46
Heart Changing:
- Imagine Sarai looking out to the horizon and seeing Hagar walking right back to her, and being SORRY for having acted proud and selfish
- In that moment, Sarai is humbled, to see someone she hurt, humbling herself first
- Hagar’s meek and quiet attitude in returning and submitting changed Sarai
- Sarai did not continue to abuse her after that
Her Faith was Honoured:
- Hagar is honoured in Abram’s home as a believer
- She is NOT an Israelite - she is a Gentile, unworthy, pagan - yet the mother of all the Arab nations knows the Lord Jehovah
- Abram and Sarai are still childless after 16 years of waiting - but that was okay!
IV. Conclusion - Dealing With Abuses
- God shows us REAL life problems, trauma, PTSD, and shows us His way through those things
What does God say to do when you are mistreated? Even by other Christians!
- Don’t keep reliving the hurts of the past - Hagar had to do this, and so did Sarai
- Don’t try and undo the past hurts - They happened, but they do not define you if you are a Christian. Jesus’ beatings and death did not define Him - His Resurrection did!
- Don’t try and understand the past - The entire Book of Job is a written record of Job asking WHY, and God responds in chapter 38, “You would not understand, so just trust me!”
- Don’t do what your heart says - We are submitted to God, not people, feelings, or culture
- Enduring suffering is part of a Christian’s life who follows Jesus - a life of FAITH
“For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake.” - Philippians 1:29
“Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” - 2 Timothy 3:12
- But there is a fellowship with God that is found ONLY in those times where YOU humble yourself, and hear His still, small voice, and obey it
- Those who hurt other people will answer to God one day
- Look at Jesus! Follow His lead!
“Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord… That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death.” - Philippians 3:8-10
“Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” - Philippians 2:5-8