When Hagar runs away from her seemingly intolerable situation with Abram and Sarai God sends an angel to Hagar. The angel asks a question not unlike the question that God once asked of Adam: "Where are you?" (Genesis 3:9)
The angel's question is: "...where have you come from, and where are you going?" (Genesis 16:8a)
Hagar has an answer for the first part of the question, but not the second part. (Genesis 16:8b) She is running away.
So the angel answers the second part of the question put to Hagar: "Go back to your mistress and submit to her." (Genesis 16:9)
In my "fight or flight" reactions to life's questions I, like Hagar, have often known my point of departure, that is, what I "ran from." I have less often known either my direction or destination, that is, where I tried to "run to." Better to pause before reacting, think things through, seek God's guidance (listen for an angel), and then choose a direction and a destination...
God declares a covenant with Abram in Genesis 15. In Genesis 16 Abram and Sarai grow impatient with God's timing and try to take charge of the covenant themselves. God again declares a covenant with Abram in Genesis 17, changing Abram's name to "Abraham" in the process. In Genesis 18 God declares a covenant with Abram/Abraham for a third time. God is determined both to make a covenant and to convince Abram/Abraham that a covenant has been made.
God is serious where God's covenants are concerned!
No comments:
Post a Comment