WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.339 Let's bow our heads. 00:00:06.900 --> 00:00:10.500 God in heaven, we thank you so much for this opportunity to be here. 00:00:10.580 --> 00:00:11.939 We thank you for your faithfulness. 00:00:13.599 --> 00:00:17.760 You are God of wonders beyond our galaxy, and you are holy. 00:00:18.699 --> 00:00:24.359 We thank you that your faithfulness toward us is new every morning, and that it's great. 00:00:24.359 --> 00:00:32.840 Now, holy God, we pray that you would bless this time, bless the words that I speak. 00:00:33.840 --> 00:00:34.899 Bless your word, Lord. 00:00:35.019 --> 00:00:38.899 Bless your people here who are here, gathered to hear what you have to say. 00:00:40.019 --> 00:00:44.280 I pray, Lord God, that the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight. 00:00:45.399 --> 00:00:46.340 I rock and my redeemer. 00:00:46.439 --> 00:00:47.579 In Jesus' name we pray, amen. 00:00:47.579 --> 00:00:47.659 Amen. 00:00:49.839 --> 00:01:01.439 So we're doing Genesis 16, and that is found on page number 11 in your pew Bible. 00:01:01.579 --> 00:01:02.219 Hold on, sorry. 00:01:03.659 --> 00:01:04.099 Organizing. 00:01:05.060 --> 00:01:06.480 Page number 11 in your pew Bible. 00:01:07.659 --> 00:01:08.620 And I'm going to start. 00:01:08.719 --> 00:01:09.799 I'm going to read it. 00:01:11.759 --> 00:01:12.799 Genesis 16. 00:01:14.379 --> 00:01:15.659 I've got to wait for technology. 00:01:15.900 --> 00:01:16.140 Sorry. 00:01:16.140 --> 00:01:16.420 Okay. 00:01:17.939 --> 00:01:19.040 Starting from verse 1. 00:01:20.960 --> 00:01:25.060 Now, Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children. 00:01:26.239 --> 00:01:29.340 She had a female Egyptian servant whose name was Hagar. 00:01:30.560 --> 00:01:35.439 And Sarai said to Abram, behold, now the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. 00:01:36.599 --> 00:01:37.740 Go into my servant. 00:01:38.379 --> 00:01:40.859 It may be that I shall obtain children by her. 00:01:41.799 --> 00:01:43.760 And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. 00:01:43.760 --> 00:01:57.160 So after Abram had lived 10 years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar, the Egyptian, her servant, and gave her to Abram, her husband and his wife, as a wife. 00:01:57.159 --> 00:02:00.959 And he went into Hagar, and she conceived. 00:02:01.259 --> 00:02:04.920 And when she saw that she had conceived, she looked with contempt on her mistress. 00:02:04.920 --> 00:02:10.199 And Sarai said to Abram, may the wrong done to me be on you. 00:02:11.000 --> 00:02:13.080 I gave my servant to your embrace. 00:02:13.640 --> 00:02:18.159 And when she saw that she had conceived, she looked on me with contempt. 00:02:19.039 --> 00:02:21.400 May the Lord judge between you and me. 00:02:22.259 --> 00:02:25.599 But Abram said to Sarai, behold, your servant is in your power. 00:02:26.319 --> 00:02:27.560 Do to her as you please. 00:02:27.560 --> 00:02:32.140 Then Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she fled from her. 00:02:33.719 --> 00:02:41.340 The angel of the Lord, verse 7, found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur. 00:02:42.159 --> 00:02:47.360 And he said, Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going? 00:02:47.960 --> 00:02:51.259 She said, I am fleeing from my mistress, Sarai. 00:02:52.159 --> 00:02:55.480 The angel of the Lord said to her, return to your mistress and submit to her. 00:02:55.479 --> 00:03:04.459 The angel of the Lord also said to her, I will surely multiply your offspring so that they cannot be numbered for a multitude. 00:03:05.439 --> 00:03:10.259 And the angel of the Lord said to her, behold, you are pregnant, and you shall bear a son. 00:03:10.699 --> 00:03:15.319 You shall call his name Ishmael, because the Lord has listened to your affliction. 00:03:16.579 --> 00:03:22.419 He shall be a wild donkey of a man, his hand against everyone and everyone's hand against him. 00:03:22.419 --> 00:03:25.379 He shall dwell over against all his kingsmen. 00:03:26.619 --> 00:03:29.599 So she called the name of the Lord, who spoke to her. 00:03:29.759 --> 00:03:31.479 You are a God of seeing. 00:03:31.619 --> 00:03:35.699 For she said, truly here I have seen him who looks after me. 00:03:36.419 --> 00:03:41.119 Therefore, the well was called Ber-Lahai-Roi. 00:03:42.179 --> 00:03:44.159 It lies between Kadesh and Bered. 00:03:44.159 --> 00:03:51.400 And Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram called the name of his son whom Hagar bore Ishmael. 00:03:52.460 --> 00:03:57.219 Abram was 86 years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram. 00:04:00.400 --> 00:04:01.960 Come let us sing. 00:04:02.960 --> 00:04:04.259 Let us rejoice. 00:04:05.539 --> 00:04:07.240 Come let us sing. 00:04:08.060 --> 00:04:09.560 Let us rejoice. 00:04:09.560 --> 00:04:12.300 Messiah's come. 00:04:12.300 --> 00:04:13.300 Come let us sing. 00:04:13.300 --> 00:04:15.159 And he's brought life. 00:04:15.640 --> 00:04:19.939 And he's put laughter into my soul. 00:04:20.939 --> 00:04:24.920 It would have been enough if he brought peace. 