Genesis 21:8-21
The child grew, and was weaned; and Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, playing with her son Isaac. So she said to Abraham, ‘Cast out this slave woman with her son; for the son of this slave woman shall not inherit along with my son Isaac.’ The matter was very distressing to Abraham on account of his son. But God said to Abraham, ‘Do not be distressed because of the boy and because of your slave woman; whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for it is through Isaac that offspring shall be named after you. As for the son of the slave woman, I will make a nation of him also, because he is your offspring.’ So Abraham rose early in the morning, and took bread and a skin of water, and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, along with the child, and sent her away. And she departed, and wandered about in the wilderness of Beer-sheba.
When the water in the skin was gone, she cast the child under one of the bushes. Then she went and sat down opposite him a good way off, about the distance of a bowshot; for she said, ‘Do not let me look on the death of the child.’ And as she sat opposite him, she lifted up her voice and wept. And God heard the voice of the boy; and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven, and said to her, ‘What troubles you, Hagar? Do not be afraid; for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. Come, lift up the boy and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make a great nation of him.’ Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. She went, and filled the skin with water, and gave the boy a drink.
God was with the boy, and he grew up; he lived in the wilderness, and became an expert with the bow. He lived in the wilderness of Paran; and his mother got a wife for him from the land of Egypt.
Reflection
Just when Hagar felt all was lost, God came into her life and showed her a different path. Hagar must have felt rejected and cast to the side, no longer a part of God's plan, no longer in God's hands. But even in the depths of her despair and loneliness, when all seemed used up and gone, God heard Hagar's cry and sent an angel to lead and guide her and open her eyes to the goodness of the well of water and new life.
Like Hagar, when we feel lost and without cause and when we feel the despair of loneliness and cry to God, we must spend that time in waiting. The waiting and the silence and the faith and hope that God will hear and be with us to lead and guide us through our most trying moments. We wait for God to point us to that life giving well of water that he has graciously given us in the promise of our baptism.
And we grow... we grow in the life God has given us and in the place God has taken us. Yes, we grow as God leads and guides us in our lives.
Song
Lord, I long for your presence... always.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFlgIk7CXbs
Prayer
Lord, I am your outcast. I am not of the Chosen race. Yet you come to me and you listen to me and you walk with me just the same. Lead and guide me this day. Lead me even in the midst of my sin and the sin of this world that I may do your will and follow in your way... today... tomorrow... and forever. --- Amen
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