The God Who Sees

Good morning. My name is Matthew Capone and I'm one of the pastors here at Cheyenne Mountain Presbyterian Church and it's my joy to bring God's word to you today.

A special welcome if you're new or visiting with us. We're glad that you're here and we're glad that you're here not because we're trying to fill seats, but because we're following Jesus together as one community.

And as we follow Jesus together, we've become convinced that there's no one so good. They don't need God's grace and no one so bad that they can't have it, which is why we come back week after week to hear what God has to say to us in his word.

This morning, we're continuing our series in Genesis. You'll remember that Genesis tells two stories. It tells the story of the origin of the world.

That's in Genesis chapters 1 through 11. And then in chapters 11 through 50 to the end, it tells us the origin story of God's people of Israel, beginning with Abraham.

Genesis 1 · chapter mention

We are focused in on chapters 11 through 25 because we're looking at Abraham's story and we're doing that for two reasons.

First, it's preparing us to go back into our series in the book of Romans, where we will pick up in Romans chapter 4, which is about Abraham.

Romans 4 · chapter mention

And second, it allows us to answer this question. What does it look like to follow God in faith?

I told you last week when we were in Genesis chapter 15 that we were in one of the most important passages in Scripture.

Genesis 15 · chapter mention

This week, Genesis 16, we're in one of the most painful and tender passages of Scripture.

Painful because of the way that humans act.

Tender because of the way that God acts.

As we come to this story in chapter 16, we all know the appeal, the temptation of a quick fix.

We know what it's like to wish that things would happen faster.

We grow tired of waiting for our lives and for circumstances to change.

And so we know the temptation that in the heat of life, we're tempted to choose our way instead of God's way.

We're tempted to go the fast way instead of waiting for God to act.

This passage we're going to see, Abraham and Sarah face the very same temptation, that very same struggle.

They have been waiting, unable to have children.

Remember, we found that out at the end of chapter 11 at the very beginning.

What's the first thing we found out about Sarah?

She is unable to have kids.

And then chapter 12, there's this great promise.

God comes to Abraham and says, look, you're going to be the father of this great nation.

The promise is then repeated at the end of chapter 13.

Last week, chapter 15, remember, Abraham asks God, hey, by the way, what about my heir?

You made this great promise.

I still don't have a son.

And God says, don't worry.

Your descendants will be as many as the stars.

And so there's this anxiety, this ache, this impatience as Abraham is caught between the gap,

the gap between God's promises for the future and his current reality.

And so as we come to this passage, Genesis 16 this morning, we're asking this question.

What happens when we do things our way instead of God's way?

What happens when we do things our way instead of God's way?

With that, I invite you to turn with me to Genesis chapter 16.

Genesis 16 · chapter mention

If you're new to the Bible, this is the very first book, so it'll be easy for you to find.

You can turn in your Bible.

You can turn in your worship guide.

You can turn on your phone.

No matter where you turn, remember that this is God's word.

And Proverbs chapter 30, verse 5 tells us,

Proverbs 30:5

every word of God proves true.

He is a shield to those who take refuge in him.

And so that's why we read now Genesis chapter 16.

Genesis 16 · chapter mention

Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had born 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 10 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 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.

Verse 7.

The angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness,

the spring on the way to shore.

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.

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 Bir Lahai Roy.

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 Abraham.

I invite you to pray with me

as we come to this portion of God's word.

Our Father in heaven,

we praise you and thank you this morning

that you are a God of seeing.

That you see us

in the midst of our struggles and trials and sin,

and that you haven't given up on us,

but instead you've given us your word,

and even more than that,

you've given us your son.

And so we ask that you would help us again this morning,

that you would open up your word to us,

that we would see it clearly,

that we would grow in our knowledge and love for you,

our obedience to you,

that we would see Jesus Christ

as more and more beautiful.

And we ask all of these things

in the mighty name of Jesus Christ.

Amen.

We live in a world of quick fixes.

We know that not just from others,

but from ourselves.

