Surviving Your Wilderness

So Abraham got up early the next morning, prepared food for the journey and strapped a container of water to Hagar’s shoulders. He sent her away with their son, and she walked out into the wilderness of Beersheba, wandering aimlessly. When the water was gone, she left the boy in the shade of a bush. Then she went and sat down by herself about a hundred yards away. “I don’t want to watch the boy die,” she said, as she burst into tears. Then God heard the boy’s cries, and the angel of God called to Hagar from the sky. “Hagar, what’s wrong? Do not be afraid! God has heard the boy’s cries from the place where you laid him. Go to him and comfort him, for I will make a great nation from his descendants.” Then God opened Hagar’s eyes, and she saw a well. She immediately filled her water container and gave the boy a drink. Gen. 21:15-19

In the blink of an eye, Hagar and Ishmael lost the security of their home, the protection of family around them, and the comfort of routine, familiar surroundings and a sense of what the future held for them.

Abraham’s wife, Sarah, had, at long last, borne him a son, and now Sarah saw Ishmael as a threat to her boy Isaac, even though she’d been the one to insist that Abraham use her servant Hagar to try and have a son in the first place to end their childless state. By not waiting on God and trusting Him for His solution to childlessness – even though He’d promised a son -- she’d manipulated and done things her way, and now she had a situation on her hands that she didn’t like. So, she pushed Abraham to send Hagar and Ishmael away.

Abraham was grieved to do so, but God assured him He would take care of Hagar and Ishmael, so Abraham prepared supplies for them and sent them away.

For Hagar, it must have seemed akin to a death sentence – or a cancer diagnosis – her world was turned upside down. The Scripture above says, “She walked out into the wilderness … wandering aimlessly.”

Isn’t that how we feel when we’re hit with a catastrophic turn of events or traumatic pronouncement … like we’re heading into the wilderness? And, often, we wander aimlessly for a while. We don’t know where to go, what to do, who to listen to, so we’re all over the map … in our thinking, our actions, our decisions.

So, in a state of panic and confusion, Hagar uses up her resources and then runs out of hope. Nothing’s changing in her life. She doesn’t know what to do next or who to turn to. So she does what most of us do, she gives up. She doesn’t think she can take care of Ishmael, and she doesn’t want to watch him die, so she leaves him under a bush and goes a little ways away and bursts into tears. She’s devastated, depressed, despairing and desperate. And she feels totally alone.

God hears the boy’s cries, and the angel of the Lord speaks. In the Old Testament, the term angel of God or angel of the Lord is what’s called a theophany – it’s a pre-incarnate vision or image of Jesus.

And when He speaks, it’s like He can’t believe she feels alone or hasn’t called on Him, because He asks, almost in disbelief that she’s in this state, “What’s wrong, Hagar?” He follows that up with one of the things He tells humans over and over throughout Scripture, “Don’t be afraid.”

Like Hagar, we often allow fear – one of Satan’s greatest weapons against us – to overwhelm us. Fear steals away our hope, our faith, our time, our ability to think things through, to see things clearly, to remember who’s bigger than our situation and who can help. Fear robs us of life, joy, peace, and all the other things God has promised us.

So, then, the angel of God reminds Hagar of the things God has in mind for Ishmael and tells her to go and comfort him. Blinded by fear and despair, she’s been unable to see something nearby that can sustain them. So, God then opens her eyes – He removes the fear, removes the unbelief, removes the despair, removes the deception she’s been believing (that there is no hope and she and the boy might as well die) – and she sees the truth – there is a well. There is water. There is life. God is there. He will deliver and keep them.

Like Hagar, you may be feeling like you’re in the middle of an impossible situation, that nothing’s going to change in your life, everything’s hopeless, and you’re all alone. You’ve believed Satan’s lies and bought into fear. You’re wandering aimlessly and just want to give up. If so, right now, ask God for His help, His solutions, His promises, His leading, His presence. Ask God to open your eyes so you can see what He wants you to see, what He’s already provided for you. Just like with Hagar, Jesus is speaking to you, amazed that you haven’t already come to Him for rest, direction and whatever else you need. He is the living water; He is the source of life; He is Jehovah-Jireh, your provider. He’s saying to you, “What’s wrong? Don’t be afraid.”

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