He hears you...

The silent, sometimes thoughtless, prayers from very young to young adult.  Wanting to be loved.  Not knowing what love really meant.  My cries, my tears, He heard it all.  He heard me and responded when I believed that I would never be loved.  He is the God who hears...

Hagar, a beautiful young Egyptian woman, slave in the house of Abram.  She has conceived a child and is angry.  The circumstances were not what she asked for.  Forced to lie with a man probably four times her age.  A husband who would never be her own.  Yes, she's bitter.

Her mistress is "contentious."  Sarai is her name, and her name means "contentious"... "argumentative."  If you deal contemptuously with a woman who is contentious, you can expect to be treated harshly.  But maybe that's not what Hagar expected.  So she runs away.  (Gen. 16:1-6)

That's where the angel of the Lord steps in.  He has seen her by a well, and He gives her unborn baby a name.  His name will be Ishmael, which means "God hears."  Indeed, He does.  Genesis 16:11 says, "...the Lord has listened to your affliction."

She must have been relieved, because she followed the Lord's instruction, and went back to her mistress.  She submitted to her authority, gave birth to a son, and continued in service to Sarah for the next fourteen years.  Until, Isaac is born. (Gen. 21:1-7)

The child of Promise.  Born by the Spirit, according to the Lord's perfect will... and providential timing.  (Or is it providential will and perfect timing?)  Ishmael is old enough to tease his baby brother.  To mock him with laughter... an irony that doesn't suit the one who is now called "Princess."  Sarai has become Sarah.  Grace extended in spite of her folly; the Lord has redeemed her faithlessness, and made her faithful.  She is angry that her son (Isaac's name means laughter) is being laughed at, and casts out the bondwoman and her son.  (Gen. 21:8-14)

Wandering in the desert, mother and son are hungry and parched.  Dying of thirst, the boy, now about 16 years old, is set beneath a bush while his mother continues across an open field.  Imagine an arrow being shot from a bow... the distance covered is the distance between mother and son.  She can't bear to watch him die, and he cries.

Again, the voice of an angel: "God has heard the voice of the boy."  She drinks from the well the Lord has provided, shares it with her son, and the two are revived.  It is in the wilderness of Paran (back towards Egypt) that they take up residence, and there they remain.  (Gen 21:15-21)

How often have I cried, not acknowledging that the God of creation hears my voice?  How often has He provided for my needs, and I neglect to give Him honor?  What a comfort to know He hears... and acts on behalf of those whose hearts are His.  James 5:16 says, "Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed.  The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working." (ESV)  I have more than Hagar did.  I have been granted faith.  I pray that I remember it, and use it... for God's glory, as well as my good.