But the tragic reality is

often our quick fixes make the problem much, much worse.

You may be lonely and decide that to solve that,

you're going to go onto social media for a little bit,

but researchers tell us

that actually makes us more lonely.

We live in a culture of radical diets,

and so you may think,

I'm going to lose weight really fast,

I'm going to go on a crash diet

by eating almost nothing.

Well, what happens?

You do lose weight fast,

and then your body goes into starvation mode,

and your metabolism plummets,

and suddenly your problem is much worse than before.

Kids, you know this as well.

You get poison ivy, right?

And it itches so bad.

And so you think,

well, I'll solve this problem.

I'll scratch it.

What does that do?

Makes it much, much worse.

My journey as a homeowner

could be described in this way,

hiring professionals

to come in and redo and replace

what previous homeowners thought they could accomplish.

A quick fix is what Sarah does in this passage.

We find out in verse three

that she has been waiting for a long time.

She has, in fact, been waiting for 10 full years,

and she has decided it is time to wait no more.

God has promised her,

promised Abram that great nations will come from him,

and yet not only do they not have great nations,

they don't have a single child.

She blames God in verses two and three,

and this is true in a sense.

It is true that God has prevented her from having kids.

What she doesn't say is the other half of the story

that God has promised.

Right?

She knows that she doesn't have a child.

What she forgets is that she can hold on to his promise

that he is going to come and answer.

And so in the midst of that tension,

in the midst of her ache and anxiety and impatience,

Sarah takes things into her own hands,

fails to trust God.

This plan that she concocts,

and the words that are used actually echo Genesis chapter three.

If you're familiar with the book of Genesis,

you know that chapter three is when Adam and Eve

rebel against God by eating the forbidden fruit.

Here, verse three, we're told she takes Hagar

and gives Hagar to her husband.

Genesis chapter three,

Eve takes the forbidden fruit,

gives it to her husband.

Here, verse two,

Abram listened to the voice of Sarah.

Genesis chapter three,

God comes to confront Adam and Eve,

and what does he say to Adam?

You listen to the voice of your wife.

And so the narrator is telling us,

look, when Abraham and Sarah do this,

they are reenacting Genesis three all over again.

They are failing to trust God's word all over again.

And so the results are predictable here.

We ignore God's ways.

It does not fix our problems.

It makes them much, much worse.

It makes them worse in two ways.

First, we hurt ourselves.

Notice what happens in verses five and six.

Sarah gets exactly what she wants.

What she's asked for comes true.

And what's her response?

She is filled with rage.

She's livid with Abraham for going along with her plan.

Her shame and her frustration are actually worse

than they were before.

She now has this daily reminder that Hagar is able.

She is unable, right?

She has this raw anger in verses five through six,

which reminds us,

it's when our plans are thwarted

that we really get to know ourselves.

It's our emotions that tell the truth.

When we're angry or sad,

we get to find out what's really important to us.

Not only is she filled with rage,

the narrator here makes it clear to us

her plan did not work.

It worked in one sense.

It works in the sense that Hagar does,

in fact, become pregnant.

It fails in another.

Look with me at verse two.

The plan here is,

I shall obtain children by her.

The goal is that Sarai has a kid.

Now go to the end of the chapter.

Verse 15,

Abram called the name of his son,

whom Hagar bore.

Verse 16,

Abram was 86 years old when Hagar bore.

In other words,

this is not Sarai's child.

The plan in an ultimate sense has not worked.

Hagar's gonna bear a child for me?

No.

Hagar is going to bear a child for Hagar.

It's not just Sarai who hurts himself.

Abram also hurts himself.

What does Abram want?

He wants what any husband wants,

peace.

Fortunately,

he wants peace at any cost, right?

And so instead of getting peace,

he gets the opposite.

He gets his wife cursing and yelling at him.

As we look at verses five through six,

we can say on the one hand,

Sarai's anger is irrational, right?

On the other hand,

it's justified.

It's irrational in the sense

that she actually asked for this.