00:04:25.319 --> 00:04:29.399 It would have been enough if he brought joy. 00:04:29.899 --> 00:04:34.439 It would have been enough if he brought life. 00:04:34.740 --> 00:04:38.560 But he put laughter into my soul. 00:04:38.560 --> 00:04:41.300 Ha, ha, ha, ha. 00:04:41.860 --> 00:04:43.699 Ha, ha, ha, ha. 00:04:44.319 --> 00:04:46.199 Hey, hey, hey, hey. 00:04:46.879 --> 00:04:48.399 Ho, ho, ho, ho. 00:04:49.740 --> 00:04:51.220 Messiah's come. 00:04:51.759 --> 00:04:53.579 And he's brought life. 00:04:54.319 --> 00:04:58.699 And he's put laughter into my soul. 00:04:59.800 --> 00:05:03.439 When thinking about our narrative, and particularly Hagar, 00:05:03.439 --> 00:05:10.360 this song came to mind because it seemed to me that during the journey depicted here in our text, 00:05:11.439 --> 00:05:13.480 Hagar was being given a new song to sing. 00:05:14.839 --> 00:05:20.079 And this new song began with an unexpected encounter with the living God who would, 00:05:20.300 --> 00:05:24.420 who gave her more, who would give her more than she bargained for. 00:05:24.420 --> 00:05:27.640 God gave Hagar a new song. 00:05:27.639 --> 00:05:33.639 Now, before we get to Hagar's new song, we need to know what her old song was. 00:05:34.699 --> 00:05:40.759 Well, in verse 2, we find that Sarai, Hagar's mistress, had a bright idea. 00:05:42.039 --> 00:05:47.479 She was understandably frustrated that she's not giving birth to the offspring that was promised by God. 00:05:47.480 --> 00:05:52.740 But she was getting up there in age, so she decides to take matters into her own hands. 00:05:53.640 --> 00:05:59.620 Now, when we find Sarai, she's at least a decade past since this promise was given. 00:06:00.379 --> 00:06:04.680 And she was way past the childbearing age, according to the text. 00:06:05.800 --> 00:06:12.240 Sarai decides to use her servant girl, more accurately slave girl, as a surrogate womb, so to speak. 00:06:12.540 --> 00:06:16.640 And offers her to Abram so that she can obtain a child through that union. 00:06:17.480 --> 00:06:26.420 The plan then backfires because when Hagar conceived, she then subsequently begins to look upon Sarai with contempt. 00:06:27.800 --> 00:06:33.080 One version says that once she conceived that Sarai became despised in her sight. 00:06:34.460 --> 00:06:40.860 This leads to a complaint to Abram, who also, if you notice, refers to Hagar by slave girl or servant girl, 00:06:40.860 --> 00:06:44.319 who then refuses to take responsibility for the situation. 00:06:44.319 --> 00:06:48.519 And then now back to Sarai, dealing harshly with Hagar. 00:06:50.159 --> 00:06:57.000 And then Hagar, with the baby in her womb, runs away, actually flees to the wilderness. 00:06:59.199 --> 00:07:02.639 So, what was Hagar's song? 00:07:02.639 --> 00:07:14.939 We can maybe gather from this chain of events that Hagar's song at the beginning of the narrative was most likely a progenitor or ancestor of the blues. 00:07:16.159 --> 00:07:17.000 Here's what I mean. 00:07:18.439 --> 00:07:25.500 The blues, for those who are not familiar with what the blues are, is a genre of music that has deep roots in American history, 00:07:25.639 --> 00:07:26.979 particularly African-American history. 00:07:26.980 --> 00:07:33.480 The blues originated in the Deep South, specifically Mississippi, Delta region after the American Civil War. 00:07:34.120 --> 00:07:37.759 Its inventors were ex-slaves and the descendants of slaves. 00:07:37.920 --> 00:07:41.000 Basically, they were African-American sharecroppers and their descendants. 00:07:41.259 --> 00:07:46.980 But I say this to make a point that the blues music arose out of a context of oppression. 00:07:46.980 --> 00:08:00.120 It's interesting if you think about it because the Hebrew word used in verse 6 to describe how Sarai treated Hagar is the same word used in Exodus to describe Israel's oppression of Egypt. 00:08:01.400 --> 00:08:04.340 Or Israel's oppression, I'm sorry, by Egypt. 00:08:05.620 --> 00:08:11.500 So, Hagar is escaping an unjust, unbearable, oppressive situation. 00:08:11.500 --> 00:08:24.060 It may not only be unjust and unbearable, but may even be a situation, consider this, that put her life or the life of her unborn child in danger. 00:08:24.660 --> 00:08:25.379 But how do you know? 00:08:26.579 --> 00:08:34.840 Remember that in verse 6, Abram said to Sarai, he gave Sarai like the green light when she said, when he said, no, your slave girl's in your power. 00:08:36.019 --> 00:08:37.580 Do to her as you please. 00:08:37.580 --> 00:08:59.060 Now, we do not know the degree of the affliction or oppression that came from Sarai, but when things got going, we can assume that for Hagar, she felt it was better to take her chances surviving the wilderness as a pregnant woman than to stick around and take her chances surviving Sarai. 00:09:00.220 --> 00:09:01.420 So, she was out of here. 00:09:03.520 --> 00:09:05.879 Now, that was loud. 00:09:05.879 --> 00:09:10.899 Now, she finds herself in the wilderness. 00:09:12.679 --> 00:09:20.759 And here she has, and this is the first stop, an unexpected encounter and the beginnings of her receiving a new song. 00:09:21.899 --> 00:09:23.960 So, first, an unexpected encounter. 