Message
What Is the Matter?
Genesis 21:11-21
Key Verse 21:19
Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. So she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink.
Today we would like to think about how the Lord God enabled Hagar to feed Ishmael.
I. A mother's heart (11-16)
Let us read verses 11-13. In this passage we see this expression used, “It is through your son Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” This passage does not mean that Ishmael (and his descendants) are categorically excluded from God's plan of salvation. In fact, the opposite is true, for God has a plan to save all peoples on earth through faith in Jesus the Savior, as Acts 4:12 says, "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." Again it is through God's way of salvation that one can be saved into his kingdom. As far as man's way is concerned, it is unavailing. No matter how good it may seem, no human way or ways can ever save man from sin. God made this point clear, for Isaac who is symbolic of Jesus Christ came from God, whereas Ishmael came from Sarah. Ishmael was Sarah's idea, not God's idea. God's idea was Isaac. We see that God allowed Isaac to be born only when it was proven conclusively that was impossible for Abraham and Sarah to produce Isaac. But that was not the case with Ishmael. Out of impatience and unbelief Sarah calculated Abraham's biological capability to produce children, and as a result she urged Abraham to sleep with Hagar. Abraham complied and Ishmael came out. Thus Ishmael is the product of impatience and unbelief.
Look at verse 14a. "Early the next morning Abraham took some food and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar. He set them on her shoulders and then sent her off with the boy." This passage reminds us of God who drove Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden. When Adam and Eve sinned, God could no longer allow them to live in the Garden. They are like Abraham and Sarah compromising. Like Adam and Eve, Abraham and Sarah doubted God's love as well. Like Adam and Eve, Abraham and Sarah grew impatient. They went unbelieving. Thus Ishmael came out. God evicted Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden so they could repent, recover faith, and come back. Likewise God commanded Abraham to send away Ishmael and Hagar. Abraham obeyed. This indicates that each and every day we need to quickly repent of our sins - the sin of impatience and the sin of unbelief.
Look at v. 14b-16. "She went on her way and wandered in the desert of Beersheba. When the water in the skin was gone, she put the boy under one of the bushes. Then she went off and sat down nearby, about a bowshot away, for she thought, ‘I cannot watch the boy die.’ And as she sat there nearby, she began to sob."
This passage vividly describes the condition of fallen men. The expression, "she went on her way," is reminiscent of the way of all fallen men. Having lost faith in the Lord, they got kicked out of the Father's house, so they had to wander around in the world which is like a desert. Regarding the desert where Ishmael and Hagar wandered around, Moses said, "He led you through the vast and dreadful desert, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock." Indeed this world is like a vast and dreadful desert, a thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. And we see tons of Ishmaels and Hagars wandering around the desert-like lands all over the world - in Egypt, in Israel, in the west like the U.S., in the east like Mainland China, in CIS nations, in Africa, and in the Middle East.
These Ishmaels and Hagars remain cut off from God the source of life. They rely on the skin of water. The water of the skin soon runs out. So they helplessly sit down under the shade of bushes. So boys cry out and mothers sob. When we turn on the TV or read the newspapers, each and every day, we see people all over the world crying out.
Look at the passage again: "She went on her way and wandered in the desert of Beersheba. When the water in the skin was gone, she put the boy under one of the bushes. Then she went off and sat down nearby, about a bowshot away, for she thought, ‘I cannot watch the boy die.’ And as she sat there nearby, she began to sob." Here the word "she" is repeated six times. This repetition indicates that she takes the role of a leader, whereas the boy occupies the position of a follower (or sheep). According to the UBF terminology she plays the role of a shepherd or shepherdess, whereas the boy that of a sheep.
As a shepherd she did her best. In the desert of Beersheba there were no jobs. She had no means to support her child. The resources were limited. I am not sure how much water was in the skin. Maybe at most it held about one gallon. And it can run out quickly. When the water supply was gone she put the boy under one of the bushes. Then she went off and sat down nearby, for she thought, "I cannot watch the boy die." Objectively speaking, what she did for her boy did not amount to much. But what is important is that she was the closest person to the boy. All the while the boy was crying out, she was there next to the boy. And as the boy cried out she cried out too. This, in my opinion, is what a shepherd or shepherdess should do. As a shepherd or a missionary to the people living in the land of Ishmael what can we do? There is not much we can do. But at least like Hagar crying out aloud, so also we can cry out for them.
II. Faith in the Lord (17-21)
What makes a shepherd truly a shepherd is not just the heart of a mother but something else. A heart of a mother is good, but it is not enough. In addition to the heart of a mother, we need to have absolute faith in the Lord who provides for his children.
