God Who Sees Me

Well, please take your Bibles and open them up to Genesis chapter 16 this morning.

Genesis 16 · chapter mention

We've been walking through the book of Genesis.

If this is your first time with us or first time with us in a while,

we've come to chapter 16.

And it's a beautiful chapter of God's care for us.

And so when you found it, Genesis chapter 16,

Genesis 16 · chapter mention

let's stand in honor of the reading of God's Word.

If you are physically able, let's stand together.

Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children.

She had a female Egyptian servant whose name was Hagar.

And Sarai said to Abram,

Behold, now the Lord has prevented me from bearing children.

Go into my servant.

It may be that I shall obtain children by her.

And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.

So after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan,

Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her servant,

and gave her to Abram, her husband, as a wife.

And he went into Hagar, and she conceived.

And when she saw that she had conceived,

she looked with contempt on her mistress.

And Sarai said to Abram,

May the wrong done to me be on you.

I gave you my servant to your embrace.

And when she saw that she had conceived,

she looked on me with contempt.

May the Lord judge between you and me.

But Abram said to Sarai,

Behold, your servant is in your power.

Do to her as you please.

Then Sarai dealt harshly with her,

and she fled from her.

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?

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.

And the angel of the Lord said to her,

Behold, you are pregnant and shall bear a son.

You shall call his name Ishmael,

because the Lord has listened to your affliction.

He shall be a wild donkey of a man,

his hand against everyone,

and everyone's hand against him.

And he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen.

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 Be'er-le-hi-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 86 years old when Hagar bore Ishmael.

To Abram,

the grass withers and flower fades,

but the word of the Lord endures forever.

Father, we praise you for this passage,

this testimony of your care for us,

of your sight and your ears open

to those that are weak and discarded.

Lord, we pray that as we open up this text,

would you speak through the preaching of your word.

Give us ears to hear.

We pray in Christ's name.

Amen.

You may be seated.

This morning, I want to deal with a question

that I think we are all prone to ask from time to time,

which is this.

Does God care about me and my trouble?

Does God actually care about me and the issues that I'm going through?

Does God actually care about me in my distress?

And of course, we may know the answer to that intellectually,

but even still, from time to time,

we may not fully believe it.

And the lie that I think we're tempted to believe,

especially in times of trouble,

is that God does not care about me in my distress.

We saw last week with Abram,

that Abram wrestled with this delay over God's promise

to give him an heir,

and that delay, it led to doubt.

Well, this morning, we see that terrible chain of events continue on.

Delay leads to doubt.

Doubt leads to distress,

and distress often leads to really bad decisions.

You all know football is back, right?

Last Saturday was college football,

this week's NFL football.

Football is back in full swing.

It's that time of year.

We're not really much of a football family,

but I do know enough to know this,

that if you want the quarterback to make a mistake,

what do you need to do?

You need to put some pressure on him.

You need to cause him to be in a state of distress.

You need to bring the blitz,

put some pressure on,

and in that case,

if he's under enough distress,

well, maybe you get lucky,

and he will make a bad decision.

Distress often leads to poor decisions,

and of course, we know, don't we?

That little truth extends beyond football

and right into our daily life.

Distress often leads to poor decisions.

Spiritually speaking,

decisions to walk by the flesh

instead of by faith.

Decisions that are driven by a false belief

that God won't care for me,

and so I had better go and take care of myself.

And if you've ever felt this way,

then I have good news for you

from our passage this morning,

and it's this.

In your distress,

God sees you.

God hears you.

God knows you.

God cares for you.

God will do all that he's promised you

in Christ.

Christ.

So let's take a look at our passage this morning,

and what we're going to see

is two scenes of distress here.

Two scenes of distress.

The first is here with Abram and Sarai

in verses 1 through 6,

and then the second scene of distress

is here with Hagar

in the rest of the passage.

And first,

in this first scene with Abram and Sarai,

what we see is our temptation

in times of distress.

We see first,

in our distress,

we may doubt God's care for us.

In our distress,

we are tempted to doubt God's care for us.

This is the temptation that we face,

isn't it?

And when things are going well,

and we don't wrestle with this

quite as often, do we?

When we have what we think we need,

when we're happy,

man, God is good.

But when we don't have what we think we need,

or hear,

as is the case with Abram and Sarai,

when God seems slow

to fulfill His promise,

we can be tempted to think,

well, God doesn't really care about me.