00:09:25.340 --> 00:09:28.080 Now, she's on her way to a place called Shur. 00:09:28.080 --> 00:09:34.600 She's headed back to her homeland since Shur is somewhere in the northeast Egypt and she is Egyptian. 00:09:36.600 --> 00:09:38.420 But she is really going nowhere. 00:09:39.500 --> 00:09:40.560 How do we know this? 00:09:41.300 --> 00:09:46.040 Well, before answering this question, let's look for a moment in how the situation in the wilderness unfolds. 00:09:46.540 --> 00:09:48.460 First, she encounters the angel of the Lord. 00:09:48.460 --> 00:09:52.620 Now, we learn in verse 13 that this is really Yahweh who's speaking to her. 00:09:54.040 --> 00:09:55.960 It is God in human form. 00:09:56.920 --> 00:09:58.360 It is God in human form. 00:09:58.700 --> 00:10:01.420 It is the first theophany we see in Scripture. 00:10:01.419 --> 00:10:08.860 And what is important to observe is that he, the angel of the Lord, engages her by calling her by her name. 00:10:10.219 --> 00:10:15.279 This is important because in encountering God, she's immediately made aware of her value. 00:10:16.159 --> 00:10:16.879 She is somebody. 00:10:17.319 --> 00:10:18.719 She is not the slave girl. 00:10:18.720 --> 00:10:20.560 She has a name. 00:10:22.960 --> 00:10:26.960 In Psalm 8, 3 through 5, the psalmist writes, 00:10:27.040 --> 00:10:34.200 When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have ordained, 00:10:35.200 --> 00:10:41.000 what is man that you take thought of him, and the son of man that you care for him? 00:10:42.139 --> 00:10:46.240 Yet you have made him a little lower than God or heavenly beings. 00:10:46.240 --> 00:10:47.460 One virgin said the angels. 00:10:47.460 --> 00:10:50.720 And you crown him with glory and majesty. 00:10:52.259 --> 00:10:56.280 So by calling her her name, God shows that he is mindful of her. 00:10:57.340 --> 00:10:58.700 That he cares for her. 00:10:59.800 --> 00:11:01.840 And that he cares about her personally. 00:11:03.060 --> 00:11:09.460 This is especially interesting to think about when you consider that the personal meaning of her name is stranger. 00:11:11.040 --> 00:11:16.200 Now, unlike Sarai referencing her as my slave girl or Abram doing the same, 00:11:16.200 --> 00:11:18.920 when he says to Sarai, she is your slave girl. 00:11:19.140 --> 00:11:24.100 The angel of the Lord, on the other hand, when he meets her at the wilderness, calls out to her and says, 00:11:24.200 --> 00:11:24.520 Hagar. 00:11:24.820 --> 00:11:29.400 And just in case she did not realize the angel of the Lord was speaking to the right Hagar, 00:11:30.460 --> 00:11:32.400 he says, Hagar. 00:11:34.100 --> 00:11:35.300 Slave girl of Sarai. 00:11:35.299 --> 00:11:37.259 Yes, I'm talking to you. 00:11:37.259 --> 00:11:39.519 It's as if she was looking around like, who's he talking to? 00:11:40.719 --> 00:11:43.559 But he made the point to point out, no, no, I'm talking to you, Hagar. 00:11:44.620 --> 00:11:47.759 Now, I mentioned earlier that Hagar is going nowhere. 00:11:47.759 --> 00:11:51.779 And we can see this in how the author tells the story. 00:11:52.600 --> 00:11:56.240 Yes, she is going home to Egypt, but she's literally going nowhere. 00:11:57.319 --> 00:12:02.500 The angel of the Lord asks her, where is she coming from? 00:12:02.860 --> 00:12:05.039 And where is she going to? 00:12:05.500 --> 00:12:08.740 But notice that she only answers where she's coming from. 00:12:08.740 --> 00:12:17.180 The Bible tells us that she's on her way to Shur, which is an area in Egypt where she is from. 00:12:17.320 --> 00:12:19.220 And the word literally means wall. 00:12:21.399 --> 00:12:24.299 I don't know how many people ever ran track and field, you know. 00:12:24.740 --> 00:12:27.100 But I ran track in high school. 00:12:28.120 --> 00:12:29.600 I was good at it, but I didn't love it. 00:12:30.279 --> 00:12:33.240 And I had to run a race called a 400-meter sprint. 00:12:33.320 --> 00:12:34.820 Anybody ever run a 400-meter sprint? 00:12:34.820 --> 00:12:40.879 And if you've never hit a wall before, you're going to hit one in that. 00:12:41.660 --> 00:12:47.340 And I remember there was a guy named, God rest his soul, named Jeff Dingle. 00:12:47.420 --> 00:12:51.220 He was basically a great football player and a great track guy. 00:12:51.520 --> 00:12:52.620 I ran a 400-meter. 00:12:52.700 --> 00:12:53.580 He ran a 400-meter. 00:12:53.680 --> 00:12:54.620 He's from another high school. 00:12:55.200 --> 00:12:56.160 And we were in counties. 00:12:56.460 --> 00:12:58.060 And I remember I took off in the finals. 00:12:58.540 --> 00:13:01.840 And I just remember this as vividly as if it was yesterday. 00:13:02.120 --> 00:13:02.880 I'm running. 00:13:02.879 --> 00:13:09.259 And you typically, if you know anything about 400 meters, you hit the wall somewhere in the last 110 meters, 120 meters. 00:13:09.360 --> 00:13:15.120 When you hit the wall, what happens is your body just, you know, in your mind, mentally, you know, you still see the goal. 00:13:15.200 --> 00:13:16.159 You're still trying to go somewhere. 