Thursday 28th January 2021
WHERE ARE YOU GOING?
Scripture Reading: Genesis 16
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.” (Genesis 16:8)
Hagar was a victim of circumstances. She was a maid to Sarah, Abraham’s wife. Her mistress, Sarah, asked her to play a role that later backfired. Instead of taking responsibility for what had gone wrong, Sarah set out to victimize Hagar. In frustration, Hagar fled the home of Abraham into the wilderness.
It was in the wilderness that the angel of the Lord met her. The angel asked, ‘where have you come from, and where are you going?’ Eventually, the angel of the Lord asked Hagar to go back to continue serving Sarah.
Hagar’s answer to the angel was intriguing. The angel asked where she was going to, and her response did not have any sense of direction. Hagar said, ‘I am fleeing from Sarah’. Her answer would have been suitable if the question was, ‘what are you doing?’ We see that Hagar had no idea where she was going. She was frustrated with Sarah’s ill-treatment and had taken a rash decision that got her stuck in the middle of nowhere.
We can learn a few lessons from Hagar’s life and choices.
- Don’t be led by your frustration. Life has a way of frustrating each of us. We could be frustrated as Hagar was, with our homes or workplaces. As irritated as we could be with how people treat us, that feeling should not be the only force that drives our decision to move from one place to the other.
- Don’t leave God out of your plans. When we allow pain to drive our actions, we move the Lord from the driver’s seat of our lives. We must acknowledge the Lord in all of our plans. That is when He directs our paths.
- Don’t consider retracing your steps as defeat. The angel of the Lord told Hagar to do something challenging. He told Hagar to go back to the house of Abraham. Imagine the shame and sense of defeat she felt to return to the place she had just left. Yet, Hagar swallowed her pride and did the right thing. It takes a lot of courage to go back when you know you made a mistake by leaving where you used to be.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, I know that your eyes are always on me. Help me not to make rash decisions in life. In Jesus’ name, Amen!