Thursday, May 21, 2020

Hagar Submits to God (Gen. 16:7-14)


SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 07-21-2006

My Worship Time                                                      Focus:  Hagar Submits to God

Bible Reading & Meditation                         Reference:  Genesis 16:7-14

Message of the verse:  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 He said, ‘Hagar, Sarai’s maid, where have you come from and where are you going?’ And she said, ‘I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai.’  9 Then the angel of the LORD said to her, ‘Return to your mistress, and submit yourself to her authority.’  10 Moreover, the angel of the LORD said to her, ‘I will greatly multiply your descendants so that they will be too many to count.’  11 The angel of the LORD said to her further, ‘Behold, you are with child, And you will bear a son; And you shall call his name Ishmael, Because the LORD has given heed to your affliction.  12 ‘He will be a wild donkey of a man, His hand will be against everyone, And everyone’s hand will be against him; And he will live to the east of all his brothers.’  13 Then she called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, ‘You are a God who sees’; for she said, ‘Have I even remained alive here after seeing Him?’  14 Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi; behold, it is between Kadesh and Bered.”

            In these verses we see the beginning of the Arab nations, as Hagar would run away from Sarah and the Angel of the Lord would come down and visit her and tell her to return to Sarah, and that she would have a son.  Sarah was to name her son Ishmael, and he would be a wild donkey of a man and his descendents would live in the wilderness and they would not get along with their brothers, who would be the Jewish nation. 
This is the first time that the Angel of the Lord has come to earth and He is the pre-Incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ.  This shows the love and compassion of our Lord as He came down to see a run-away slave girl who was with child.  Hagar would return to Sarah and she would do this by faith in the Lord, faith that all that He told her would come to pass. 

            Ver. 14. Wherefore the well was called Beerlahairoi, &c.] That is, the fountain where the angel found her, Ge 16:7; this, from the appearance of God to her at it, was afterwards called by her and others by this name, which signifies "the well of him that liveth and seeth me"; that is, of the living and all seeing God, and who had taken a special care of her, and favoured her with a peculiar discovery of his love to her: or this may have respect to herself, and be rendered, "the well of her that liveth and seeth"; that had had a sight of God, and yet was alive; lived though she had seen him, and after she had seen him, and was still indulged with a sight of him. Aben Ezra says, the name of this well, at the time he lived, was called Zemum, he doubtless means Zemzem, a well near Mecca, which the Arabs say {z } is the well by which Hagar sat down with Ishmael, and where she was comforted by the angel, Ge 21:19:”  (John Gill).

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I can learn from this that it is not good to run away from my problems, because they will only get bigger.  I am to stay and trust the Lord who is bigger than any problem that I have, for the biggest problem that I had was being born a sinner who had no hope of salvation until His Spirit called me to His wonderful salvation.

The Word of God has been a challenge to my heart as I read and studied it this morning.

My Steps of Faith Today:  Not run away from the problem of IBS, but trust the Lord to give me wisdom and understanding on how to deal with it.  To trust the Lord to continue to teach contentment to me.


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