The God Who Provides - Natalie McGehee
Hagar and the God Who Provides
Genesis 21:18-20
18 Get up! Help the boy up and hold him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.” 19 Then God enabled Hagar to see a well of water. She went over and filled the skin with water, and then gave the boy a drink. 20 God was with the boy as he grew. He lived in the wilderness and became an archer. Genesis 18-20
“Get up! Help the boy up and hold him by the hand”. .
Get up! Get moving! Help your child! Hold him by the hand! Or another way to translate this is “make strong his hand in yours”. Be strong and be courageous because the Lord is with you! Take your children’s hands strongly in yours and with the power of the Holy Spirit move out of the desert. Be the adult and do not let your children carry you. Don’t be detached from a distance, waiting for death, but become alive in the saving grace of Jesus Christ! Parenting is hard and we all need some God-given confidence in our grip!
When waiting for death, did Hagar remember God’s promise to greatly multiply her descendants through her son? In times of difficulties and stress, it is easy to forget God’s promises and His faithfulness? I pray that you know the promises that God has for you.
He will never leave you.
He loves you.
He will be gracious and merciful when you ask him for forgiveness.
He sent His Son to die for you.
“Then God enabled Hagar to see a well of water. She went over and filled the skin with water, and then gave the boy a drink.”
These verses give my heart a jump and thrill my soul. God enabled Hagar to see! He is not only a God who sees, but He is a God that can enable us to SEE! She saw a WELL of water. Not a skin, or a canteen or a puddle or a bowl or a cup, but a WELL. He didn’t just provide what they needed to survive, but provided what they needed to grow and flourish! An Overflow of provision!
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13 NIV
God provided more than they needed! Through the faithfulness of God, trust and hope built in Hagar. She got up. Make no mistake, sometimes just the act of getting up from a posture of defeat is a huge act of bravery and victory! Hagar filled the skin that had been empty and gave her son life-giving water. God provided for her so that she could provide for her son. Like the woman at the well in the gospel of John, I can imagine Hagar replying “Lord, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty”. In the gospel of John, Jesus met a woman at a well and in Genesis; God brought a well to a woman.
What must Ishmael have thought and seen during this drama? Did he feel shame and disgrace from being abandoned and pushed out of his father’s house and protection? Did he feel responsible? Did he fear death? Did he hear the angel of the Lord speaking to his mother? Did he see her “get up” and fill the water skin. I don’t know what he saw or heard. I don’t know if he was praying to God for rescue or crying with death coming quickly upon him. But I do know that
“God was with the boy as he grew.”
May you be empowered by the Holy Spirit to build up and encourage your children in the Lord. May you know God’s provision and protection for your family. I pray that you will be filled with the truth of the gospel and the love of the Lord, so that it OVERFLOWS to your children.
May it also be said of your children that God was with them as they grew!
Thank you Lord for being the God who sees, the God who hears, the God who provides. Help us to know these truths about you all the way down in our bones. Guide us Holy Spirit as we take our children’s hands strong in our own and teach them about their Heavenly Father. May your name be lifted high! We place our faith in You, hope in your promises and trust in your provision. We love you Lord and ask these things in the mighty, holy name of Jesus. Amen!