When I was about five years old, I decided I was going to run away. I packed my book bag with my book and notebook because, priorities, and headed out the door. I walked down the porch steps, across the yard, and to the fence. I stood with my hand on the gate, ready to open it, waiting for someone to notice I was leaving. I expected my Mom, at least, would notice I was gone, but after a few minutes, not even she came to find me.
I was running away and no one had even noticed!
Escaping can seem like the perfect solution when we’re faced with an impossible situation. I can think of at least a few times this week I’ve felt overwhelmed and had a desire to just leave everything behind-even if just for a few minutes! Sometimes a break is definitely needed and a little get away is good to clear the mind but I can’t let running away become a habit.
This week we are taking a look at Hagar. She was a woman who knew what I was talking about-she tended to flee. We discussed part of her story last week- that her mistress Sarah had the idea for Hagar to sleep with Sarah’s husband, Abraham, so that she might conceive a child. Hagar does become pregnant and the Bible tells us that Hagar “began to despise her mistress” (Genesis 16: 4). We don’t know if she acted badly towards Sarah, if she got cocky or gloated, but we do know that Sarah was not happy with the situation they were now in. She goes to Abraham and tells him that she is suffering and he is responsible (v.5). Abraham doesn’t exactly take responsibility here; he tells his wife that she can do whatever she wants with her servant (v.6). Sarah takes this and runs with it because she begins to mistreat Hagar badly enough that Hagar decides to leave.
I don’t know about you but at this point I’m thinking, “Poor Hagar!” I mean, imagine being in Hagar’s situation. She is a slave who did as she was told and was then thrust into an impossible situation that she did not choose. She is pregnant, unmarried, and now is being mistreated by her mistress-the very person who got her into this mess! What could she really do at this point?
So, she ran. In her running, God met her, gave her a promise for her child, and told her to go back. Later this week we’ll look into these parts of Hagar’s story a little further but for now let’s camp out on this part of her journey. She’s been mistreated and she has run away.
I wonder if anyone noticed that she had gone.
There are so many movies where the characters idealize running away and leaving their current situations: Jenny in Forrest Gump wanted to be a bird so she could fly away, Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz wanted to go somewhere over the rainbow. Even David in the Bible expressed his desire to run away from his current situation in Psalm 55:6-8. “I said, “Oh that I had the wings of a dove! I would fly away and be at rest-I would flee far away and stay in the desert; I would hurry to my place of shelter, far from the tempest and the storm.”
Sometimes in our journey we will want to run away. Maybe you’re thinking that’s just not true. Perhaps you’ve never actually had the thought to get in your car and run, but are there times when things feel impossible and no solution seems to be at hand? Are there times when others have put you into an unfair situation and you just wanted out? Maybe it’s a bad job or a relationship that just isn’t working. Maybe you feel invisible, like no one appreciates anything you do or anything that you are. Most of us have probably faced one issue or another that we wished God would just let us get away from.
There are a few things we can learn from our girl Hagar’s story. She doesn’t seem to be a complainer. Throughout all that she went through, the Bible doesn’t tell us that she complained. She recognized that she had enough value that she didn’t deserve to be mistreated. She realized that running away was only exchanging one problem for another. She found that God was available to help her in her situation.
It is usually in our problems, that God reveals Himself. Have you found that to be true? It’s amazing how God can show up, in even our toughest situations, and give us more of Himself so that we can make it through.
We can’t experience God’s deliverance from the problem, if we don’t stay and face the problem. Friends, isn’t this an amazing truth? I’m so thankful that God gives strength to stay and face what can seem so impossibly difficult. Even the day to day tasks that make our to-do lists so long can be faced and tackled with His help.
Friends, is there a problem or situation that you don’t want to face today? What can you do to begin to face the problem and tackle it? Pray for God’s help and presence in dealing with this problem.
*This is the beginning of a 3 part series on Hagar that I’ll be sharing on the blog this week. Hope you’ll join me on Wednesday for Part 2!