A Real Woman!
I like Hagar. I know she was a “sister-girl” who more than once got beside herself and showed out, but when the chips were down she knew how to ‘go in’ and seek the Lord. Hagar was a slave. She was under the bidding of her master, in this case her master was a mistress, Sarah, the wife of Abraham. Sarah could not conceive and being well past the time of having children she decided to have her slave bear a child for her. Imagine how Hagar must have felt; not only was she in bondage to Sarah, she had to carry, birth and then release her child to her difficult mistress.
Twice she went away from her mistress and both times she was met by the angel of the Lord in the desert. The second time she was found in the desert with little provision as her mistress had decided she would no longer allow Hagar’s son Ishmael to be a part of the clan of Abraham. Even though he was his son, Abraham went according to the wishes of his wife and sent Hagar and Ishmael to the desert. This time she was given a Word concerning her son and her response to the angel of the Lord who gave it was:
13 Thereafter, Hagar used another name to refer to the Lord, who had spoken to her. She said, “You are the God who sees me.”She also said, “Have I truly seen the One who sees me?” 14 So that well was named Beer-lahai-roi (which means “well of the Living One who sees me”). It can still be found between Kadesh and Bered. Genesis : 13-14 (NLT)
What a remarkable thing to happen to a slave. To be seen by the God of all Gods. To have that God give a Word to her that encouraged her to make a new life for her and her son. To consider that well of water that God provided for them to be so important that it was named, “the well of the Living One who sees me”.
I don’t know about you, but I surmise that this event with Hagar was not just a message for Hagar. Because it landed in the written holy word, it seems as if all women, everywhere, can render it a word for them. That no matter what their birth circumstances, no matter what their present condition, no matter how difficult their future appears to be, that there is One who sees them; One who will make provision for them: and One who knows the destiny of them and their children. It takes a real woman to appreciate and act on this message.
Maria