It's irrational that Abram

did exactly what she said.

It's justified in another sense.

Abram should have known better.

What is God saying when he says,

hey, Abram, you listened to your wife?

He's saying,

you should have been leading your family.

She's saying this to him,

why did you let me do that?

You should have known

that I wasn't thinking straight, right?

You knew I was overcome

with my own pain and shame.

Shame.

Why didn't you stop it?

You chose the easy way

rather than the right way.

Unfortunately,

we don't just hurt ourselves.

We also hurt others.

Hagar ends up

as the collateral damage

of this passage.

Verse six,

she is driven out.

Abram says,

look, your servant's in your power,

so he's continuing

to try to have peace.

Do to her as you please.

Then Sarai dealt harshly with her

and she fled from her.

Notice before that moment,

the way that Abram and Sarai

speak about Hagar.

This is gonna become important

in a moment.

They are unable

to refer to her by name.

Verse two,

a female Egyptian servant.

Sorry,

verse two,

go to my servant.

Verse five,

my servant.

Verse six,

your servant.

When it comes to Abram and Sarai,

Hagar has no name.

When we do things our way

and not God's way,

we end up using

and dehumanizing

the people around us.

God's laws,

what we're seeing here,

are not arbitrary.

They come out

of his fatherly care

that he wants

only for us

what is best.

And so Sarai and Abraham

choose to learn that

the hard way.

Sarai loses her servant.

Abram loses his peace.

Hagar loses her home.

everyone loses.

Now it'd be easy

for us at this point

to throw them

under the bus

for what's happened here.

The reality is

that what Hagar

happens to her here

is actually

a common cultural practice.

In the ancient Near East,

if you can't have a kid

and you're wealthy enough

to have a servant,

this is the accepted wisdom.

This is the way

of the world.

This is just

what you do,

right?

If you have enough money,

if you have enough resources,

why not?

Just like Sarai,

we are tempted

to do things our way

rather than God's way

in the midst

of our own impatience

and pain.

Sarai has a hard time

waiting 10 years.

In our culture,

we have a hard time

waiting 10 days,

if not 10 minutes.

Sarai and Abraham

knew nothing

of two-day prime delivery.

We, in fact,

want the most efficient way,

right?

We want things

to be fast

and practical.

We want to have

justice now.

And so instead

of waiting on God

to act,

we do it ourselves

through our gossip.

We see riots

more and more

across our country

as people believe

it is up to us

and only us

to make things right.

You may be married

and you've seen

the dreams

of what you thought

your marriage

would be shattered.

and instead

of doing

the hard work

of rebuilding,

you bury yourself

in kids

or work.

Maybe you're single

and you want

desperately

to be married

and you're tired

of waiting.

And so you decide,

you know what I'm going

to do?

I'm going to date

someone

who does not share

my deepest

commitments

and values.

because being

with someone

is better

than no one,

right?

God has not

brought me

someone who

believes in him.

I will find

a Hagar.

Of course,

the problem

is this.

There are more,

there's more

than one way

to be lonely.

One of those

is worse

than the other.

Parents,

temptation,

right?

like Abram

is to want

peace

and comfort.

And so you decide,

you know,

I'm not going

to discipline

my kids.

Of course,

if you don't

discipline now,

things will be

much,

much worse

later.

We always

constantly

face this

temptation,

the temptation

to do things

the fast way

rather than

to wait

for God.

Amen.

Where do we

get the power

though?

Where do we

get the power

to do things

God's way

and not our

way?

To find that out,

we're going to

have to move

away from

Abram and

Sarai.

They're negative

examples for us

and we have to

turn to Hagar.

Hagar here in

this passage

is the one

person who

is willing

to trust

God.

God.

It's not the

heroes of the

faith who

help us here.

It's an

unexpected

character.

It's the

Egyptian slave

woman.

She's the one

who shows us

what it looks

like to trust

God.

In verse 6,

she flees.

