Introduction ~
Of the many themes God has woven into His grand saga of redemption, His preoccupation with territories generally known as the “wilderness” is one of the more intriguing. The fact that places described as a wilderness exist at all is a graphic testimony to the extensive impact of the rebellion of God’s first image bearers in Eden. We can imagine Satan pointing to a dry, barren wilderness and saying something to God like, “Just look at what I’ve been able to do to that beautiful, thriving, productive, self-sustaining global garden You made.” Of course, God could have transformed the desert back into its original form any time He wanted to – but He had a more extensive plan in mind. As Paul would eventually declare, the world and its entire landscape will eventually be redeemed, restored, and reshaped but God’s first priority was to redeem the people who would inhabit it.
An Unexpected Response ~
But God didn’t just ignore those territories that seem to highlight the devastating environmental impact of sin represented by the wilderness. Instead, He decided to invade that sin-cursed territory and use it as a “training ground” for molding and shaping the
people who would invade Satan’s empires and turn their pleasure palaces into a wilderness more barren and empty than any desert on earth. The Living God, who will not be mocked, chose the wilderness and its ominous landscape as a backdrop for some of the most astonishing revelations of His character and demonstrations of His power that the world has ever seen. For instance:
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- The hidden and potentially lethal dangers of the wilderness highlighted the demonstrations of His ability to defend and protect His people.
- The wilderness’ scarcity of virtually everything there emphasized His power to provide anything His people might need.
- The challenges of the wilderness became a hands-on laboratory for teaching His people that freedom from bondage brings with it personal responsibility and accountability.
It’s paradoxical, yet so like God, to choose a place most people prefer to avoid as a venue to reveal Himself and interact with His people on a personal level. Although we may never find ourselves stranded in a Middle Eastern desert, the lessons He taught there are for all 
of us. At one time or another, it’s likely that most of us can easily recognize that the wilderness is not always just a geographical location, but whatever form the wilderness takes, it’s always barren, empty, and frightening. In light of that, in the weeks ahead, we’ll be exploring a few of those unexpected wilderness meetings. Some of the things God taught in the hot sands of Sinai so many years ago still apply in the wastelands of the godless culture surrounding us today.
Our First Desert Rendezvous ~
This first journey is actually the initial stage of a two-part wilderness story that begins in Genesis 16:1-16 and concludes in Genesis 21:9-21. Together, the passages chronicle the saga of Abraham’s Egyptian slave, Hagar, who became the mother of his first son, Ishmael. Their story begins by pointing out his wife, Sarai’s distress over being childless. In that culture a woman’s failure to bear children was a social stigma with an impact greater than anything most of us Westerners can relate to. Most in her day considered a failure to produce offspring to be a curse from God for some kind of hidden sin or character flaw.
In an effort to escape the community’s negative judgment and revive her failed legacy, Sarai concocted a plan to use her Egyptian maidservant as a surrogate and then adopt the child and claim it as her own. When she presented it to Abram, he went along with the scheme and did his part. Everything went according to plan for a while. But then, unexpected consequences began to emerge.
Altered Attitudes ~
Once it was clear that Hagar was pregnant, her attitude toward her mistress changed dramatically. Hagar apparently felt that since she was the one providing the heir, she had earned the right to be treated as the number one “wife.” Hagar’s disrespect and
resentment was obvious, and it prompted Sarai to confront Abram about it. She declared that it was all his fault and furthermore, that God was on her side. Abram’s response was basically, “Look, she’s your servant, and this is your mess, so handle it any way you want – and stop bothering me.”
With that, Sarai’s treatment of Hagar became increasingly abusive and eventually, Hagar chose to run away. Her choice was one borne of abject desperation because at that time, it’s hard to imagine a more helpless situation than a woman being unattached, unprotected, and alone. Add pregnancy to that equation and the vulnerabilities increase exponentially. But Hagar chose to leave anyway and managed to make her way to a desert spring in the wilderness of Shur – and that’s where God decided to intervene:.
