Post by ST on Mar 25, 2006 9:56:01 GMT -5
Donald Karnes - HAGAR
Genesis 21:17 - What aileth thee, Hagar? Genesis is a great book: the Book of Beginning of both good and evil, possibilities and problems. Basic truths of the whole Bible are there. Hagar had been obliged to leave that home, forced out without resources.
This boy had been her dream, but now was her disaster. The future looked bleak and broken. Desert sand and sorrow, straggle bushes and burning sun. The angel of God called to her out of heaven, What aileth thee, Hagar? What she answered was perhaps more scorching than the desert heat. She felt she had been wronged, used and terribly let down, discarded. Promises never kept, hopes shattered.
It's good to remember that God knows all about us: Who we are What we are What we have to put up with And we are so apt to think that we are forgotten. Fear not, God has heard the voice of the lad where he is. The empty water bottle, the weeping mother, a bowshot from her abandoned son under a desert shrub, was the end of a vain ambition.
There are some things that can never be. A chapter was finished. Quit looking in that direction. Look ahead, not back. The sooner we get away from the past the better. Forgetting the things that are behind; reaching forth to those things ahead.
Tales of woe and wrongs will fill many a book. Many relate their lot to all who will hear; weary people with their sufferings and evils endured.
Hagar had a case: she was asked to perform a service. Sarah devised the plan with her husband's consent. A son was born to Abram and Hagar. They had gone aside from God even when they supposed they were fulfilling His will. Then another son was born from Sarah and then Hagar and her son were exiled.
First they had used her, now abused her Any lawyer would have a sure case. It looked like their lives had been thoroughly wrecked. They deserved damages.
Many in similar situations feel wronged. In a wicked world, some seem to get the breaks and others the
binds. Things happen that we don't like, don't deserve.
It's useless to nurse a grief or grudge, brood inside, point a finger. The Lord is the only one who really cares, who will listen - even asking us to state our case , wanting to know what we think of the whole mess. Hope begins when we bring our case to Him.
Some things can never be, regardless of the case we make. True, Hagar was compromised and used. Impossible The sooner we get over it, the better. Stop crying over spilled milk.
Cease vain regrets. Turn our eyes in a new direction There's no turning back. Salvation is going ahead, onward and forward. God has listened to our complaint, now we must listen to His plans, His directions for us.
God was the God of Hagar and Ishmael as well as the God of Abram and Isaac. It's not easy to surrender ambitions. Hagar had counted on certain things; she felt she had earned them. We must accept His choice for us . Erase disgust and pessimism Stop being sour, it only makes one bitter .
There's not much market for sourness, lamenting, whining. God will isolate such for their good and the good of others. Otherwise the infection spreads. Lamentations 3: 5-9 - He hath builded against me.he has hedged me about, that I cannot get out; he hath enclosed my ways with hewn stone. Yes, God quarantines such until they are fit for circulation again. Ishmael needed this experience.
Hagar had done her best to spoil him, take his side, and assure him that he had vested rights. A
charming prince had become intoxicated with conceit.
Now Ishmael's world had collapsed, he felt failure; no future in sight But, God heard the voice of the lad . God cared for him when he had no interest or love for God. He was not going to die The end is rather the beginning. God spoke, Rise, lift up the lad and hold him in thine hand, for I will make him a great nation.
So, thank God for all the defeats and heartbreaks. They are meant for direction. The lad got a rough rocking , but God was shaking him up; not to destroy him, but to make a man of him, to stand on his own feet. God didn't treat him grudgingly: Make him a great nation
Read today's papers. It's there No book is more recent than the Bible Later than the last edition of the daily paper. We need to wait for God's answer. It will amaze us, exceed our hopes.
Abram and Isaac would have their tests too. Later, when taking his son to offer upon that lonely mount, God intervened for both. God evened the score Bitterness is an illusion. Each has sorrows and joys interwoven.
2 Corinthians 4:17 - For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a farmore exceeding and eternal weight of glory . God opened Hagar's eyes and she saw a well of water. She went and filled the bottle and gave the lad to drink. God was with the lad The water was there. She was so consumed with grief and injury she could only see sand, desert, death.
Nothing is as blinding as a sense of injustice It shuts out every asset and avenue of blessing: Let me not see the death of the child . Look, the well is there.
Disappointments are His appointments. Looking in the wrong direction: fill the water bottle and move on . Forward. God has planned the way - it may not be what we hoped or expected, but keep on going and one day we'll see it is the best .
