The Secret Weapon - Genesis 16 Series

It says – “Truly here I have seen him who looks after me.” Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi; it lies between Kadesh and Bered. And Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram called the name of his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael. Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.

I want you to realize that in a difficult situation where they made a mistake, Abraham and Sarah made a mistake. It resulted in a conflicting family situation. But I want you to see God is still working in the midst of that. I don’t want you to think oh because we made mistakes in our family and there’s a divorce, or there’s a complication here, or I’m a single mom, or something like that that God isn’t working. God works in the lives of people continually, no matter what their situation is. And God is definitely working in this situation.

As I said, as God the Counselor comes into this situation there are three people all broken. We’re focusing on Hagar right now and her mistreatment and what God is doing in her life. But God is going to take Sarah and little bit later He’s going to say, “Okay, I’m going to work with Sarah now.” And He’s going to take Abraham and say, “Okay Abraham, I’m going to work with you.” And He’s going to help each person in this. Because in a complicated family situation, God is working in the lives of each person individually. Yes, we work things out in a family and God’s sanctifying work takes place when we rub up against each other. But God is doing something special in each of the lives of these people. And today we’re focusing in on Hagar and what God is doing.

Which brings me back to the secret weapon. Because when you try to confront, which is good. When you try to ignore, which is good. When you try to get help, which is good. And those things aren’t working and you’re still being mistreated… That is you’re in middle school and the girls won’t let you into their little group. Or you’re in high school and there are some Facebook posts that are misunderstanding and misrepresenting you. Or you’re in a job where you’re trying to do what’s right and people are mistreating you in the midst of that, bad things are happening. That’s when you need the secret weapon. You need to be able to come to the Lord and say, “Lord, I can’t handle this mistreatment and if I keep trying to handle it, it’s going to ruin me. I’m going to become an ugly person inside.”

So I want to go back to that passage now in 1 Peter 2 and I want to read it to you. And just imagine, Hagar is going back into a difficult situation. Look at what God says to all of us in 1 Peter 2. He starts by talking to slaves in verse 18. He says – Slaves, in reverent fear of God submit yourselves to your masters, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh.

So he starts out by talking about slaves. But now he’s going to move it to everyone. He’s going to move outside of the slave application to everyone and he says this in the next verse. For it is commendable if someone (if anyone, not just the slave, but anyone) bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because they are conscious of God. Literally translated their conscience is facing toward God. That is, they are doing the right thing.