God doesn't really know what I need.

God isn't going to do anything about this.

And so we can be tempted

to take matters into our own hands

and make sure we get what we think we need.

Look there with me to verse 1, chapter 16.

And right away,

we're reminded of the issue

facing Abram and Sarai.

God has promised an offspring to Abram,

that he reassured him last chapter,

chapter 15,

that Eleazar of Damascus

was not going to be the heir.

Rather, an offspring from his own flesh

was going to be his heir.

He promised this to Abram.

He reassures him of this.

He seals that promise with a covenant.

But the problem remains

that from a purely physical standpoint,

from a purely physical perspective,

that promise is not possible, is it?

Verse 1 reminds us,

Sarai, Abram's wife,

had borne him no children.

And we know the reason why

is because she is barren.

She cannot have children physically.

And on top of that,

you see verse 3,

it has been 10 years

since God first called Abram

to go into the land of Canaan.

Just think about that.

10 years is a long time, isn't it?

And my oldest son

is almost 10 years old,

which means it's been

a little over 10 years

since we first saw that pregnancy test

and found out,

oh man, we're having a kid.

Right?

Could you imagine

waiting from that announcement

of a coming child

to 10 years later

and still no child?

That's a long time.

10 years living in Canaan,

still no offspring.

And of course,

over those 10 years,

guess what happened

with Abram and Sarai?

They are now 10 years older,

aren't they?

And they were already

old for childbearing standards.

Right?

Not old.

Old for childbearing standards.

He was 75 years old

when God called him

to the land of Canaan,

which now, quick math,

would mean he is 85 years old.

And by the end of chapter 16,

you look at verse 16,

it says he's now 86 years old

when Hagar bore him Ishmael.

We get these little ticks

on the clock, don't we?

Tick, tick, tick.

These little indicators

that time is passing by.

They're not getting any younger

and still no offspring.

From a purely physical standpoint,

this promise is getting more

and more and more impossible

by the day.

And ask yourself,

why would God do this?

Why would he put Abram

Abram and Sarai

through this excruciating process

of just waiting

and waiting

and waiting

and waiting?

Ask yourself,

why in the world

would God choose

an old pagan man

and an old pagan wife

and a barren one at that

and then wait

until they're older

to bring about

the promised child?

There can only be one reason.

Do you know what it is?

God wants to make it

absolutely clear

to anyone,

to everyone who will hear of it,

that this child

is the work of God alone

and no one else.

There is no physical way

that this could happen.

God wants to make

absolutely certain

there is no way

that anybody could attribute

this birth to anything

other than a work of God.

God will get the glory.

Here's the point.

God's promises

by design

cannot be achieved

by human effort.

I'll say that again.

By design,

God's promises

cannot be achieved

by human effort.

But unfortunately,

Sarai,

like many of us,

she has to learn this

the hard way,

doesn't she?

She comes up

with this bright idea.

Verse 1 says,

Sarai,

she had no child,

but what did she have?

She had a female servant

whose name was Hagar.

Sarai comes up

with this plan

and says to Abram,

behold,

now the Lord

has prevented me

from bearing children

and so go into my servant

that it may be

that I shall obtain

children by her.

And what does Abram do?

Abram listened

to the voice of Sarai,

his wife.

And so,

after 10 years

of living in Canaan,

Sarai,

Abram's wife,

took Hagar,

her servant,

gave her to Abram.

Abram went into Hagar

and guess what?

She conceives a child.

Do you see this chain

of events happening here?

And clearly,

Sarai is distressed.

Why?

Because she has not yet

received a child.

This thing that she

so desperately wants.

There's been this delay.

She's now 75 years old.

She's 10 years younger

than Abram.

And that maternal instinct

is kicking in full gear.

She wants that baby.

And she knows full well

the promise that God's

made to Abram,

doesn't she?

And she's been waiting

on this too.

She's waiting on the fulfillment

of the promise as well.

But there's this delay.

10 years of waiting.

So that delay

leads to doubt.

Does God really

actually care about me?

Does God

really know

my needs?

Will God

actually do

what He's promised

to do?

Look what she says

in verse 2.

It's subtle.

Look what she says.

The Lord

has prevented me

from bearing

children.