00:13:16.580 --> 00:13:20.179 But your body is basically, you know, is not giving you any help. 00:13:20.240 --> 00:13:23.159 And typically when you're running, you hit that wall and you know you have to finish. 00:13:23.460 --> 00:13:25.100 And you hear everybody else coming. 00:13:25.279 --> 00:13:27.960 You start to hear the cleats start tracking through the track. 00:13:27.960 --> 00:13:31.820 And basically you end up, you know, you lose all energy. 00:13:32.019 --> 00:13:32.879 You lose all strength. 00:13:33.000 --> 00:13:36.420 So hitting the wall, you're really just, you're moving but you're really going nowhere. 00:13:36.519 --> 00:13:37.680 That's the point I'm trying to make. 00:13:39.040 --> 00:13:42.220 So Shur is in a region on Egypt's northeast border. 00:13:42.280 --> 00:13:45.920 And it was probably named after the wall that the Egyptians built to protect their border. 00:13:46.060 --> 00:13:51.519 But to put it another way, I think this depicts the clarity and brilliance of the God-inspired biblical writer. 00:13:51.519 --> 00:14:01.840 And that we can see that if you're running from where the Lord wants you to be and needs you to be, then you and I, like Hagar, are in fact running into or towards a wall. 00:14:01.939 --> 00:14:02.600 And that's the point. 00:14:02.980 --> 00:14:04.159 Ooh, I'm yelling into this. 00:14:05.460 --> 00:14:06.319 So let me say that again. 00:14:06.799 --> 00:14:19.759 If we're running from where the Lord wants us to be and needs us to be, then you and I, like Hagar, are in fact running into or running towards a wall. 00:14:19.759 --> 00:14:22.980 So she's really running into a wall. 00:14:23.220 --> 00:14:24.879 Hagar is going nowhere. 00:14:26.299 --> 00:14:36.240 Now when the angel of the Lord encounters her, not only does he know her name, but we see that he's intimately familiar with her song. 00:14:38.779 --> 00:14:40.179 God knows our song. 00:14:42.399 --> 00:14:43.659 How do we know this? 00:14:43.659 --> 00:14:52.039 In verse 11, the angel of the Lord says to Hagar, he has given heed to her affliction or misery, her suffering. 00:14:53.100 --> 00:14:57.959 Another translator writes, the Lord has listened to your affliction. 00:14:59.679 --> 00:15:08.759 In fact, God wants to make sure that Hagar never forgets that he heard because God takes it upon himself to name her son for her. 00:15:08.759 --> 00:15:13.639 God names him Ishmael, which means God hears. 00:15:14.840 --> 00:15:18.000 God sees, but God hears too. 00:15:19.519 --> 00:15:23.360 God, like with Hagar, hears the genre of our song. 00:15:23.460 --> 00:15:28.740 And in this case, we see that God is intimately familiar with blues type music. 00:15:28.939 --> 00:15:31.960 Meaning a sound that flows out of affliction and pain. 00:15:31.960 --> 00:15:37.780 And it is clear from the text that affliction has a sound because God said, no, I heard your affliction. 00:15:38.580 --> 00:15:40.840 Suffering has a sound and God hears it. 00:15:42.420 --> 00:15:43.840 Suffering has a sound. 00:15:44.440 --> 00:15:45.759 Affliction has a sound. 00:15:46.400 --> 00:15:47.600 And God hears it. 00:15:49.019 --> 00:15:52.240 It could be the sound of melancholy or sadness and sadness. 00:15:52.940 --> 00:15:57.139 A sound of pain, both physical, psychological, and emotional. 00:15:57.139 --> 00:16:07.659 It could be a sound of unfulfilled hopes and dreams that are stifled or hindered in the context of oppression or affliction that make you wonder if God even cares. 00:16:08.399 --> 00:16:09.559 But he does care. 00:16:11.080 --> 00:16:20.240 Now, because this is God or Yahweh, he knows something about the situation that Hagar does not know. 00:16:20.240 --> 00:16:29.580 So he does something that seems strange in that he tells her to go back to Sarai and to submit to her. 00:16:30.620 --> 00:16:36.580 Knowing her fears, knowing what drove her into the wilderness, to take her chances with the elements. 00:16:36.700 --> 00:16:40.820 But even as God does this, he immediately gives her hope. 00:16:41.820 --> 00:16:45.039 He does it, but he gives her hope right away. 00:16:45.039 --> 00:16:58.059 Whatever she may have went through with Sarai, God is basically making it clear to her that no matter what she was going through or what she would grow through when she returned, 00:16:59.039 --> 00:17:03.319 that it would not kill her, nor would it kill her unborn child. 00:17:04.799 --> 00:17:14.879 The angel of the Lord makes it clear that she will survive and that she would do so because an entire nation is counting on her survival. 00:17:15.039 --> 00:17:18.000 She's not just having a baby. 00:17:19.259 --> 00:17:24.159 There's an entire nation in her womb through Ishmael. 00:17:25.259 --> 00:17:26.740 And God's a God of his word. 00:17:29.539 --> 00:17:32.940 Can you imagine being sent back into a situation that's unbearable? 00:17:35.240 --> 00:17:40.460 What I've learned about those is those are typically those counter-blessing situations. 00:17:40.460 --> 00:17:50.059 I remember for about a year before I came out here, and I was thankful for the job, but I don't know if anybody had to do a job. 00:17:50.980 --> 00:17:55.559 Even though you're thankful for the job, but it was a very difficult situation. 