G’day from Steve,

THE REVELATION OF NOT BELONGING.

She was a slave girl. Brought at a price from Egypt to serve her master and his wife. Abram and Sarai. In particular she was the maidservant to Sarah. After years of frustration and waiting for a promise God had given that a son would be born to them, Abram and Sarai agreed that if Abram slept with Hagar, the beautiful Egyptian maidservant they could have a child by her… So she submitted and before long became pregnant to Abram. It was then the jealousy and hatred began between Sarai and her servant. So much so that the young woman fled on a number of occasions.

He slept with Hagar, and she conceived.When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress. Then Sarai said to Abram, “You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my slave in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the LORD judge between you and me.” “Your slave is in your hands,” Abram said. “Do with her whatever you think best.” Then Sarai mistreated Hagar; so she fled from her. The angel of the LORD found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. And he said, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?” “I’m running away from my mistress Sarai,” she answered. Then the angel of the LORD told her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her.” The angel added, “I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count.” Genesis 16: 4-9

Sometimes you find you just don’t belong. Like a Scottish Thistle in a field at harvest time. You become a curse to everything around you. I remember as a young teenager walking a 50 acre field gathering every Scotch thistle plant that had been cut along with the grass. I had been offered $4 by the land owner to clear the field of every thistle. They no longer belonged with the harvest. So before the hay bailing tractor turned up it was my job to clear the field. It was hot and dry. The field seemed huge… but along with my brother and sister we got the work completed.

God had not forgotten or abandoned the young Egyptian slave girl. He had promises for her and her future. Just as He does for you and me.

Then the angel of the LORD told her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her.” The angel added, “I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count.” The angel of the LORD also said to her: “You are now pregnant and you will give birth to a son. You shall name him Ishmael, for the LORD has heard of your misery. He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers.” She gave this name to the LORD who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.” Genesis 16:9 – 13

Even when you feel like you no longer belong… or fit in…. just hang in there and keep serving. God is faithful to you despite the agenda’s of others. God was faithful to Hagar, who ultimately kept serving despite the pain. Abram was 86 years old when his son Ishmael was born. And he loved him. It is an amazing story of God’s grace… despite our failures and feeble attempts in life at times.. God is full of grace towards us.

No matter what… You will always belong. Because of Jesus you belong. As Hagar spoke out.. “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.”

Godspeed,