Genesis 16:1-16 | Kathryn Alban

The first time watching we are all cheering for James Harrison right! An interception and 100 yard run is insane! But he could not have made this play if it wasn’t for the amazing offensive skills of his team around him. Let’s watch the first 40 sec again and this time, keep an eye on the team around Harrison protecting him.

The other team was not abel to even touch him till he reach the end zone because of the team fending the defensive players from the Cardinals.

In life sometimes at first it can appear that we are in this by ourselves. Whether we are making allstar plays like James Harrison or facing times that feel like defeat.

But the truth is that we have a God who is working on our behalf. Who is keeping attacks from taking us down. Who is working ALL things out according to HIS perfect will.

We have a God that loves us so much that he does not leave us alone.

In the story we will read today we will read about a God who sees. A God who despite human flaws holds true to his promises and Loves beyond measure.

Before we jump into it let me give you some context up till now...

God had brought Abram (Later to be Abraham, out of the city of Ur). Abraham was the man God chose to bring about his people Israel (the people God would set a part to be holy and try to be HIS people). During their journey with God, God promised Abraham and Sarai (his wife, later to be renamed Sarah) that He would make their descendants as numerous as the stars...

there was one problem.

Sarai was barren and old.

Sarai and Abraham waited for Gods promise of a child....and waited.....and waited

But still Sarai still was not with Child. So she grew impatient and this leads us to Genesis 16...

Genesis 16:1–3 NIV

Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar; so she said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.” Abram agreed to what Sarai said. So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife.

This is the first mistake we see in this story...

It is interesting how these great names of the bible of people that make such big mistakes.

HERE WE SEE SARAI TRYING TO BE JAMES HARRISON WITHOUT ANY OFFENSIVE TEAMMATES. 🏈 She is trying to bring about God’s promise by herself! 👩

It was not God who had told Sarai go ahead and give Abram another wife (which is something I would never understand...I would have to die before doing this) but different times, different times.

And in these times it was thought to be shameful to not have a child. It was very important in this culture to be able to pass along your blessing and inheritance to a child, having a lot of children often signified prosperity and heightened someones social status.

So Sarai, instead of waiting on God’s timing...takes matters into her own and hand and Abram marries the servant Hagar.

Genesis 16:4–6 NIV

He slept with Hagar, and she conceived. When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress. Then Sarai said to Abram, “You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my slave in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the Lord judge between you and me.” “Your slave is in your hands,” Abram said. “Do with her whatever you think best.” Then Sarai mistreated Hagar; so she fled from her.

Here are the next 3 mistakes

Abram listened to his wife instead of seeking God’s guidance. He is the head of the household and could have, probably should have been directing this situation more.

Hagar hold her blessing over Sarai....again it is seen to be more honorable to be able to conceive a child during this time. And, therefore shameful to be barren. Once Hagar gets pregnant she begins to look down on Sarai.

Sarai acts out of anger and pain treats Hagar with cruelty and causes pain to Hagar.

This scene is ironic because this was all Sarai’s doing...she grew impatient, she tried to control God’s timing, she caused this situation.

WHEN WE TAKE CONTROL OVER SITUATIONS THAT SHOULD BE UNDER GOD’S CONTROL IT CAUSES SUFFERING.

Suffering not only for ourselves but for others...

Sarai’s mistake led to Abrams mistake and led to Hagar’s mistake.

Sarai’s thought that she may be smarter than God, causes pain for her and Hagar.

Because of this mess Hagar flees...I am assuming that she must have felt it would be better to be in the wilderness than with the rathe of Sarai.

Genesis 16:7–10 ESV

The angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur. And he said, “Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?” She said, “I am fleeing from my mistress Sarai.” The angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress and submit to her.” The angel of the Lord also said to her, “I will surely multiply your offspring so that they cannot be numbered for multitude.”

I hope she didn’t tell this part to Sarai when she got back 😂 She would have been even more mad.

In Hagar’s pain, confusion, and loneliness ....God Found her.

There is a song by Jamie Grace and it includes the lyrics, “You may feel pain...but not as great as His name”.

Every time I hear those lyrics I have to stop and put it on repeat....There is pain in this life.

There is hardship.

There is evil.

BUT NOTHING CAN COMPARE TO THE GREAT NAME OF GOD ALMIGHTY.

Hagar here was over taken with grief. She was not perfect but there was no excuse for her to be driven out by God’s chosen people.

She must have felt so alone. Even the father of her child had just turned his back on her and allowed Sarai to mistreat her.

But God...

God keeps his promise...not just with Abram and Sarai but with Hagar (the servant girl). Because God sees.

He also promises Hagar that a great nation will come from her son, who she is to name Ishmael.

In his instruction for Hagar he says, “Go back and submit to Sarai”. Which, from what it sounds like, is not something Hagar was doing. Instead of respecting Sarai as the person who had given Hagar an opportunity to have a blessing of a child, she was throwing it in Sarai’s face. God says...Go back and show the respect that should have been there from the beginning.

Genesis 16:13–16 ESV

So she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, “You are a God of seeing,” for she said, “Truly here I have seen him who looks after me.” Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi; it lies between Kadesh and Bered. And Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram called the name of his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael. Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.

Illustration There is a mother who we have worked with. I won’t share her name but when she first came to Love INC...She was recently clean from drug addiction, had a teenage daughter, was homeless, had little friends, no support, and was lonely. She felt like there was little she could do to get out of her situation.

BUT God saw her.

God provided her with resources for temporary housing, He provided her with friends to support her, He provided her and her daughter with a Home church, where she accepted God as her Lord and Savior.

Life is still not easy but she has the strength of God who she knows sees and fights for her. She no long walks in despair but gives glory to God even in the challenges.

Hagar was in her society (a servant girl), and we see that she was not perfect...

BUT none of that mattered to God.

Just like the woman Love INC worked with....God saw Hagar in her suffering.

You know that this is the first instance in the bible of a person giving God a name?

A woman

Single Mother

Egyptian slave.

Hagar says, “I have seen the one who sees me”

El Roi.....The God who sees.

You know when I first read this story I always think. God saw Hagar’s despair and pain...which HE did.

but He also saw her as she was....imperfect. He saw her completely and loved her, and blessed her.

This God who sees was just not limited to Hagar,

you remember the other two characters in this story?

Yep Abraham and Sarah...God also saw them fully and kept his promise and blessing to them. Despite their flaws and in their pain...He saw

Genesis 21:1–3 ESV

The Lord visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did to Sarah as he had promised. And Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the time of which God had spoken to him. Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore him, Isaac.

If you know the scriptures we later see Isaac become the father of Jacob...who God gives the name Israel the name then passed to God’s entire people.

The name Israel is interpreted in two ways:

One who prevails with God

A man seeing God

Conclusion:

We have a. God who is not distant. He is at work in our lives and sees us.....fully.....and loves us.

1 John 4:9–10 ESV

In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

Where in your life do you feel alone?

Where do you feel overwhelmed

Earn an accredited degree from Redemption Seminary with Logos.