In verse 7,

we find out

she's near the

border of Egypt

which makes

sense, right?

Remember,

she's an

Egyptian woman.

Of course,

she is fleeing

to head back

home.

It's possible

that she

became part

of Abram

and Sarai's

family back

when they

were in

Egypt.

Remember,

at the end

of chapter

12.

She's on

the return.

She's going

back to her

home.

Verse 7,

this angel

of the Lord

meets her.

There's a

debate over

the angel.

People ask

questions like,

is the angel

God?

Is the angel

a representative

of God?

I'm just

going to make

it really

simple for

us.

Whatever

the angel

sees,

God

sees.

Whatever

angel

says,

God

says.

Whether

it's God,

whether it's

pre-incarnate

Christ,

whether it's

an angel,

those things

are true,

okay?

Abram and

Sarai have

had a hard

call to

wait.

That's why

Sarai accuses

God.

Verses 2 and

3,

you haven't

given me a

child.

Hagar

Hagar

also receives

a hard

call.

Verse 9,

the angel

of the

Lord said

to her,

return to

your

mistress

and

submit

to her.

Return to

the woman

who won't

call you

by your

name.

Return

to the

house of

dysfunction

and shame

and anxiety.

return.

It will

not be

a quick

fix.

Return

and just

wait.

Return

to Sarai

who's a

hard

mistress.

Return

to a

place

where

you have

a child

but no

power.

What

does

Hagar

do?

She

takes

God

at his

word

and she

goes

back.

We know

that because

in verses

15 and

16 it

tells us

she bore

Abram

a son.

What is

it that's

different

about

Hagar?

Why is

she able

to trust

God

and return?

It's

for one

reason

and one

reason

only.

God

and his

overwhelming

grace.

Remember

I told

you this

passage is

painful

and tender.

It's

painful

because of

human

failing.

It's

tender

because of

God's

mercy.

Verse

seven.

The

angel of

the

Lord

found

her.

Hagar

is not

looking

for God

but God

is looking

for

Hagar.

Verse

eight.

God

addresses

her

by

name.

Hagar

servant

of Sarai

where have

you come

from

and where

are you

going?

this is

the only

time

in the

entirety

of

ancient

Near

Eastern

literature

that a

God

addresses

a woman

by name.

I'm going

to say

that again.

This is

the only

time

in ancient

Near

Eastern

literature

that a

God

addresses

a woman

by

name.

Remember

what Abram

and Sarai

did.

They

couldn't

say

Hagar's

name.

They

could

only

say

servant.

And

the reason

is this

that names

are

reserved

for people

of great

power

and influence

and here

God

comes to

this

Egyptian

woman

who has

no

power

no

influence

is

pregnant

and

stuck

in the

desert.

sees

her

not

as a

servant

but as

a daughter

in need

of help.

Verse 8

he doesn't

just call

her by

name

he gives

her

dignity.

He

engages

her

in

conversation

something

Abram

and Sarai

never

did.

Where

have

you

come

from

and

where

are

you

going?

Hagar

is no

longer

a

one

way

recipient

of

commands

and

orders

she

is a

person

to be

loved

and

engaged.

God

cares

for those

who have

no

power

and no

influence

and he

calls by

name

those

who

others

will

not

name.

God

does

give

her

to

return

because

the

God

who

tells

her

to

return

shows

her

that

he

cares

for

the

powerless

and

the

downtrodden.

God

doesn't

just give

her

dignity

here

though

although

he

does

do

that

he

also

gives

her

great

hope.

Verse

10

we have

some

practical

promises

here

I

will

surely

multiply

your

offspring

so that

they

cannot

be

numbered

for

multitude.

It's

not just

that God

knows

Hagar's

name

it's

that now

Hagar

has a

future.

It's

not all

lost

it's

not all

in vain

no

she's

going to

return

and wait

for God

to do

what he

has

said

he

will

do.

It's

not a

dead

end

it's

a

future

with

many

children.

None

of this

by the

way

goes

over

Hagar's

head.

