As the question goes, do you remember the last time that you shed tears? Did you cry when you were alone? Or maybe while telling of your troubles to your friend? All of us face troubles in their lives at some point of time or the other. No one can say that they are leading a trouble-free life. To some it may seem that life is nothing but a trouble! Jesus says “In this world you will have trouble but take heart I have overcome the world” (John 16:33)
So, Jesus asks us to “take heart”. How do we do that when we feel so dejected and think as if there is no way out of it? Let us look at an example from the Bible, about a woman named Hagar. She was a maidservant of a rich couple named Abraham and Sarai. She is always referred to as Sarai’s slave. So she was just a slave who had no identity on her own but was considered lowly among others. It is told in the Bible that she was ill-treated by her mistress and she ran away. (Genesis 16:6)
How often we feel the same way? We may not be someone worthy in front of other’s eyes. We may not be special in anyway but just another ordinary person, leading an insignificant life. We may feel that the troubles that we are facing are too much to bear and feel dejected because no one cares! But someone really cares so deeply for you, even though you may not know it. (I can see some of you smile as you know who that someone is – Yes, it is Jesus 🙂
We’ll see what happened to Hagar. God FOUND her (Gen 16:7) and asked “Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?” we can see God addressing her as “Hagar, servant of Sarai” so God knew all about who Hagar was and what she was going through right now and that she was running away from her mistress. But then, why did the all-knowing God ask Hagar where she was coming from and where she was going? (Need to stop and think about this.) One reason maybe to make her think what position she was in. When she was asked that question she answered that “I am running away from my mistress Sarai.” Running away from her – Ok. But running to – where? She just didn’t want to be there but she didn’t have any idea where she was going to!
Sometimes we just get fed up with our problems that we wish to run away somewhere, but where is that somewhere and what do we do when we reach that somewhere – we have no idea. We are clueless. Hagar was in such a situation – clueless. It was then that she was found by God. She did not go in search of him but He found her anyway! And that is all was needed.
So what did God say to her after that? You did a good thing by running away? – NO! God said, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her”Sounds strange? Even hard right? But there is a big difference when you read all that the LORD said to her,
“I will so increase your descendants that they will be too numerous to count… You are now with
child and you will have a son. You shall name him Ishmael, [Ishmael means God hears.] for the LORD has heard of your misery…” (Gen 16:10-12)
So with His command came a promise 🙂 Ishmael means “God hears”. He asked her to name her son that way so that every time she calls him, she’d remember “the God who hears””. What a great promise! He is the God who hears our miseries.
Now, She named the LORD as “You are the God who sees me, I have now seen the One who sees me” (Gen 16:13). When she thought that no one sees her cry or hears her misery or no one is concerned about sufferings she is going through – She came to see the LORD who sees her, who told her that He has indeed heard her misery. He found her when she was alone and lonely.
So great is the compassion of our Lord Jesus Christ and so unexplainable is His love for each one of us. No matter how insignificant we are in the eyes of the world, but in his eyes we are precious. He says, “… you are precious and honored in my sight and I love you…” (Isaiah 43:4) “I have called you by name, you are mine” (Isaiah 43:1) “I have loved you with an everlasting love, I have drawn you with loving kindness” (Jeremiah 31:3).
This knowledge of His love is enough for us! Jesus says, “My grace is sufficient for you” (2 Corinthians 12:9) His grace is sufficient to handle whatever situation that we are in. Hagar came to know the LORD who saw her and heard her and she went back in obedience to what the LORD said. Do you think that the situation would have changed? Maybe Sarai had a change of heart and treated her well? We don’t know about that but we do know that there was a change in Hagar’s heart – she had the assurance of God’s love for her and whatever God had promised her, she saw it coming true in her life. An encounter with God was all that was needed. Are you ready to meet with Jesus today? – A broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart He will not despise (Psalms 51:17).
If you thought that no one saw your silent tears,
that you hastily wiped off right after they touched your cheeks and
turned to face your friend with a slight smile in your face
that you found very painful to bring up – then you were wrong
there is One who saw it – “He is the LORD who sees”
If you thought that no one heard your cry of anguish,
that you quickly tried to stifle by closing your mouth with your hands
when you heard someone enter into the once empty restroom
that you ran to, to let out your feelings – then you were wrong
there is One who heard it – “He is the LORD who hears”
Thoughts: Hannah's Blog 
Leave a reply to georgia paul Cancel reply