Genesis Ch16v1-16

It's a joy to be with you this morning. It's lovely to be able to open God's Word together and to consider all that he has to say to us.

And both this Sunday and next we're going to be looking at two of the names of God that we find in the Old Testament,

both of which appear in the record of the life of Abraham.

And today we're going to be looking at a story in the first book of the Bible, Genesis, and in chapter 16.

And to one couple, it appears as though God isn't doing anything at all.

Yet someone else will discover that he is the God who sees everything.

In fact, she will declare, you are the God who sees me.

In Hebrew it's pronounced El Roy, simply the God who sees.

And like many stories in the Bible, it doesn't try to cover up the sins of the main characters,

but instead it reveals more to us about the God whom we worship.

So let's read together from Genesis chapter 16.

Genesis 16 · chapter mention

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

But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar.

So she said to Abram, the Lord has kept me from having children.

Go sleep with my slave.

Perhaps I can build a family through her.

Abram agreed to what Sarai said.

So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years,

Sarai, his wife, took her Egyptian slave Hagar

and gave her to her husband to be his wife.

He slept with Hagar and she conceived.

When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress.

Then Sarai said to Abram,

You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering.

I put my slave in your arms

and now that she knows she is pregnant,

she despises me.

May the Lord judge between you and me.

Your slave is in your hands, Abram said.

Do with her whatever you think best.

Then Sarai mistreated Hagar,

so she fled from her.

The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert.

It was the spring that is beside the road to Shur.

And he said,

Hagar, slave of Sarai,

where have you come from

and where are you going?

I am running away from my mistress,

Sarai, she answered.

Then the angel of the Lord told her,

Go back to your mistress

and submit to her.

The angel added,

I will increase your descendants so much

that they will be too numerous to count.

The angel of the Lord also said to her,

You are now pregnant

and you will give birth to a son.

You shall name him Ishmael

for the Lord has heard of your misery.

He will be a wild donkey of a man.

His hand will be against everyone

and everyone's hand against him.

And he will live in hostility

toward all his brothers.

She gave this name to the Lord

who spoke to her.

You are the God

who sees me.

For she said,

I have now seen

the one who sees me.

That is why the well was called

Beer the Hoy Roy.

It is still there

between Kadesh and Beret.

So Hagar bore Abram a son

and Abram gave him the name Ishmael

to the son she had born.

Abram was 86 years old

when Hagar bore him Ishmael.

So Father, we pray now

that you would continue to speak

these words by your spirit

to our hearts

so we might get a better view

of who you are

and that we might see clearly

who we are.

And Father,

where those things that we see

would cause us to want to turn away

and not to look,

we pray,

that you would help us

to understand

that you reveal our hearts

so that we might turn to you

and run to Jesus our Saviour.

And so Lord,

do what you will in our hearts

this day,

I pray.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

It was about 30 years ago,

but I still remember it so well.

I woke up on Christmas morning

with a throbbing pain in my mouth.

I spent the day in bed

feeling really miserable for myself

while the rest of the family

tucked into their Christmas dinner.

there was obviously no doctor

or dentist open on that day.

I couldn't face the thought

of Christmas Day

an accident and emergency.

Thankfully,

we knew someone

who was able to give me

some penicillin

to get started,

but it turned out

it was an abscess

and I was going to have to

start a series of treatment

at the School of Dentistry

in Belfast

for a number of months.

I arrived for one

of those appointments,

went to the reception desk,

gave them my appointment card

and took my seat.

I had carefully counted

the number of people before me

just as you do

to work out your place

in the queue

and I waited patiently

for my turn.

But when it came

to what I thought

was my turn,

someone else was called

instead of me.

My mistake,

I thought,

I'll just wait patiently.

But then someone else

was called

and then someone else

and then someone else.

It kept going on

until even I realised

that this was far too long

to wait.

I went up to the reception desk

and asked,

ever so politely,

if I had been overlooked.

Well, I'd been more than overlooked.

My appointment card

had been thrown in the bin

and I've been sitting there

all day

with nobody to see me.

You know,

sometimes

we can feel that way

about God.

We have brought

something

to him.

we have left it

with him.

We have waited

patiently

for him.

And we've waited

what we think

is more

than a reasonable

period of time

to wait on God's answer

and it appears

that God

is doing

nothing.

and we decide

that we cannot

wait

any longer.

That's how

Sarai is feeling

in Genesis 16.

God has promised

to make

Abram

into a great

nation

with descendants

that will outnumber

the stars of the sky.

But at this point

in time

it wouldn't take

the whole weekend

to do a stock take.

The total

is none.

Not

one

child.

Not even

an expected

child.

And as time

was passing

by

Sarai was

giving up

on any chance

of giving birth.

