Helpless Hagar

But God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven, “Hagar, what’s wrong? Do not be afraid! God has heard the boy crying as he lies there. Go to him and comfort him, for I will make a great nation from his descendants." Then God opened Hagar’s eyes, and she saw a well full of water. She quickly filled her water container and gave the boy a drink. / Genesis 21:17-19 NLT

I noticed that when God intervenes in our darker days He announces two things. First and well known is the phrase “Don’t be afraid” or “Do not fear”. He told it to Moses, to Gideon, to Mary, to the disciples. When we are afraid to do God’s bidding His invitation is “Do not be afraid." The second and often overlooked is a proceeding command “Go”. That means He is not only telling us not to be afraid just for the sake of comforting us with His presence. He says “Do not be afraid” so that we can “go” and obey His command with courage and assurance of His presence.

“God opened Hagar’s eyes”. For a moment I told myself Hagar must have obeyed God’s command to “Go” first before God opened her eyes. We see that God speaks courage to her to “go” and save Ishmael. The next we see God immediately opening her eyes. It wasn’t mentioned if she obeyed before or after her eyes were opened other than when she saw the well it said she took some water and “went” to the boy. Reflection: Often times we give too much credit upon ourselves saying “it is because I stepped out in faith that God did this and that” or we tell someone, “For God to do something for you, you must first take a step of faith.” While it can be true in other contexts, this passage tells me that I am helpless without God. I cannot do anything good apart from Him. Before I took “a” step of faith towards Him, our unpredictable God already took the greater step, or more like the most unimaginable leap--a leap from heaven to earth to save me. “Before we were yet sinners, Christ died for us”. He is salvation even for “pagans” like Hagar and Ishmael.

There is an old chorus that says:

Something beautiful, something good
All my confusions, He understood
All I have to offer Him was brokenness and strife
But He made something beautiful of my life

May you see (as God opens your eyes) that He is always more than we can imagine or think. His love is more than we can imagine what His love looks like. His invitation--Do not be afraid. His purpose for you--Grand. May this knowledge bring you the strength to live for His glory.