Now the Angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur. And He said, “Hagar, Sarai’s maid, where have you come from, and where are you going?”
She said, “I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai.”
The Angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit yourself under her hand.” Then the Angel of the Lord said to her, “I will multiply your descendants exceedingly, so that they shall not be counted for multitude.” (Genesis 16:7–10 NKJV)
Encouraging Revelations ~
Hagar’s interactions with God in the wilderness are filled with familiar principles and 
lessons that have been written about and preached for thousands of years. That’s because, like Hagar, we, too, can find ourselves helplessly mired in circumstances beyond our control, desperately seeking escape. At times like that we can draw powerful encouragement from God’s response to this frightened, desperate runaway slave which demonstrate things like this:
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- It was God who found Hagar – not the other way around. Instead of requiring Hagar to seek out some kind of certified religious cleric, God came to where she was.
- God didn’t wait until she was in some kind of sanctified environment and in a spiritual mood. He came to her in the most desperate set of circumstances she had ever faced.
- God’s deliverance and provision for Hagar were not the result of any efforts or accomplishments on her part. All she provided was obedience.
Adding to those familiar truths, there are other priceless tidbits to consider that we may not think about as readily:
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- Our perspective is always limited, but especially so in the midst of a crisis situation. Hagar had no idea where she fit or how important she was in the context of God’s overall plan for the family she was attached to and the impact her son would have on the nations that would follow them. The point is that the God who gave us life did not
create us to be indiscriminate, irrelevant microbes in His grand redemptive plan. We can rest assured that when crises overwhelm us and we wander into a wilderness, our Father will find us and put us back where we belong. - Hagar found herself in a situation she didn’t choose. She was a slave – not a prominent lifestyle choice for a young woman. Secondly, she was forced to yield her body to someone she wouldn’t have chosen to have intimate contact with. Then, she would have to suffer the pain of childbirth only to surrender her baby to someone else. If anyone ever could have claimed to be victimized, it was Hagar. But the God who showed up for her in the wilderness showed once again that He is in the business of turning victims into vessels.
- We New Testament Christians love to quote John’s declaration that God so loved the world… Hagar wasn’t biologically connected to Abraham. Nor was she a direct beneficiary of the Covenant God established with him, but she had a place in God’s heart and in His plan – and He had some promises specifically for her. Sometimes it takes a desperate moment in a forbidding place to discover what God really intends to do with and for us.
- Our perspective is always limited, but especially so in the midst of a crisis situation. Hagar had no idea where she fit or how important she was in the context of God’s overall plan for the family she was attached to and the impact her son would have on the nations that would follow them. The point is that the God who gave us life did not
So, whether your situation is a garden of delights, a barren wasteland, or something in between, God knows where you are and will show up with what you need when you most need it most. For the moment, though, we’ll wrap up today’s session by reminding you that Hagar’s wilderness rendezvous with God was not a “one and done” experience. We’d love you to join us again next week when we’ll take a look at her second appointment.
“TWEETABLES” ~ Click to tweet and share from the pull quotes below. Each one links directly back to this article through Twitter . . .
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- It was God who found Hagar – not the other way around. Instead of requiring Hagar to seek out some kind of certified religious cleric, God came to where she was. @GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet)
- God didn’t wait until Hagar was n a sanctified environment and spiritual mood but came to her n the most desperate circumstances she’d ever faced. Deliverance and provision came not from efforts or accomplishments on her part, but from obedience. @GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet)
- The God who gave us life didn’t create us to be indiscriminate, irrelevant microbes in His grand redemptive plan. We can rest assured that when crises overwhelm us and we wander into a wilderness, our Father will find us and put us back where we belong. @GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet)
- If anyone ever could have claimed to be victimized, it was Hagar. But the God who showed up for her in the wilderness showed once again that He is in the business of turning victims into vessels. @GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet)
- Hagar had a place in both God’s heart and His plan, and He had some promises specifically for her. Sometimes it takes a desperate moment in a forbidding place to discover what God really intends to do with and for us. @GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet)
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