She concludes

that this God

who made

these promises

is doing

nothing

and she

cannot wait

any longer.

So she

hatches

a plan.

But it's

a plan

that lacks

faith.

The story

is written

so well

that we are

almost thinking

Sarai's thoughts

before her.

Verse 1

Now Sarai

Abram's wife

had borne him

no children

but

she had

an Egyptian

maidservant

named

Hagar.

Now even

if you've

never heard

this story

before

you already

know what

Sarai is

thinking.

Even if

you're

thinking

no

she

can't

do

that.

But

verse 2

she said

to Abram

the Lord

has kept

me from

having

children

go

sleep

with

my

maidservant

perhaps

I can

build a

family

through

her.

you

see

it's

a plan

that

lacks

faith

because

it is

a plan

that

resists

God.

It

appears

here

in the

form

of

blame.

Look

at what

Sarai

says

in

verse

2

the

Lord

has

kept

me

from

having

children.

She

recognises

that God

is the

author

of her

barrenness.

She

knows

that he

is the

source

of all

life

and she

knows

that it

is he

who has

withheld

life.

But

Sarai

will

resist

God's

will.

She's

determined

to have

a child

and if

God

will not

give her

one

she

will do

it

herself.

She

puts it

as plainly

as that.

Go

sleep

with my

maidservant

perhaps

I

can

build

a

family

through

her.

Do you

hear those

words?

Perhaps

I

can

build

a

family

through

her.

This

will be

Sarai's

doing.

She's

not going

to sit

around

any

longer.

Since

God

appears

to be

doing

nothing

well

Sarai

is going

to do

something.

It's

a plan

that lacks

faith

because

first of

all it

resists

God

but it's

a plan

that lacks

faith

because

it is

completely

Sarai's

own

doing.

Now you

and I

have no

shortage

of plans

that lack

faith.

We can

gamble in

the hope

of paying

off debts.

We can

use alcohol

to numb

our pain.

We can

alter tax

returns so

that we

pay less

than we

should.

We can

enter into

relationships

and non-Christians

because there

seems to be

no prospect

of a

Christian

boyfriend

or

girlfriend.

We can

dress up

our CV

because we

think that

if we're

truthful

we're not

likely to

get that

job.

We have

no shortage

of plans

that lack

faith.

It isn't

easy to

trust God

when he

appears

to do

nothing.

It can

feel as

though we

cannot wait

any longer

and we

hatch plans

that lack

faith.

In fact

we do

things that

we know

resist God

and his

purposes.

We do

things that

we know

are wrong

but we

do them

anyway

because it

seems that

it's the

answer to

the immediate

problem that

we face.

But these

plans are

not of

faith.

In fact

they are

faithless.

It is

Sarai who

hatches the

plan but

we assume

that Abram

will not

go along

with it.

After all

this is

Abram the

man of

faith.

This is

Abram the

friend of

God.

said.

But we

read in

verse 3

Abram

agreed with

what Sarai

had said.

It's sadly

reminiscent

isn't it of

another story

the story of

the fall

itself.

You remember

that Eve

took the

fruit which

had been

forbidden to

her and

she gave

it to

Adam.

And what

does Adam

do?

he takes

and eats.

He's

without

excuse.

The Lord

later rebukes

him saying

because you

listened to

your wife

and ate

from the

tree.

You see

behind the

voice of

Eve was

the voice

of the

evil one.

And behind

the voice

of Sarai

was the

voice of

the evil

one.

And both

Adam and

Abram should

have recognized

the real

voice behind

their wives

words.

You'll

remember a

time when

Jesus recognized

the voice of

the evil

one in

the words

of a

close friend.

Jesus had

just revealed

to his

disciples that

death lay

ahead of

him.

But you

remember that

Peter resists

what Jesus

says.

Never

Lord this

shall never

happen to

you.

And you

know Jesus'

response?

Get

behind me

Satan.

You are a

stumbling block

to me.

You do

not have in

mind the

things of

God but

the things

of men.

You see

we need to

learn to

recognize the

voice of

the evil

one when

it comes to

us through

the words

of others.

God

maybe I

should

clarify just

in case I

misunderstood

that it's

not only

through wives

that the

voice of the

evil one

can be

heard.

It can

come through

husbands and

children,

parents and

siblings,

work colleagues

and friends

and we need

to recognize

it for what

it is to

learn to

resist it as

Jesus did

no matter

what the

consequences may

be.

This plan,

this plan

that lacked

faith,

was also

a plan

that lacked

foresight.

It's one of

those plans

that when

later revealed

you want to

ask,

what were

you thinking?

What were

you thinking?

We often

ask our

children that

question,

don't we,

after they've

done something

foolish.

what were

you thinking?

