Sarah and Hagar are so closely linked to
who Hagar was as a woman.
She was a young girl sent away from her home, travelled many miles to live with Abraham and Sarah's family, to be their servant. Hagar and Sarah had a mistress/maid relationship and over time grew to be friends. Then when Sarah couldn't get pregnant with the child God had promised, she grew impatient and came up with her own plan to give Hagar to her husband so she could conceive a child for Abraham. Hagar didn't want to become Abraham's wife, but on the flip side of the coin, she felt honored to be the wife of such a well-respected man (back in those days it was accepted to have multiple wives).
When Hagar got pregnant, her pride grew as Sarah's jealousy grew. The consequences to that decision snowballed and didn't stop snowballing for many, many years. God had a plan and Sarah pursued her own plan, and it caused a lot of heartache, pain and jealousy.
Hagar suffered the consequences to that decision as well. She couldn't bare facing her mistress any longer and being treated with such resentment, she couldn't take another day living in that house so she fled to the desert. But God. . . . came to Hagar and told her to humble herself and return to them. She humbly obeyed and returned.
There's a lot we can learn from Hagar.
She left her home, her family.
She served in a family for many years.
She gave birth to a child with another woman's husband.
She was treated poorly out of Sarah's jealousy.
She was still a woman with human emotion.
She had her own sin to deal with.
She fled the home.
She had to return to face her mistress.
She obeyed God.
Is there a time in your life when you grew impatient, pursued your own plans and suffered the consequences? That's more Sarah's lesson and Hagar may not have had much choice in the matter, but she allowed pride to build her up. Our human tendency as women is to be jealous like Sarah or prideful like Hagar, but God continues to break us and mold us to be humble, always humbling us and making us more like servants.
Question is-- are we moldable and humble to be like servants?
who Hagar was as a woman.
She was a young girl sent away from her home, travelled many miles to live with Abraham and Sarah's family, to be their servant. Hagar and Sarah had a mistress/maid relationship and over time grew to be friends. Then when Sarah couldn't get pregnant with the child God had promised, she grew impatient and came up with her own plan to give Hagar to her husband so she could conceive a child for Abraham. Hagar didn't want to become Abraham's wife, but on the flip side of the coin, she felt honored to be the wife of such a well-respected man (back in those days it was accepted to have multiple wives).
When Hagar got pregnant, her pride grew as Sarah's jealousy grew. The consequences to that decision snowballed and didn't stop snowballing for many, many years. God had a plan and Sarah pursued her own plan, and it caused a lot of heartache, pain and jealousy.
Hagar suffered the consequences to that decision as well. She couldn't bare facing her mistress any longer and being treated with such resentment, she couldn't take another day living in that house so she fled to the desert. But God. . . . came to Hagar and told her to humble herself and return to them. She humbly obeyed and returned.
There's a lot we can learn from Hagar.
She left her home, her family.
She served in a family for many years.
She gave birth to a child with another woman's husband.
She was treated poorly out of Sarah's jealousy.
She was still a woman with human emotion.
She had her own sin to deal with.
She fled the home.
She had to return to face her mistress.
She obeyed God.
Is there a time in your life when you grew impatient, pursued your own plans and suffered the consequences? That's more Sarah's lesson and Hagar may not have had much choice in the matter, but she allowed pride to build her up. Our human tendency as women is to be jealous like Sarah or prideful like Hagar, but God continues to break us and mold us to be humble, always humbling us and making us more like servants.
Question is-- are we moldable and humble to be like servants?
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