The Lord

has kept

this from me

which

as people who believe

in the sovereignty

of God

in light of God's

sovereignty

she's not wrong

is she?

This is true.

The Lord

has in fact

prevented her

from bearing

children

but

there is a

right way

and a wrong way

to think about

our trials

in light

of God's

sovereignty.

The right way

would sound

something like this.

God is

delaying

His promise.

She's not wrong.

God is delaying

His promise.

God has not

yet permitted

me to have a child.

And the response

of faith

would say

God I trust

you

even though

I wish it

were happening

today.

God I trust

you in your

goodness

and your

complete control

over my

situation.

I trust you

to work this

out according

to your

plan,

your will,

your ways.

That's faith.

The wrong way

is what Sarai

does here.

God has

kept this

from me.

God is

holding out

on me.

God is

withholding

good from

me.

He is

harming

me

by withholding

a good

thing

from me

and I'm

done

waiting

on it.

You see

that lack

of faith

that causes

distress.

So she

makes the

decision

to go

and get

that child

by any

means

necessary.

Take

Hagar

my servant

go have

a child

with her

then I'll

have my

child

you'll

have

your

promise

we'll

all be

happy

right?

Church

how often

do we

make

decisions

in exactly

the same

way?

we see

something

that we

want

and it

seems

even like

something

that maybe

God would

want us

to have

I mean

why shouldn't

I have

a spouse?

Why shouldn't

I have

a child?

Why shouldn't

I have

a job

that pays

well

and makes

the ends

mean?

Why shouldn't

I have

a house

to live

in?

Why shouldn't

I have

this good

blessing

that why

wouldn't

God want

me to

have

this?

And I

want to

be clear

of course

we have

no promise

from God

that any

of us

should have

these things

we have

no promise

like Abram

and Sarai

have here

but the

question is

even so

how do

we respond

when God

doesn't give

us what

we want?

how do

we respond

when God

doesn't give

it when

we want

it?

Are we

willing to

wait on

him by

faith or

do we

just go

out and

get it

by the

flesh by

any means

necessary?

You know

it's interesting

that there

is nothing

wrong with

Sarai's

approach

either culturally

or legally

at the

time.

Sarai's

plan to

go and

hand over

her servant

to her

husband

and get

an heir

by that

way.

That was

totally fine

as far as

cultural standards

go in her

day.

But we

should

recognize

of course

that just

because something

is culturally

and legally

permissible

does not

mean that it

is permissible

in the eyes

of God.

God's

methods

his means

of blessing

are just

as important

if not more

important than

the actual

blessing

itself.

I'll tell you

something you

already know.

Most people

want their

income to

grow.

Amen?

Right?

Am I

wrong about

that?

Many if

not most

women want

their families

to grow.

Most pastors

want their

churches to

grow.

We want

to see

the blessing

but the

point that we

ought to learn

here is that

God's people

they don't just

chase the

blessing any

way that they

can get them

by any means

available.

We are called

to walk by

faith and

obedience to

the Lord

and to follow

his ways

and his

methods

his means

of achieving

blessing

not the

ways of the

world around

us.

Sarai

doubts

God's

care for

her

and so

she takes

matters

into her

own

hands.

But of

course it's

not just

Sarai is

it?

Abram is at

fault here too

isn't he?

Now think about

what Abram's

doing here.

Abram too

he's walking

by flesh

and not by

faith.

And just

think about

how crazy

that is

in light of

what we

saw last

week.

I mean

like five

seconds ago

God just

did this

incredible

display of

reassuring

Abram of

his faithfulness

he walked

through the

slaughtered

carcasses

and promised

Abram

I will do

exactly what

I promised

and here

five seconds

over

Abram

forgets.

He has

this tremendous

lapse of

faith he

goes right

back to the

default settings

and he walks

by the

flesh.

How can I

go get

this blessing

rather than

walking by

faith?

Did you

notice echoes

of Adam

here?

Did you

notice this?

Because you

have listened

to the voice

of your

wife Adam

Abram

just like

Adam

just passively

sits back

and watches

his wife

in distress

walking by

the flesh

and he does

nothing about

it.