Verse

13

she

called

the name

of the

Lord

who

spoke

to

her

you

are

a

God

of

seeing.

Truly

here

I

have

seen

him

who

looks

after

me.

Brothers

and

sisters

when

we

know

and

believe

that

God

looks

after

us

we

can

wait

as

long

as

we

need

for

him

to

fulfill

his

promise.

I

have

seen

him

who

looks

after

me.

Verse

15

she

goes

back.

She

goes

back

because

God

has

given

her

dignity

and

given

her

a

future.

Of

course

it's

going to

be

normal

life

right?

We

have

this

great

mountaintop

moment

and

it's

also

not

the

end

of

Hagar's

struggles.

Her

problems

aren't

all

solved.

Her

relationship

with

Sarai

will

still

be

strained.

In

fact,

if you

stick

with

us

for

a

couple

more

chapters,

you're

going to

see

that

things

for

Hagar

get

worse.

But

she's

no

longer

alone.

And

that

is

enough.

Christian,

the

Lord

calls

you

by

name

as

well.

When

people

look at

you,

they

may

see

all

sorts

of

things

first.

They

may

look

at

you

and

see

your

wealth

or

your

poverty.

They

may

see

your

power

or

your

lack

of

power.

They

may

see

your

status

or

your

health

or

your

unhealth.

The

Lord

sees

you

as

his

children.

He

sees

you

as

his

people.

And

I

don't

just

say

that

as a

sentimental

thing.

I

say

it

because

it's

true.

And

I

know

it's

true

because

our

Lord

Jesus

says

these

things

in

the

Gospels.

Luke

Luke 10 · chapter mention

chapter

10

rejoice

that

your

names

are

written

in

heaven.

John

John 10 · chapter mention

chapter

10

I

am

the

good

shepherd.

I

know

my

own

and

my

own

know

me.

He

doesn't

see

first

your

stereotypes

or your

failures.

Doesn't

see you

first

as a

soldier

or a

civilian.

Doesn't

see you

as

someone

who's

old

or

young.

He

sees

and

knows

your

name.

If

you're

not a

Christian

I

imagine

you

know

what

it's

like

to

be

known

only

by

your

class

or

your

abilities

by

labels

that

people

put

on

you.

The

Gospel

is the

only

thing

that

offers

you

freedom

from

that.

God

sees

you

even

if

the

world

doesn't.

He

sees

you

even

if

you

have

nothing

spectacular

to

offer.

Verse

7

we

saw

that

God

pursues

Hagar.

Of course

this is

an angel

in one

day in

the

desert.

God

pursues

us

even

more.

We

know

that.

We've

seen

his

pursuit

for

us

in

Jesus

Christ.

Romans

Romans 5 · chapter mention

chapter

5

tells

us

but

God

chose

his

love

for

us

in

that

while

we

were

sinners

Christ

died

for

us.

He

sent

his

son

like

he

sent

the

angel

to

Hagar

when

we

weren't

looking

for

him.

But

he

was

looking

for

us.

Just

like

he

promised

Hagar

a

future

Christian

he's

done

the

same

for

you.

Why

do

we

do

things

God's

way

and

not

the

easy

way?

What

allows

us

to

wait

for

10

years

and

even

more?

We

do

it

for

two

reasons.

God

knows

our

name.

He's

given

us

a

future

and

a

hope.

We

might

put it

this

way.

I

will

honor

him

for

this

I

know.

I

belong

to

the

Lord.

I

am

not

my

own.

Let's

pray.

Our

Father in

heaven,

we do

thank you

and praise

you that

we belong

to you,

that you

look for

us even

when we're

not looking

for you.

in the

midst of

our

failure

and

mistakes,

you meet

us with

great

grace.

We

ask that

you'd

remind us

of that

truth,

you'd

drive it

deep

into

our

hearts,

that

it

would

cause

us

to

follow

you

no

matter

what.

We

ask

these

things

in the

mighty

name

of

Jesus

Christ.

Amen.