So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. He slept with Hagar, and she conceived.
When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress. Genesis 16:3-5
Jealousy. It's a horrible, evil thing. I think that lost all of human sin can be traced back to jealousy. The dictionary's definition of jealousy is, "envious resentment against a rival, a person enjoying success or advantage, etc., or against another's success or advantage itself." Basically, wanting what you don't have, but someone else does have, but you don't want them to have!
But Hagar had an advantage over Sarah. She was the one who was pregnant. What did Sarah have that Hagar wanted?
The man. The wealth. The respect. The choice.
Sarah had it all. All but a baby. Hagar had the baby, so to Sarah, Hagar hd it all.
What a tangled web. No matter what happens, when we look round, we will always see ourselves in want, our neighbor in plenty. We will always be at the shallow end of the pool!
But you know what I love about this story? How God's redeeming grace finds us, wherever we are. We can run, but we can't hide from Him. Look at these verses from later in Hagar's story:
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.”
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.”
Hagar had a unique and wonderful opportunity to meet the God of her master, Abraham. What a connection she made with God. And what a lesson she learned: in the depths of despair, God was there. He didn't shame her because of her inadequacy, her sin of jealousy. He met her right where she was, both literally and figuratively.
He will do the same for you! He will meet you right where you are. Sin never gets you what you want, not really. It may meet your immediate demand but will never serve your long term needs. YOU serve sin, not the other way around.
Jealousy is a terrible mistress. Are you willing to leave sin behind, and meet the God Who Sees You?
No comments:
Post a Comment