“Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. And she had an Egyptian maidservant whose name was Hagar. So Sarai said to Abram, “See now, the Lord has restrained me from bearing children. Please, go in to my maid; perhaps I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram heeded the voice of Sarai. Then Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar her maid, the Egyptian, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan. So he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress became despised in her eyes.”
~ Genesis 16:1-5
I personally think that, one Bible character we pay little attention to and I feel has so much we can learn from is “Hagar”. If you ask people randomly about Hagar, their description of this woman will sound like this…“That slave girl who is the reason there is constant war between the offspring of Abraham and the descendant of Ismael, that girl who almost made Abraham miss God’s promise of Isaac, that arrogant home wrecker who did not succeed- all thanks to God for an amazing husband like Abraham who did not allow a young girl take the place of his barren wife of many years, that ordinary Egyptian girl”. That is quite a lot of mean things to say about a person right? I quite agree.
Did you notice there was nothing good to say about Hagar from the above description? The beautiful thing however is that your opinion and mine is not as important as the opinion God has about this woman whose journey in life was full of pain, disappointment, rejection, helplessness, wanderings, hopelessness, being used and treated as a commodity all through the early stage of her life.
Hagar’s pregnancy was not what she asked for, she did not ask to be the mistress of another woman’s husband. She was simply chosen by her owner to produce what she (Sarah) was unable to produce at the time – a child. Hagar’s planned conception was all about her owner’s gain, considering that everything a slave owns belong to his or her master, including the children of a slave. (Exodus 21:4).
I understand that Hagar was at fault for despising Sarah the moment she knew she was pregnant. Due to Hagar’s ability to give Abraham what he had always desired- a child, she developed a false sense of belonging in her head that made her, though a servant try to feel more relevant in Abraham’s household than she really was.
Hagar saw herself as entitled just as the legal wife of Abraham. How silly of her to think that an affair that was simply for the purpose of procreation would earn her a place in the heart of a man whose love for his wife was so much he was not personally willing to take another wife just for the sake of having children. He had told Sarah several times ” I love you regardless of our childless state and I trust God to fufill His promise of fruitfulness and multiplication to us.” But then, Sarah could not understand how God was going to make her old body conceive and bring forth the child God had promised them. As far as Sarah was concerned, the promise God made was for “Abraham” to have a child and it did not necessarily have to be through her. This led to her persuading her beloved husband to allow the promise of God find fulfillment through her maidservant – Hagar. After all, Abraham and Hagar’s child will always belong to herself and Abraham.
Just like a lot of African mothers who do not necessarily have to say a word before you understand the message they are trying to pass across to you as a child, especially when they are not pleased with you, Sarah quietly but harshly dealt with Hagar, so much the young lady had to flee when life became unbearable for her. This lady ran away not knowing where she was going but simply needed to free herself from the harsh treatment of her owner (Sarah). All this happened while she was pregnant and she cared less that the act of running away could endanger the life of herself and her unborn child considering that they would later become homeless, hungry and have to suffer harsh weather conditions if they do not get help.
Even though a lot of us do not look at Hagar’s life through the lens of the suffering she went through (though not due to any mistake of hers), God saw through that lens and showed up for her when nobody was there to help or lead her in the way to go. She had messed up by disregarding the woman of the house and a lot of people must have concluded that it serves her right. That was however not the way God saw Hagar. He saw her through the lens of His mercy and compassion.
When the angel appeared to Hagar in Genesis 16:7-16, she was instructed to go back to her owner and remain her slave. This was a way of saying “do not go back feeling like a second wife or an entitled pregnant woman or rival, but go back and humble yourself as who you truly are to your owner.
Then she was promised a son with the name “Ishmael” because God had heard her cy for help. Our natural self would expect that Hagar suffered for disregarding her owner, trying to replace Sarah and then running away because she could not humble herself to apologize but God did not see her in that light. He simply saw a woman who was in distress and He came to her rescue.
I do not want to go into the discussion about the kind of descendants that came from Hagar but I am simply dwelling on the fact that her life and that of her son was spared because God came through for her. He stepped in to help her despite her flaws and short comings.
Hagar’s encounter with God brought about the birthing of the name “ The God who sees me” a name that came from a place of bearing the consequence of pride and arrogance, confusion, lack of direction, wrong doing, pain, hunger and thirst, homelessness and wandering.
Just like Hagar, God sees where you are coming from and where you are at the moment. Your desire to exit or escape whatever situation through migration , suicide or any other deliberate action that will harm you or make you feel better by running away from your troubler or trouble is known to Him. He sees you and He is saying “I can see you and I know you are running away from your pain, shame, reproach, mistakes, errors and shortcomings but I want you to stay and confront these things, as I have a beautiful story to tell about your life and running away will only disrupt My plan to write this beautiful story.”
You are not alone, even in what you consider to be the worst situation. It might look like no one sees you, feels your pain or care to walk through it with you but the truth is – God sees you, He is with you and He is walking through it all with you to lead you in the right way. All you have to do is to simply pay attention to His presence all around you and follow His lead, just as Hagar did, no matter how unappealing His instructions may seem or sound, He is the One who sees you and knows what is best for you.
Psalm 33:13, Romans 9:15-16, Ephesians 2:4-5, Jeremiah 29:11
Author Profile
- Temitope is the founder of thesoulmeal.com, an online platform that she shares with her God-given spiritual family and friends. She is a speaker, teacher and youth counselor. She is passionate about inspiring people to find their identity in Christ. Catch her interviewing inspiring leaders on Tongue of the Learned Podcast
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