The prayer of Hagar: God sees!

Year after year, Abraham and Sarah waited for the child God had promised to them, but when nothing happened, they decided to take matters into their own hands. Sarah offered her Egyptian maid to her husband as a means of having a child, and Abraham obliged!

Once Hagar knew a baby was on the way, she treated her mistress with contempt. This undoubtedly burdened Sarah even more, knowing she’d failed to give Abraham a child, while her maid had not.

With Hagar’s haughtiness more than Sarah could bear, she, in essence, gave her husband an ultimatum. Abraham responded by telling his wife to do as she pleased. Sarah did. She treated Hagar so harshly, the woman ran away.

As Hagar wandered alone in the wilderness, an Angel of the Lord appeared and  told her she would have a son, whom she was to name Ishmael. Meanwhile, the Lord wanted Hagar to return to her mistress and be respectful to Sarah.

Realizing she was not alone and the Lord was with her, Hagar expressed her joy and relief in this brief prayer that speaks for us too.

Genesis 16:13 – a prayer of Hagar

You are EL Roi!

You are the God Who sees me!

You watch over me.

Paraphrased by Mary Harwell Sayler, ©2019, in the Book of Bible Prayers.

Getting very specific in prayer

Background: Long after Abraham prayed for God to favor Ishmael, he and his wife Sarah brought up their son Isaac to become the heir whom God had named. Sometime before the young man turned thirty, his mother died and was buried in a cave that Abraham had purchased at full price near Mamre (also known as Hebron) in the land of Canaan. Despite the family ties to that area, Abraham did not want his son to marry a Canaanite woman. He was so adamant in fact that he made his chief servant swear to go to Abraham’s homeland and find Isaac a wife among their own kin.

The servant gave no objection to the request but showed concern for the success of his mission. When he asked Abraham what to do if no woman wanted to come home with him to meet Isaac, his master said, “The LORD God of heaven will send an angel before you,” Genesis 24:7-8. Abraham further assured the man that, if God did not take care of everything, the chief servant would be released from his oath. The man promised to obey his master’s request, and then, with ten camels loaded with gifts, the servant set off in the right direction.

When he reached the town of Nahor, he made the camels kneel near water as he stood to pray:

“’O LORD, God of Abraham, grant me success and show Your kindness to my master. Here I am, standing beside this well where the young women of the town come to draw water. So when I ask someone to let down her jar to give me a drink and she says yes and offers to give water to the camels also, oh, let her be the one You have chosen! This will let me know, too, that You have favored my master with a wife for his son Isaac.’

“Before the servant had finished praying, Rebekah came out with a water jug on her shoulder,” Genesis 24:12-15.

Questions: Does God ever answer our prayers before we even finish praying? Does God honor specific requests, especially if the answer enables us to do the very thing our Master wants?

Prayer: LORD God, sometimes I think I am the only master of my life! Forgive me, Lord, for treating You as my Servant, ready to do my bidding. Help me to keep my promises to You and anyone else to whom I have made a vow. Give me success, Lord, in obeying You and accomplishing everything You want me to do and be.

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© 2012, Mary Sayler, all rights reserved.

 

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God tells Abraham to pray for the person he had wronged

Background: Abraham’s wife Sarah had the kind of beauty that turned heads. Since Abraham feared he would be killed on her account and Sarah taken, he told everyone she was his sister, which, like most lies, had some basis of truth. They did indeed have the same father but different mothers, and so they had gotten married. This meant, of course, that Sarah was no longer free to marry someone else, but Abraham left out that important piece of information.

As they traveled into Gerar, Abraham introduced his wife to the king of the region as his sister. That night King Abimelech ordered the beautiful woman to be brought to his palace, but before anything could happen, God appeared to Abimelech in a dream, letting him know that Sarah was already married. Since the king had not slept with her yet, he protested, reminding God of his innocence and Abraham’s deception.

In the dream, God responded, telling Abimelech to return Sarah to her husband and His prophet Abraham would pray for the king. The next day, Abimelech got up early, called his servants together, and told them what had happened. Everyone was terrified and, maybe, horrified! The king then confronted Abraham, who explained his fear and why he had done what he’d done.

Afterwards King Abimelech not only returned Sarah to her husband, he gave Abraham some of his servants, livestock, land, and 1,000 pieces of silver!

“Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, his wife, and servants,” Genesis 20:17.


Questions: Do our actions ever create potential problems for someone else? Has fear ever caused us to do something we would not have done otherwise? In what way does God want us to set things right, perhaps with an employer, employee, sibling, or spouse?

Prayer: LORD God, help me to be honest with you, myself, and others. Please make me aware of anyone I have wronged in any way, and help me to make amends. Thank You, Father of All, for Your ongoing forgiveness and love.

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© 2012, Mary Sayler, all rights reserved.

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God and Abraham pray for Ishmael and Isaac

Background: Again and again, God promised Abram he would become the father of many nations, yet this usually strong man of faith and his wife, Sarai, made their own arrangements in order to make God’s promise come true! As Genesis 16 records the story, Sarai urged Abram to follow the custom of the day and have children with her maid Hagar so the couple would have an heir. When this had been accomplished and Hagar knew she had a child on the way, she began to look down on her mistress, which did not go over too well with Sarai.

In Genesis 17 God gave Abram a new name – Abraham, which means the father of many. God also changed Sarai’s name to Sarah, which, interestingly, means princess. With the blessing of God resting on Abraham, however, God could not and did not forget Hagar.

When Sarah mistreated the servant girl, Hagar ran away until an angel of the Lord came to her and told her to go home and submit to Sarah’s authority.

“And the angel said, ‘You will give birth to a son, and you are to name him Ishmael, meaning God hears, for the Lord has heard your cries. Your son will be as untamed as a wild donkey! He will raise his fist against everyone, and everyone will be against him. He will live in defiance of all his relatives’,” Genesis 16:11-12.

Hagar obeyed God and gave birth to Ishmael. Fourteen years later, God appeared to the 99-year-old Abraham, again promising to be with him and his descendants but with special favor over the child that his wife Sarah would have, despite the impossibility of her age! However…

“Abraham prayed to God, ‘Oh, if only Ishmael could live before You!’

“But God said, ‘No, your wife Sarah will bear a son, and you shall call his name Isaac, and I will establish an everlasting covenant with him and his descendants after him. As for Ishmael, I have heard your prayer. I will indeed bless him and make him fruitful, giving him many, many descendants. He shall become the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation, but I will establish My covenant with Isaac to whom Sarah will give birth at this time next year’,” Genesis 17:18-22.

Questions: Do people today ever hear God’s promises then run ahead or lag behind God’s timing? Did Abraham and Sarah’s decision to ensure an heir affect only their family, or did their actions have consequences and reverberations still felt today? Does Abraham’s prayer for Ishmael give a different slant to his motivations in the familiar Bible story in Genesis 22 where he offers up his son and heir, Isaac, as a sacrifice to the Lord?

Prayer: Dear LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and, yes, Ishmael, help me to hear You and be ready and willing to wait! Forgive me for the times I have fallen far behind or rushed before You. Thank You for giving me everything I need to obey You and follow Your will even when things look hopelessly impossible.

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© 2012, Mary Sayler, all rights reserved.