Daily devotion – lost in the wilderness
Gen 21:14 So Abraham rose early in the morning, and took bread and a skin of water; and putting it on her shoulder, he gave it and the boy to Hagar, and sent her away. Then she departed and wandered in the Wilderness of Beersheba. 15 And the water in the skin was used up, and she placed the boy under one of the shrubs. 16 Then she went and sat down across from him at a distance of about a bowshot; for she said to herself, “Let me not see the death of the boy.” So she sat opposite him, and lifted her voice and wept.
17 And God heard the voice of the lad. Then the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said to her, “What ails you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the lad where he is. 18 Arise, lift up the lad and hold him with your hand, for I will make him a great nation.”
19 Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. And she went and filled the skin with water, and gave the lad a drink. 20 So God was with the lad; and he grew and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer. 21 He dwelt in the Wilderness of Paran; and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.
God did not abandon Hagar and Ishmael, for he was the son of Abraham, God’s friend.
God would care for them because of His faithfulness to Abraham.
In some Sunday school books, they have Ishmael as small child at this time, when in fact he was a strapping teenager. Ishmael and Hagar got lost in the wilderness, their water ran out and they gave up in despair.
Hagar had forgotten the promises God had made to her some 16 years earlier when she first met the Lord in the wilderness – Genesis 16:7.
So often we too when in a trial of life fail to see the divine provisions God has made to us, and we forget the promises He has made to us.
We open our hands to receive what we think we need instead of asking Him to open our eyes to see what we already have!
The answer to the problem is close at hand, if only we have eyes to see.
Hagar is a clear picture of the needy multitudes in our world today: wandering, weary, thirsty, lost, blind, and giving up in despair.
Our mission is to tell them the good news that the water of life is available, and the well is not far away – John 4:10-14.
God is kind and gracious to all who call on Him, because of His beloved Son, Jesus Christ.