00:17:57.019 --> 00:18:00.500 I had to do a job, and I'll tell you what it is, and I'm going to tell you the blessing I learned from it. 00:18:01.360 --> 00:18:02.559 Because I had to count my blessings. 00:18:02.559 --> 00:18:13.720 I had to do this job, and it's funny because the guy who typically, the regional manager said one time in a meeting, he said it was sales. 00:18:13.819 --> 00:18:17.359 He said, no one grows up saying this is what they're going to do. 00:18:17.799 --> 00:18:19.179 This is the industry they're going to work in. 00:18:19.759 --> 00:18:20.919 And it was pest control. 00:18:21.079 --> 00:18:23.619 I had to sell pest control to businesses. 00:18:23.619 --> 00:18:32.000 Now, if you know anything about pest control and sales, you have to, first of all, you have to take a test to basically do. 00:18:32.059 --> 00:18:35.319 You have to know all the bugs, and you have to know everything about rats and bugs. 00:18:35.439 --> 00:18:39.279 Anything you can think of you don't like that's a pest, you got to learn about it. 00:18:39.519 --> 00:18:40.839 I did it in California. 00:18:40.979 --> 00:18:42.419 There were two different tests I had to take. 00:18:42.479 --> 00:18:45.159 One test was, there was a termite test. 00:18:45.219 --> 00:18:48.319 I didn't have to take that, but if I stuck around long enough, I would have to take it. 00:18:48.559 --> 00:18:50.019 And there was one for just other pests. 00:18:51.339 --> 00:18:52.459 Taking a test is nothing. 00:18:52.460 --> 00:18:54.680 Going in and doing inspections. 00:18:55.559 --> 00:18:58.279 Having a rat jump two feet from your face. 00:19:00.720 --> 00:19:06.539 Especially if you're, I'm not a country guy, so I have friends who are country boys and country girls, 00:19:06.640 --> 00:19:11.880 and they're a little bit more at ease with dealing with pests and things that happen like that. 00:19:12.200 --> 00:19:13.079 I'm a city guy. 00:19:13.420 --> 00:19:17.420 So, basically, city guys don't like rats. 00:19:17.480 --> 00:19:20.160 But the bottom line was, I had to do that for a year. 00:19:20.160 --> 00:19:24.620 I had to do it in a very sort of dysfunctional context. 00:19:25.380 --> 00:19:27.440 I was grateful, but it was hard. 00:19:28.140 --> 00:19:29.019 It was unbearable. 00:19:29.420 --> 00:19:32.279 Now, let me tell you what the blessing was from it in hindsight. 00:19:32.279 --> 00:19:39.339 Now, I know right now, you put a house or business in front of me, I know how to pest proof it. 00:19:40.899 --> 00:19:41.639 You do a building. 00:19:41.740 --> 00:19:41.980 I don't care. 00:19:42.220 --> 00:19:51.839 I've done like 100 apartments or 100 unit apartment building, a stand, food stand, a food truck, whatever. 00:19:51.839 --> 00:19:53.799 I know how to pest proof stuff now. 00:19:53.939 --> 00:19:55.539 Just based on that experience. 00:19:56.299 --> 00:19:57.159 That's a blessing. 00:19:58.019 --> 00:20:02.359 Because now, when I buy a house, I should never have pests, right? 00:20:03.639 --> 00:20:05.319 Well, anyway, that's my illustration. 00:20:06.199 --> 00:20:07.299 Unbearable situation. 00:20:08.059 --> 00:20:09.779 Blessing in that unbearable situation. 00:20:09.899 --> 00:20:11.119 Now, he sends her back. 00:20:12.399 --> 00:20:13.779 Hagar, into that situation. 00:20:13.779 --> 00:20:14.599 That's unbearable. 00:20:15.359 --> 00:20:20.399 But we have to imagine that there was something the angel of the Lord said that brought peace to her heart. 00:20:21.539 --> 00:20:25.980 She was sent back into a difficult situation, and she was being given the grace to handle it. 00:20:26.219 --> 00:20:30.519 Theologian Howard Thurman once said in reference to the African-American struggle for civil rights, 00:20:30.799 --> 00:20:34.219 we had to handle our suffering instead of being handled by it. 00:20:34.219 --> 00:20:40.740 So she was being sent back with the grace of God to handle her suffering, whatever came from it. 00:20:41.139 --> 00:20:42.159 We don't know if it changed. 00:20:42.160 --> 00:20:45.519 We don't know if it stayed the same as opposed to being handled by it. 00:20:45.519 --> 00:20:46.420 But the Lord was with her. 00:20:47.680 --> 00:20:54.759 I imagine that what made the thought of returning easier to bear was the fact that the angel of the Lord gave her a clear vision for where her life was going, 00:20:54.840 --> 00:20:56.540 a vision that she never imagined before. 00:20:57.860 --> 00:20:59.360 She just thought she was having a baby. 00:20:59.440 --> 00:21:01.660 But again, you know, he's telling her, you're going to have a nation. 00:21:02.980 --> 00:21:07.400 Again, God revealed to Hagar what she had inside of her was not simply a baby. 00:21:07.440 --> 00:21:07.980 It was a nation. 00:21:07.980 --> 00:21:12.400 Here she is minding her own business and maybe thinking, cool, I'm about to have the son of Abram. 00:21:12.599 --> 00:21:14.779 But God was going far beyond such thinking. 00:21:14.920 --> 00:21:20.319 He was doing what the scripture tells us and demonstrates to us that the God who is no respecter of persons, 00:21:20.480 --> 00:21:26.700 who shows no partiality or favoritism, is capable and willing to do for those who trust him and take him at his word, 00:21:26.799 --> 00:21:30.920 which is Ephesians 3.20 declares, God is able to do far more abundantly. 