Genesis 21:17 - What aileth thee, Hagar? Genesis is a great book: the Book of Beginning of both good and evil, possibilities and problems. Basic truths of the whole Bible are there. Hagar had been obliged to leave that home, forced out without resources.
This boy had been her dream, but now was her disaster. The future looked bleak and broken. Desert sand and sorrow, straggle bushes and burning sun. The angel of God called to her out of heaven, What aileth thee, Hagar? What she answered was perhaps more scorching than the desert heat. She felt she had been wronged, used and terribly let down, discarded. Promises never kept, hopes shattered.
It's good to remember that God knows all about us: Who we are What we are What we have to put up with And we are so apt to think that we are forgotten. Fear not, God has heard the voice of the lad where he is. The empty water bottle, the weeping mother, a bowshot from her abandoned son under a desert shrub, was the end of a vain ambition.
There are some things that can never be. A chapter was finished. Quit looking in that direction. Look ahead, not back. The sooner we get away from the past the better. Forgetting the things that are behind; reaching forth to those things ahead.
Tales of woe and wrongs will fill many a book. Many relate their lot to all who will hear; weary people with their sufferings and evils endured.
Hagar had a case: she was asked to perform a service. Sarah devised the plan with her husband's consent. A son was born to Abram and Hagar. They had gone aside from God even when they supposed they were fulfilling His will. Then another son was born from Sarah and then Hagar and her son were exiled.
First they had used her, now abused her Any lawyer would have a sure case. It looked like their lives had been thoroughly wrecked. They deserved damages.
Many in similar situations feel wronged. In a wicked world, some seem to get the breaks and others the
binds. Things happen that we don't like, don't deserve.
It's useless to nurse a grief or grudge, brood inside, point a finger. The Lord is the only one who really cares, who will listen - even asking us to state our case , wanting to know what we think of the whole mess. Hope begins when we bring our case to Him.
Some things can never be, regardless of the case we make. True, Hagar was compromised and used. Impossible The sooner we get over it, the better. Stop crying over spilled milk.
Cease vain regrets. Turn our eyes in a new direction There's no turning back. Salvation is going ahead, onward and forward. God has listened to our complaint, now we must listen to His plans, His directions for us.
God was the God of Hagar and Ishmael as well as the God of Abram and Isaac. It's not easy to surrender ambitions. Hagar had counted on certain things; she felt she had earned them. We must accept His choice for us . Erase disgust and pessimism Stop being sour, it only makes one bitter .
There's not much market for sourness, lamenting, whining. God will isolate such for their good and the good of others. Otherwise the infection spreads. Lamentations 3: 5-9 - He hath builded against me.he has hedged me about, that I cannot get out; he hath enclosed my ways with hewn stone. Yes, God quarantines such until they are fit for circulation again. Ishmael needed this experience.
Hagar had done her best to spoil him, take his side, and assure him that he had vested rights. A
charming prince had become intoxicated with conceit.
Now Ishmael's world had collapsed, he felt failure; no future in sight But, God heard the voice of the lad . God cared for him when he had no interest or love for God. He was not going to die The end is rather the beginning. God spoke, Rise, lift up the lad and hold him in thine hand, for I will make him a great nation.
So, thank God for all the defeats and heartbreaks. They are meant for direction. The lad got a rough rocking , but God was shaking him up; not to destroy him, but to make a man of him, to stand on his own feet. God didn't treat him grudgingly: Make him a great nation
Read today's papers. It's there No book is more recent than the Bible Later than the last edition of the daily paper. We need to wait for God's answer. It will amaze us, exceed our hopes.
Abram and Isaac would have their tests too. Later, when taking his son to offer upon that lonely mount, God intervened for both. God evened the score Bitterness is an illusion. Each has sorrows and joys interwoven.
2 Corinthians 4:17 - For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a farmore exceeding and eternal weight of glory . God opened Hagar's eyes and she saw a well of water. She went and filled the bottle and gave the lad to drink. God was with the lad The water was there. She was so consumed with grief and injury she could only see sand, desert, death.
Nothing is as blinding as a sense of injustice It shuts out every asset and avenue of blessing: Let me not see the death of the child . Look, the well is there.
Disappointments are His appointments. Looking in the wrong direction: fill the water bottle and move on . Forward. God has planned the way - it may not be what we hoped or expected, but keep on going and one day we'll see it is the best .