And the

best defense

I've ever

heard from

any of my

children is

simply this,

I wasn't

thinking.

But it's

not only

children whose

plans lack

foresight.

We all

get sucked

into situations

that resolve

an immediate

problem,

only to

create an

even bigger

one.

That's

exactly what

Abram does.

He listens

to Sarai,

he takes

Hagar as

another

wife,

she becomes

pregnant,

and the

result is

conflict

between

Hagar and

Sarai.

Well,

who could

have foreseen

that?

Well,

anybody,

anybody who

has thought

about it.

Of course it

would lead to

tension in the

family.

Of course

Sarai would

feel better

that Hagar is

able to give

to Abraham

what she could

not.

Of course

Hagar would

look down

on Sarai.

Anyone could

have foreseen

it, except

those who

weren't

thinking.

That's what

happens when

we resist

God and

when we

hatch plans

that lack

faith.

We think

that God

is not

doing

anything,

and we

act as

though God

does not

see anything,

but we

discover from

the rest

of the

story,

that he

is the

God who

sees

everything.

You see,

Abraham thought

that by doing

what Sarai

wanted,

he would

at least

enjoy some

peace in

the home.

But there

is more

unrest than

ever.

She now

starts blaming

Abraham for

the whole

thing.

It's all

his fault.

And Abraham

pursues his

desire of a

quiet life by

simply telling

Sarai to do

with Hagar as

she sees

fit.

She begins

to treat

Hagar so

badly that

she cannot

take it any

longer, and

she runs

away.

But this

is a God

who sees

everything.

He sees

our suffering,

and he

sees Hagar's

suffering.

And not in

a distant,

far away

sense,

he sees

our suffering

in a very

near sense.

Look at

verse 7.

The angel

of the

Lord found

Hagar.

It suggests

that he was

looking for

her.

Not that God

didn't know

where she

was, but

that he

sought her

in her

suffering.

He had

seen how

Sarai had

treated her.

He had

seen how

cruelly

she had

been

treated,

and he

had seen

her flee

for safety.

None of

it had

escaped

God's

notice.

Absolutely

none of

it, because

he sees

everything.

We're inclined

to think,

aren't we,

at times,

that God

doesn't

really

appreciate

our

suffering.

We feel

that he

has turned

his back

on us.

In fact,

it's as

though

he's able

to block

us out of

his thinking

completely.

because if

he really

saw what

we were

going

through,

he would

surely do

something

about it.

But all

this time,

he appears

to do

nothing.

Yet he's

the God

who sees

everything.

You

remember when

God sent

Moses back

to the

Hebrew

slaves in

Egypt.

He told

him to

bring God's

words to

the elders

of Israel,

I have

watched

over you

and have

seen

what has

been done

to you.

None of

it had

escaped God's

notice.

It appeared

as though

God was

doing

nothing,

but he

had seen

it all.

For

400 years

it felt

like God

was

unconcerned

or unaware

of the

hardship

that they

faced.

But not

one bit

of their

suffering

had gone

unnoticed

by God.

Not

one

bit.

And the

same is

true

of you.

Whatever

you're facing

at this

time,

whatever

hardship

you're having

to endure,

not one

bit of

your

suffering

goes

unnoticed

by the

Lord.

But God

sees more

than our

suffering.

God

sees the

attitudes

of our

hearts.

Hagar

has suffered

terribly

at Sarah's

hand,

heart.

But it

didn't

excuse the

attitude of

Hagar's

heart.

You

remember that

once she

became pregnant

she began

to despise

her mistress.

Now look

at what God

says to her

in verse

9.

Go back

to your

mistress

and

submit

to her.

God

had seen

her suffering,

suffering,

but God

did not

remove her

suffering.

In fact,

God

sends her

back to

the place

of her

suffering.

Why?

Because

God is

dealing with

the attitude

of Hagar's

heart.

See,

sometimes,

not always,

but sometimes,

God does

not remove

your suffering

because he

is more

concerned

with the

attitude

of your

heart.

Remember the

apostle Paul

three times

prayed for

something that

he simply

called the

thorn in

his flesh

to be

removed from

him.

But God

said,

no.

Instead,

God promised

that his

grace would

be sufficient

for Paul.

And Paul

recognized that

God had left

him with this

thorn in his

flesh to

protect him

from pride.

Now,

that must

have been a

tendency that

Paul had

come to

recognize in

himself.

Paul knew

how easily

he could turn

his spiritual

experiences into

a reason to

boast and

become proud.

God

and he

recognized his

suffering as

God's

gracious

gift to

protect him

from this

tendency to

sin that

could have

destroyed his

life and

his ministry.

God

does indeed

see our

suffering,

but he

sees more

than our

suffering.