00:21:30.920 --> 00:21:33.580 No, we can ask or think. 00:21:35.960 --> 00:21:37.140 Hagar learned this. 00:21:38.560 --> 00:21:42.900 So whatever Hagar may have been thinking about her future, God flipped the script in her thinking. 00:21:43.680 --> 00:21:44.840 He surprised her. 00:21:46.019 --> 00:21:47.400 He brought life to her. 00:21:47.960 --> 00:21:49.320 He brought peace to her. 00:21:49.820 --> 00:21:51.120 He brought joy to her. 00:21:51.800 --> 00:21:58.019 And quite possibly, much like he did Abram and Sarai later on, he put laughter in her soul. 00:21:59.019 --> 00:22:00.220 He gave her a new song. 00:22:00.299 --> 00:22:04.819 It was no longer the blues in an ancient Near Eastern sort of way. 00:22:05.940 --> 00:22:09.799 Now, he gave Hagar a vision that would make the struggle for her present more bearable, 00:22:10.200 --> 00:22:11.619 of her present more bearable. 00:22:11.720 --> 00:22:17.339 In her heart, she now had a sense of destiny that she may not have had before, 00:22:17.460 --> 00:22:18.879 and that would change her song. 00:22:18.960 --> 00:22:20.279 God gave her a new song. 00:22:21.740 --> 00:22:22.740 What was this song? 00:22:22.740 --> 00:22:28.839 Well, we need to look at another dimension of what the angel of the Lord does in this encounter 00:22:28.839 --> 00:22:31.240 before answering that question. 00:22:32.579 --> 00:22:38.039 Looking at verse 13, the narrator tells us in this verse, reading from English Standard Version, 00:22:38.460 --> 00:22:40.319 so he called the name of the Lord. 00:22:40.420 --> 00:22:42.579 So she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her. 00:22:43.319 --> 00:22:44.660 You are a God of seeing. 00:22:45.140 --> 00:22:49.799 For she said, truly, here I have seen him who looks after me. 00:22:49.799 --> 00:22:51.980 God sees Hagar. 00:22:54.000 --> 00:22:57.919 I remember one time when I had a young lady I was dating in L.A., 00:22:57.919 --> 00:23:01.500 and she used to say this to me, and I never really got it until now I get it now. 00:23:01.980 --> 00:23:05.220 And she would say, Evan, when something went wrong, Evan, you're not seeing me. 00:23:06.000 --> 00:23:09.019 And it always would stress me out because I was like, well, what am I not doing? 00:23:10.119 --> 00:23:12.419 But now I know what she meant, you know? 00:23:12.420 --> 00:23:13.700 And here's my point. 00:23:13.779 --> 00:23:18.580 Before Hagar got her new song, we have to understand that God knew the song that would be best for Hagar. 00:23:19.320 --> 00:23:22.140 Oftentimes, certain songs work best in certain contexts. 00:23:22.300 --> 00:23:26.800 You know, like if I had iTunes, I'm working out a certain song I play in my workout. 00:23:26.920 --> 00:23:27.759 It won't be the same song. 00:23:27.820 --> 00:23:28.580 It depends on my mood. 00:23:29.080 --> 00:23:33.259 But God knew where she was and knew that the song that she needed at that moment in time 00:23:33.259 --> 00:23:35.300 or the song that she would respond to. 00:23:35.299 --> 00:23:39.460 Now, how many people can think of their favorite song? 00:23:40.799 --> 00:23:42.500 It's hard to pick a favorite song for most of us. 00:23:42.680 --> 00:23:46.059 Sometimes what we want to hear will depend on our mood, like I said. 00:23:46.919 --> 00:23:49.240 But some songs will have you rocking out in the car. 00:23:50.200 --> 00:23:52.119 Some will have you lift your hands in praise. 00:23:52.279 --> 00:23:56.740 Some may make you cry, tears of joy type of crying or laugh or a sad song 00:23:56.740 --> 00:24:01.159 because Hagar is singing a sad song when God meets her on her way to Shur. 00:24:01.160 --> 00:24:06.380 But when she goes back to Abram and Sarai, we have to assume that her song has changed. 00:24:06.820 --> 00:24:10.920 And we have to assume that she's not going back with the same sad bluesy song, 00:24:10.980 --> 00:24:14.759 but a song of life, a song of vision, and a song of hope. 00:24:15.920 --> 00:24:20.980 And what we may have really, what may have really done it for Hagar, 00:24:21.180 --> 00:24:25.800 what may have really been the icing on the cake was God seeing her. 00:24:26.740 --> 00:24:28.100 God seeing her. 00:24:28.940 --> 00:24:29.759 What I mean. 00:24:31.160 --> 00:24:36.960 Well, the word see here speaks of a specific type of seeing. 00:24:38.500 --> 00:24:41.420 It is the idea of gazing at someone. 00:24:42.700 --> 00:24:48.220 In fact, it's an extremely intentional type of gazing. 00:24:50.200 --> 00:24:54.420 It's the type of intentional seeing where you're almost looking through someone, 00:24:54.840 --> 00:24:57.740 but it is done with affection and admiration. 00:24:57.740 --> 00:24:59.259 It's a gaze. 00:24:59.380 --> 00:25:00.460 God's looking at you. 00:25:00.900 --> 00:25:05.460 But he's looking at you a certain type of way with affection and admiration. 