"I've found the Lord," said a friend. "Tell me more," I answered. Do you remember when you found the Lord? How did that happen? Were you looking for him? On our journey to encounter the Lord, we typically leave something behind because we are looking for something better.
Remember the book and movie, "Last of the Mohicans"? The lead character played by Daniel Day-Lewis says to a young woman who has been kidnapped: "Stay alive, I will find you." When we are heading in opposite directions in a store, I say this to Melanie, periodically, in my best British accent. I enjoy saying this. As I think about it, she has never told me if she enjoys hearing it. I'm sure she does though.
The Lord found Hagar alive near a spring in the desert. Doesn't this sound hopeful? If you are in the desert, you need to be near a spring. Remember Hagar fled her mistress Sarai because she was being mistreated by the first lady of the house. She fled Sarai and ran right into the Lord. Good timing.
Not only did the angel of the Lord find Hagar, but he knew her name, and status as slave of Sarai. Not because he needed information, the angel of the Lord asked two questions: where have you come from and where are you going? To be clear, our omniscient God knows the answers to these questions for all of us. If he asks, it is likely because he wants us to ponder the questions. Hagar answered the first question. "I'm running away from my mistress Sarai." Sarai did not know where she was going.
The angel of the Lord told her to go back and submit to Sarai. With deference, "What?" Does God always expect people who are being abused to return to the abuser and submit to the abuse? Does he ever? For me, at least, that is not the message of this story. God was certainly able to rein Sarai and Abram in and cause them to end the abuse. On the other hand, Hagar might have died in the desert, heading to nowhere. God cared for the slave woman Hagar as a person first and also as the mother of Abram's first son.
God promised to provide Hagar with descendants too numerous to count. In this way, God involved himself directly in Hagar's plight. We only ever find the Lord after he has first found us. If you are going through an impossible situation, take comfort in this: God will find you. He has great timing. Better still, God knows. He knows your name. God surely knows how you have been mistreated. Nothing in our stories is outside his complete knowledge. He himself was beaten on the cross. Think of the old Spiritual: "The world treats you mean Lord, treats me mean too . . ." Best of all, God is not finished with us. Our presence in the world means he is still at work in and through us. We may trust him, even when we can't comprehend our dilemma.