Abram

should have

stepped up

and said

something like

Sarai I

know it's

hard

Sarai I

know that

we've been

waiting

Sarai I

know that

you desperately

want a

child

Sarai I

know you're

not getting

any younger

maybe you

shouldn't have

said that

but you're

still beautiful

but we are

not going to

do it this

way

we are

going to

trust in

the promises

of God

by faith

that's what

this family

is going

to do

men

this is what

leadership

looks like

husbands

you are

called

to remind

your wives

often

of God's

care for

you and

your family

that God

knows you

that God

sees you

that God

knows your

needs

that God

is watching

over you

that God

is sovereignly

in control

of you

and your

family

and that

you are

called to

walk by

faith in

him

husbands

you are

called to

lead your

home

in the

joy

and the

freedom

and the

peace

of that

truth

Abram

and Sarai

instead

they go

through this

cycle

delay

leads to

doubt

doubt

leads to

distress

distress

leads to

this

decision

to walk

by flesh

and not

by

faith

and look

at the

result

actually

initial returns

are pretty

good

aren't

they

the plan

works

Hagar

gets

pregnant

and then

they all

live happily

ever after

right

wrong

this starts

to look

like a

soap opera

doesn't

it

everything

starts

to blow

up

everything

starts

to crumble

apart

everybody's

coming

after

everybody

verse

four

when

Hagar

saw

she had

conceived

she's

hating

on

Sarai

verse

five

Sarai

is

blaming

Abram

verse

six

Abram

just

passively

kicks

it

back

to

Sarai

you

deal

with

it

everything

is

broken

everything

is

falling

apart

you

see

the

issue

don't

you

worldly

ways

lead

to

worldly

problems

the

ways

of the

flesh

get

you

the

problems

of

the

flesh

solutions

in

the

flesh

lead

to

more

problems

in

the

flesh

doubting

God's

care

for

us

always

ends

in

disaster

and I

just

wish

we

could

learn

this

lesson

but

like

Abram

we

are

so

quick

to

forget

aren't

we

we

might

get

it

for

like

five

seconds

maybe

we

read

our

Bibles

we

pray

we

come

to

church

we're

reminded

yes

God

is

faithful

yes

God

is

good

yes

God

knows

yes

God

cares

yes

God

sees

and

then

Bible

shut

walk

out

the

door

we

go

out

it's

Monday

morning

we

haven't

had

our

coffee

yet

and

right

away

we're

back to

our

default

settings

aren't

we

we're

thinking

in the

flesh

let this

be a

reminder

for us

church

when we

make

plans

in the

flesh

be

careful

because

they

might

just

work

out

Sarai

got

her

child

but as

we'll

see

all she

did

was trade

one

kind

of

heart

for

another

didn't

she

it is

not

easy

waiting

on

the

Lord

is

it

it

is

not

easy

trusting

him

by

faith

but

man

she

got

some

hard

stuff

coming

with

Ishmael

so we

see

in our

distress

we

sometimes

are

tempted

to

doubt

God's

care

for

us

but

thankfully

!

second

point

this

morning

in this

second

scene

of

distress

we see

the

good

news

second

in

our

distress

God

demonstrates

his

care

for

us

Sarai

and

Abram

were

distressed

because

they

didn't

have

a

child

yet

but

now

Hagar

is

distressed

because

of

Sarai

Hagar

is

collateral

in this

battle

here

she

caught

some

friendly

fire

Sarai

is

harsh

with

her

she

has

been

used

as

a

means

to

somebody

else

is

in

she

is

treated

poorly

and

so

she

flees

she

gets

out

of

there

she

runs

away

and

nobody

there

wants

me

and

nobody

there

is

for

me

nobody

there

loves

me

nobody

there

sees

me

hears

me

cares

for

me

verse

seven

tells

us

there

is

someone

who

sees

her

the

angel

of the

Lord

found

her

by a

spring

of

water

in

the

wilderness

spring

on

the way

to shore

this is the

first time

that we've

seen

the

angel

of the

Lord

and we

will

see him

again

but I think

it's worth

asking at

this point

who in the

world

is this

because it

seems like it is

more than just an

ordinary

angel

angel

are

created

beings

they're

servants

of the

Lord

Hebrews

says

that

they're

they're

ministering

spirits

sent out

for the

sake of

those

who are

to

inherit

salvation

but

this

particular

being

the

angel

of the

Lord

he

carries

a little

bit

more

weight

a little

bit

more

significance

than

just

an

ordinary

angel

doesn't

he

if you

look

it's

clear

that

the

angel

of

the

Lord

is

the

!