00:25:05.700 --> 00:25:08.720 It's like having someone that you love around you. 00:25:09.579 --> 00:25:12.880 A significant other, your child, and you just can't stop looking at them. 00:25:13.759 --> 00:25:17.720 And you want to do whatever you can to look out for them, love them, and care for them. 00:25:17.720 --> 00:25:21.519 And this morning, I got a chance to hang out with my goddaughter. 00:25:21.640 --> 00:25:22.140 She's three. 00:25:22.839 --> 00:25:24.960 And when she came up to me, she ran up to me. 00:25:25.059 --> 00:25:25.680 I haven't seen her in a while. 00:25:25.980 --> 00:25:29.039 And she buried her head in my leg and gave me a hug. 00:25:29.039 --> 00:25:34.180 And the time I spent with her, I left there saying, leaving there thinking, 00:25:34.500 --> 00:25:35.879 I want to look out for that girl. 00:25:35.940 --> 00:25:36.279 She's three. 00:25:36.619 --> 00:25:38.680 I want to be that person who looks out for her. 00:25:39.399 --> 00:25:39.579 You know? 00:25:39.920 --> 00:25:44.960 So I had that, I guess that gaze in sort of an Evan sort of way on my three-year-old goddaughter. 00:25:46.259 --> 00:25:50.339 So God is looking at her with affection and admiration. 00:25:50.500 --> 00:25:56.099 Hagar was able to recognize this type of gaze from God because she walked away knowing that God loved her 00:25:56.099 --> 00:25:57.799 and that God cares. 00:26:01.639 --> 00:26:06.480 There's a song I used to listen to in college, even before I was serving God. 00:26:06.839 --> 00:26:07.839 And it always struck me. 00:26:07.859 --> 00:26:11.459 It was a song called God Cares by Sounds of Blackness. 00:26:13.480 --> 00:26:15.480 Lyrics go, God cares all about you. 00:26:16.059 --> 00:26:17.659 And he'll be there to see you through. 00:26:18.579 --> 00:26:21.159 And when no one will comfort you, he'll care about you. 00:26:21.980 --> 00:26:23.459 God cares all about you. 00:26:23.460 --> 00:26:25.759 And he'll be there when you're feeling blue. 00:26:25.860 --> 00:26:31.000 And when your life has broken you, he'll care about you. 00:26:33.680 --> 00:26:38.140 In the gaze of God, Hagar knew God cared. 00:26:39.380 --> 00:26:44.640 So even before she leaves the wilderness, Hagar knows that she will be all right. 00:26:45.279 --> 00:26:46.799 She knows that she is loved. 00:26:47.059 --> 00:26:51.000 She knows that this God who has revealed himself to her cares deeply about her. 00:26:51.000 --> 00:26:58.019 Her statement in verse 13 implies that she knows that God would also look out for her, look after her. 00:26:58.059 --> 00:27:05.279 Because even after she has seen this God, and in ancient Eastern culture, you were not expected to see God and live. 00:27:05.619 --> 00:27:07.140 She experienced God's grace. 00:27:07.140 --> 00:27:20.340 And because of all these things, she becomes assured that not only will she survive and that her baby will survive, but add a whole nation that she's birthing into the mix. 00:27:20.420 --> 00:27:25.280 And you have to understand that she even understands that her life will never be the same again. 00:27:26.720 --> 00:27:28.060 God gave her a new song. 00:27:28.059 --> 00:27:31.619 You see, God's a giver of songs. 00:27:33.139 --> 00:27:34.480 God's a great songwriter. 00:27:35.960 --> 00:27:41.480 A brilliant lyricist who will gaze into our souls and create the songs just for you and for me. 00:27:43.299 --> 00:27:46.720 God wants to get the glory, all the glory for our song. 00:27:46.720 --> 00:27:59.920 God even does this with Hagar by making sure that in the process of this vision that he has given her, being worked out in her life, that she will never forget that the beautiful song she now has came from her encounter with him. 00:28:02.120 --> 00:28:07.160 Like he did for Hagar, God will leave us something to remember his grace by day in and day out. 00:28:07.480 --> 00:28:09.559 Morning by morning, we will see new mercies. 00:28:09.960 --> 00:28:11.700 God will never give us leftover mercy. 00:28:11.700 --> 00:28:17.000 My pastor used to say that in the late, he said, God doesn't give us leftover mercy. 00:28:17.100 --> 00:28:18.779 Every morning he gives us brand new mercy. 00:28:20.960 --> 00:28:24.880 For Hagar, it would be Ishmael and the nation that would follow. 00:28:26.180 --> 00:28:29.700 And I am sure much more than that, than it's mentioned here. 00:28:30.940 --> 00:28:35.000 These would be blessings to remember God's mercy by for Hagar. 00:28:35.000 --> 00:28:45.599 And this will also come to understand that, like, understand like Hagar that, that God's grace is not only a merited favor or a generous gift, but it is. 00:28:46.019 --> 00:28:48.960 And I always said this, say this all the time, it's indescribably kind. 00:28:49.779 --> 00:28:51.819 God's grace is indescribably kind. 00:28:52.480 --> 00:28:55.319 God's grace is indescribably kind. 00:28:55.319 --> 00:29:05.079 You see, in Hagar and even Sarai, who assumed that God was not going to bless her like she would with a son, this is Sarai, 00:29:05.859 --> 00:29:12.460 know how the limited knowledge in a person's current circumstance, in both current circumstances, their limited knowledge, 00:29:12.779 --> 00:29:16.859 can limit their view of God and his grace and then imprison them to a point, 00:29:17.159 --> 00:29:22.279 even a point where we can see Hagar and Sarai in their relationship, the drama interrupted. 