Today, we continue with Part 2 of The God Who Sees Me.
(Again, here are some sermon notes on the story of Hagar in Genesis: https://www.sermonnotebook.org/Hard_Cases/HC%2010%20-%20Genesis%2021_9-21.htm)
The next passage we will look at is Genesis 21:8-21 NCV:
“Isaac grew, and when he became old enough to eat food, Abraham gave a great feast. But Sarah saw Ishmael making fun of Isaac. (Ishmael was the son of Abraham by Hagar, Sarah’s Egyptian slave.) So Sarah said to Abraham, ‘Throw out this slave woman and her son. Her son should not inherit anything; my son Isaac should receive it all.’ (Voice of jealousy/comparison.) This troubled Abraham very much because Ishmael was also his son. But God said to Abraham, ‘Don’t be troubled about the boy and the slave woman. Do whatever Sarah tells you. The descendants, I promised you will be from Isaac. I will also make the descendants of Ishmael into a great nation because he is your son, too.’ (God took both his sons and still blessed them, even when it was not done in covenant.) Early the next morning Abraham took some food and a leather bag full of water. He gave them to Hagar and sent her away. Carrying these things and her son, Hagar went and wandered in the desert of Beersheba (well of promise). Later, when all the water was gone from the bag, Hagar put her son under a bush. Then she went away a short distance and sat down. She thought, ‘My son will die, and I cannot watch this happen.’ She sat there and began to cry. (Her thoughts brought in the dread of what she saw for her future. She is now in the wilderness again.) God heard the boy crying, and God’s angel called to Hagar from heaven. He said, ‘What is wrong, Hagar? Don’t be afraid! God has heard the boy crying there. Help him up and take him by the hand. I will make his descendants into a great nation.’ (Promises confirmed again.) Then God showed Hagar a well of water. So she went to the well and filled her bag with water and gave the boy a drink. God was with the boy as He grew up. Ishmael lived in the desert and became an archer. He lived in the Desert of Paran, and his mother found a wife for him in Egypt.”
Now, here in August of 2020, I am reading through Genesis in The Passion Translation and found this footnote:
Isaac was a man of the well. Isaac lived near Beer-Lahai-Roi, which means, “The Well of the Living One who sees me.” This is where Hagar once cried out for deliverance and God hears her. In a time of desperation Ishmael drank from this well of grace. It is the place where God sees our problems and provides a “well” of mercy and satisfaction. Isaac did not visit there; he lived there, making the all-seeing God is around of supply. He saw a realm where the Living One sees all things. It is a well of perpetual revelation and grace.
“It is the place where God sees our problems and provides a ‘well’ of mercy and satisfaction. It is a well of perpetual revelation and grace.” I was shook when I read this. My heart resonated with these truths. It made my heart swell, and if you didn’t know, your heart is a well as well. When you feel a swelling inside, it is your heart dam opening up—the dwelling place for the divines living space.
This may feel like an old story that is only history. But, I am here to tell you these stories are still resonating in the earth, because they are living, breathing, and having their being in every one of our beings as we choose to breathe them in again and again.
This passage and commentary is so rich with applications and wisdom for today’s times. This Covid-19 season has been challenging to say the least, and I know it has been hard to see any goodness in front of me, but the Word continues to ground me.
Whatever you need, it’s in the Good Book—you just wait and see. When you put yourself in the story lines, you will find the solutions to your daily lives.
I hope something here has brought you some cheer, and if so, take that cheer and give it away while smiling from ear to ear.
Love you my dears!
#GodSeesMe #MyMendedHeart #Inthesendingcomesthemending