Look at verses 17-18. "God heard the boy crying" (not the mother sobbing). What does this expression tell us about God? It tells us that God hears not just the prayers of shepherds or missionaries, he hears more the prayer of the sheep. In God's eyes, all Ishmaels wandering in the desert lands are his children. So we must treat them as God’s children. When Jesus came he said the same thing in regard to the little ones: "See that you do not look down on one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven." This passage tells us that we need to look at our sheep in the mission field with God's eyes. They are none other than the children of God. Instead of demonizing them, we must remember that God has a greater interest in them than we do. He has a greater plan and vision for them than we do. For that vision, God himself comes up with the provisions necessary to fulfill the vision.
Now, let us think about the angel's instruction to Hagar. "Lift the boy up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation." This passage says that a shepherd or a missionary must have God's vision. By faith in God who has a glorious plan, we as shepherds for his flock must do what the angel of the Lord says: Lift the boy up and take him by the hand. Sheep are blind. They get easily distracted. They go side-tracked, go their own ways, and get lost. So a shepherd must take them by the hand, until they develop the sense of right and wrong, and grow mature enough to choose what is right over what is wrong. And we must do so with the vision that God will establish each person to be a great nation.
From a human stand point obeying the angel's instructions is not as easy as it seems. In fact, given the dire reality, the instruction itself strikes us as totally "unrealistic." The boy is going to starve to death. Due to dehydration he is about to die. And there seems to be no other way to keep the boy alive. And the life of Hagar itself hangs on the balance. Yet, the angel asks her to lift the boy and take him by the hand, for the Lord God is going to establish the boy into a great nation.
So, no matter how impossible the situation might seem, and regardless of how unrealistic the Lord's instruction may sound, still we need to obey what the angel of God says: “Lift the boy up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation."
I think the angel's instruction greatly encouraged Hagar. As she thought about the angel's instruction new hope arose. So not knowing what to expect next, she went over to the boy's side. She must have said something encouraging to the boy. Then the boy stopped crying. She lifted the boy up, and she took the boy by the hand. And she was ready to lead the boy to a green pasture.
What happened then? Look at verse 19. "Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. So she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink." The word "Then" refers us back to what the angel of the Lord asked her to do, that is, rebuking her saying, "What is the matter", and then exhorting her to stand up against the reality with the vision of God. In this way, the angel planted in her faith in the Lord. Faith arose in her. By faith she obeyed. Then the Lord God opened her eyes.
This observation reminds us of the work of faith recorded in Hebrew 11:1, "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." As this passage says, faith does one miraculous thing for a believer, that is, opening his eyes to see God's provision.
By the same token unbelief blinds one's eyes, whereas faith opens one's eyes. In our day to day life, we see the same principle working exactly as it is. Moses' parents in Egypt serve as a good example. Since Pharaoh issued a decree, many parents despaired. In unbelief, many must have thrown their boys into the Nile. Some parents even did not bother to have babies. But, Moses' parents were different. By faith they hid the baby. When they were at the end of their rope they put the baby in a basket. Then even as the basket was floating down the river, they let Miriam go watch. God blessed their act of faith; then they saw God's provision.
At this point I would like to ask everyone to read Genesis 22:13. "Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son." Pay attention to the word "saw." When did Abraham see the ram? Genesis 22:10-12 tell us that when Abraham perfected the acts of obedience, the Lord God showed him the ram. Some Bible scholars go even one step further in interpreting the situation, that is, the ram moved up to the thicket, step by step, all in synchronization with Abraham's footsteps of faith and obedience progressing, and the Lord God made the provision visible when Abraham completed the acts of obedience. So we have this to say: faith produces obedience, and obedience produces provision.
What did Hagar then do? Look at verse 19b again. "So she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink." Here the skin of water stands in contrast with the well of water. The well of water is symbolic of Jesus Christ, the source of the living water. As Jesus journeyed through the desert land, he met one thirsty Samaritan woman. Jesus offered her the living water, saying, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water." This passage teaches us that as shepherds we need pray for the sheep with the heart of a mother. In addition we need to serve them by faith in the Lord. In many ways people in the Middle East are thirsty for the living water. Let us pray then that we would have God's vision for them, the vision to make them into a great nation. With this faith let us pray to go to sheep's place, lift them up, take them by hand, and fill their needs with the Lord's provision so they can eat from Jesus the bread of life, and drink from the eternal well of the living water.
One word: What is the matter?