speaking

to

Hagar

verse

8

says

the

angel

of

the

Lord

speaks

to

her

verse

9

he

speaks

to

her

verse

10

he

speaks

to

her

verse

11

he

speaks

to

her

but

then

look

at

verse

13

who

did she

say

spoke

to

her

says

the

Lord

spoke

to

her

very

interesting

isn't

it

and

in

verse

13

as

Hagar

sees

the

angel

of

the

Lord

she

doesn't

say

that

she

saw

God's

angel

what

does

she

say

I

have

seen

him

who

looks

after

me

I've

seen

the

Lord

later

on

we'll

see

that

the

angel

of

the

Lord

he

carries

the

same

authority

as

the

Lord

himself

he

he

speaks

and

he

stops

Abram

from

sacrificing

Isaac

chapter

22

the

angel

of

the

Lord

appears

to

Moses

in

the

burning

bush

and

speaks

and

commissions

Moses

who

is

he

the

Bible

doesn't

exactly

say

but

I think

does

say

enough

to

lead

me

to

believe

that

this

is

a

visible

physical

manifestation

of

God

himself

this

is

the

Lord

other

people

people

who are

smarter

than me

go a

step

further

than

that

and

say

well

this

is

the

second

person

of

the

Trinity

this

is

the

son

of

God

incarnate

this

is

the

pre

incarnate

Christ

here

appearing

I

won't

go

that

far

people

smarter

than

me

do

people

like

John

Calvin

people

like

Treg

Hallman

would

make

that

argument

what we

can say

I think

with

certainty

is that

this

is a

visible

manifestation

of the

Lord

what we

call a

theopany

God

shows

up

here

in

Hagar's

moment

of need

God

shows

up

and

look at

what he

does

three

things

he

does

he

pursues

he

prescribes

and he

promises

the

Lord

himself

pursues

a

castaway

think about

that

God

almighty

sovereign

king

of the

universe

ruler

of heaven

and earth

creator

of all

things

God

who is

transcendent

and above

all

and greater

than all

stoops

down

to pursue

a servant

who is

Hagar

that the

Lord should

think of

her

and come

to her

and speak

to her

and condescend

to her

and appear

to her

in a way

that can be

touched

and seen

and heard

and understood

who is

Hagar

Hagar's

cast off

she's

rejected

she was

hated

she was

used

and tossed

out

with the

garbage

what

obligation

does the

Lord have

to speak

with her

none

she's not

going to

be the

mother

of the

line

of

promise

and yet

God

goes out

of the

way

to pursue

her

he seeks

her out

personally

individually

and church

we are

seeing God's

heart on

display here

in this

passage

some people

try to make

this divide

between the

God of the

Old Testament

he's so angry

and mean

and cruel

and then

Jesus comes

and he makes

up for it

in the New

Testament

man have

they never

read this

passage

God's

love

for the

weak

and the

broken

and the

hurting

and the

discarded

is on

display

here

God

comes to

a rejected

woman

in the

desert

and he

stoops

down low

to speak

to her

he seeks

her out

much like

he did

with Adam

and Eve

in the

garden

as they

hid

themselves

Adam

where

are

you

so here

with Hagar

who's a

victim

not of her

own sin

but of

somebody

else's

sin

here he

seeks

her out

Hagar

servant

servant

of Sarai

where

have

you

come

from

where

are

you

going

and she

answers

honestly

I'm

running

away

from my

mistress

Sarai

and so

the Lord

prescribes

her

a task

he gives

her a

command

here

verse 9

the angel

of the Lord

commands her

said to her

go

back

return to

your mistress

and submit

to her

I know

what happened

Hagar

but I'm

commanding you

to go

back

and not

with an

attitude

either

I'm

commanding

you

to go

back

and to

submit

to the

one

who

was

harsh

with

you

love

your

enemies

how

hard

is

this

but then

he makes

her

a promise

and one

that sounds

I think

remarkably

similar

to the

one

that he

promised

to

Abram

although

they're

not

the

same

promise

verse 10

I will

surely

multiply

your

offspring

so that

they cannot

be numbered

for multitude

and the

angel of

the Lord

said to

her

behold

you are

pregnant

and shall

bear a

son

you shall

call his

name

Ishmael

because the

Lord has

listened

to your

affliction

and he

he promises

the future

of Ishmael

in verse 12