He also

sees the

attitudes of

our hearts.

And

sometimes he

delays

relieving us

of our

suffering so

that he

might address

the deeper

issues of

our hearts.

And in

such circumstances

that is not

God's punishment

of you, but

God's gracious

gift to

you.

This God

who sees our

suffering and

our attitudes

also sees

our fears.

Hagar's

position is a

desperate one.

She is a

slave who has

run away from

her mistress.

She is a

woman alone

with no

rights, no

wealth, no

security, no

future.

In this

culture, your

children were

your pension

plan.

They were

your only

hope for

old age.

And God

assured Hagar

that she

will have

a son.

He will

make her

descendants too

numerous to

count.

God had

seen her

and God

would provide

for her.

God

knows

God

knows

your

fears

about the

future.

God

knows

about

those

things

that

intrude

into your

sleeping

hours

and rob

you of

rest.

God

sees

all of

that

and he

can be

trusted

with all

of that.

His

answers are

not always

what we'd

imagined.

love

and he

would

be a

wild

donkey

of a

man

doesn't

sound like

anyone's

dream of

motherhood

does it?

But he

would provide

security for

her nonetheless.

God

has seen

her vulnerable

position,

he knew

her fears

and he

reassures

her that

he is

in

control

of it

all.

Her

response is

quite wonderful

in verse

13 isn't

it?

She says

you are

the God

who sees

me.

I

have seen

the one

who sees

me.

How

wonderful

is that?

After

all,

who is

Hagar?

She's

certainly

not the

main

character

in the

story.

She's

not going

to be

the mother

of the

son

that God

had

promised

Abram.

If you

like,

she's

only a

supporting

actress,

not part

of the

main

cast.

But

God

had

seen

her.

Do you

feel that

way at

times?

Who

am I?

Why

would

God

be

concerned

about

me?

I'm

not

someone

important.

I'm

not going

to do

anything

important.

I'm

nothing

special.

Well,

this God

who sees

everything

sees

you.

He

sees

your

suffering.

He

sees

your

attitudes.

He

sees

your

fears.

He

sees

you.

Is it

any wonder

that Hagar

responds as

she does?

God

sees her.

But not

only does

this God

see her,

she has

seen the

God who

sees her.

God has

made himself

known to

her.

And we

too can

know this

God who

knows us.

How

incredible is

that?

God

this

same

God who

sent his

angel to

find

Hagar

would send

his own

son into

the world

so that

he could

make himself

known,

so that

we could

see the

God who

sees

us.

In fact,

we have a

far clearer

view of

God than

Hagar

ever did.

just as

God

sought

for

Hagar,

Jesus

came into

this world

to seek

and to

save

the lost.

God

did not

stay

distant

from our

suffering,

but in

his son

entered

into our

world

of suffering.

God

not only

saw the

danger

that we

were in,

under

his

judgment

for our

sins,

he sent

his son

to rescue

us from

the death

that we

deserve

by his

death on

the cross.

Now,

if God

has done

all of

that for

us,

do you

think that

he doesn't

see what

you are

going through

right now?

That he

doesn't

care?

It may

appear as

though God

is doing

nothing,

but

Hagar

has

learned

what

Abram

and

Sarai

had

forgotten.

The

one we

worship

is the

God

who

sees

me.

Let's

pray

together.

Father,

even as

we

reflect on

these

words,

we

have to

respond as

David did

that such

thoughts are

too wonderful

for me.

To think

that you

see and

know

me.

to think

that the

God who

created the

whole of

the universe

and sustains

it by his

powerful words

at the

same time

is concerned

about me.

Oh, how

humbling

a thought

and how

overwhelming

to think of

the love

the heavenly

father has

for his

children.

Father, we

know that

at different

times your

people are

called to

endure all

kinds of

hardship and

suffering.

Father, may

we never be

those who

start to

think that

somehow you

do not

see or

you do

not care.

But rather

as we look

to the

fact that

you gave

your own

son for

us,

may that

assure us

of your

unchanging

love towards

your children

and that

even in

our suffering

your purposes

are for

our good.

Father, we

thank you that

you are not

only the

God who

sees me

but that

we can

see the

God who

sees us.

Thank you

that in the

Lord Jesus

you made

yourself fully

known that

when we

look to

him we

see the

invisible

God.

And

Father, we

pray then that

you might

draw out our

hearts both

in love for

you and

in confidence

in you.

And we

ask this in

the name of

the Lord

Jesus.

Amen.

in response

to what we

have heard

together

we're going

to sing

when I

fear my

faith will

fail

Christ

will hold

me fast.

It's an

invitation to

come and

see the

God who

is faithful

towards us

who sees

us and

knows our

need

and is

faithful.

Let's

stand together

as we

sing in

response.