00:29:22.279 --> 00:29:31.160 And we, we, you and I, will do no better if we're not taking God at his word. 00:29:33.559 --> 00:29:42.759 But even then, we see that an all-powerful, all-knowing God can usurp consequences, 00:29:43.980 --> 00:29:49.220 the consequences of our finite perspectives, and gives us a new song to sing. 00:29:52.279 --> 00:30:03.079 God can usurp the consequences of our finite perspectives, and gives us, give us a new song to sing. 00:30:05.740 --> 00:30:11.960 There's a song, it's funny, I heard a while back, and this, as I was writing this, it's reminding me of it. 00:30:12.000 --> 00:30:14.759 There's a song called His Favorite Song of All. 00:30:15.759 --> 00:30:16.940 I don't know if you're familiar with it. 00:30:16.940 --> 00:30:21.920 It's written by the, well, I don't know if it's written by the Brooklyn Tide, but it's sung by them. 00:30:22.680 --> 00:30:26.440 And the lyrics go, but His favorite song of all, you're familiar with it, I sing it. 00:30:27.039 --> 00:30:28.640 It's a song of the redeemed. 00:30:28.640 --> 00:30:36.560 When lost sinners are now made clean, lift their voices loud and strong. 00:30:37.620 --> 00:30:42.600 When those purchased by His blood lift to Him a song of love. 00:30:43.820 --> 00:30:51.000 Nothing more He'd rather hear, nor so pleasing to His ear as His favorite song of all. 00:30:51.000 --> 00:30:58.200 In closing, the question begs again. 00:30:59.799 --> 00:31:02.799 What is Hagar's new song? 00:31:05.740 --> 00:31:12.640 In our most modern context, I imagine the lyrics could have went something like this. 00:31:12.640 --> 00:31:17.440 In the stars, His handiwork I see. 00:31:19.040 --> 00:31:24.440 On the wind, He speaks with majesty, though He ruleth over land and sea. 00:31:25.400 --> 00:31:26.280 What is that to me? 00:31:27.580 --> 00:31:31.860 I will celebrate nativity, for it has a place in history. 00:31:32.480 --> 00:31:34.160 Sure, He came to set His people free. 00:31:35.180 --> 00:31:36.380 What is that to me? 00:31:36.380 --> 00:31:47.820 Till I met the Savior, or till I met Him face to face, and I felt the wonder of His grace. 00:31:48.680 --> 00:31:53.100 Then I knew that He was more than just a God who didn't care. 00:31:54.520 --> 00:31:58.740 That lived a way out there, and now He walks beside me day by day. 00:31:59.860 --> 00:32:02.260 Ever watching on me lest I stray. 00:32:02.259 --> 00:32:05.980 Helping me to find the narrow way. 00:32:07.099 --> 00:32:08.400 He's everything to me. 00:32:09.799 --> 00:32:15.539 I imagine that if Hagar chose to continue to walk with God who saw her, like really, truly saw her, 00:32:17.299 --> 00:32:19.879 then this would be Hagar's new song. 00:32:21.299 --> 00:32:26.000 A song of deliverance, salvation, purpose, grace. 00:32:26.000 --> 00:32:29.220 From a God who cares. 00:32:31.519 --> 00:32:35.400 And from a God who hears the sound of your suffering and sees all. 00:32:37.119 --> 00:32:37.779 God bless you. 00:32:39.299 --> 00:32:40.119 Let's bow our heads in prayer. 00:32:44.180 --> 00:32:47.880 Holy God, we just want to thank you for your faithfulness again. 00:32:47.960 --> 00:32:51.920 We thank you once again that you hear our song, Lord God. 00:32:51.920 --> 00:32:53.500 You hear our affliction. 00:32:54.820 --> 00:32:55.700 You respond. 00:32:55.840 --> 00:32:56.220 You hear. 00:32:56.320 --> 00:32:56.759 You see. 00:32:57.680 --> 00:32:59.279 You pour out your grace on us. 00:33:02.680 --> 00:33:10.259 Lord, we know that even as we go forward into the week, Lord, we've come in sort of to your presence with challenges out there. 00:33:10.320 --> 00:33:12.680 And we're going back to some of the same challenges, Lord God. 00:33:12.800 --> 00:33:14.480 Some of which might be unbearable. 00:33:14.480 --> 00:33:23.480 But God, we thank you for your grace that allows us to bear up under those challenges, Lord God. 00:33:23.559 --> 00:33:24.759 We thank you for your mercy. 00:33:25.620 --> 00:33:33.759 We thank you for your power, Lord God, through the power of the Holy Spirit to have victory over those same unbearable situations. 00:33:33.920 --> 00:33:41.759 We thank you, Lord God, for your salvation in Jesus Christ that gives us hope in a world, Lord God, that's full of nihilism, Lord God. 00:33:41.759 --> 00:33:47.379 And tend to sort of lean toward hopelessness, Lord God. 00:33:47.440 --> 00:33:49.759 But as your church, we know we have hope. 00:33:49.779 --> 00:33:50.920 And that hope has power. 00:33:52.420 --> 00:33:53.740 Lord, we thank you for your word. 00:33:53.839 --> 00:33:57.559 We thank you for what you've done, what you're doing right now. 00:33:58.039 --> 00:34:02.599 What you're going to do as we go forward, Lord God, trusting that you know our song. 00:34:02.759 --> 00:34:04.920 Trusting that in Christ you gave us a new song. 00:34:04.920 --> 00:34:11.960 And we can walk in that with our heads held high, knowing, Lord God, that we have the victory in Jesus. 00:34:12.180 --> 00:34:12.920 Thank you, Lord God. 00:34:13.039 --> 00:34:13.920 In Jesus' name we pray. 00:34:14.220 --> 00:34:14.500 Amen.