No one wins in those situations, and Hagar took the brunt of the battle, feeling forced to flee from Sarah and Abraham. She headed off into the desert of Shur, probably intending to return to her relatives in Egypt. She was really fleeing from her troubles rather than facing them head-on.
In any case, wearied and exhausted from her flight, Hagar found herself all alone is a desolate desert. There the Bible tells us “the Angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness.” God had been watching her every move and knew just where she was. Hagar discovered God was ‘the God who sees me.’
Not only was God watching over Hagar, however, for the Bible also tells us “the Lord has heard your affliction.” What Hagar was saying we are not told, but we can imagine it was not “Praise the Lord!” But God was listening to the hurting cry of this seemingly insignificant slave girl! He is ‘the God who hears me.’
God was watching, and God was listening, but what good was that if God didn’t do something about it? Well, probably not much. But God did do something about it. He didn’t relieve her of the responsibilities from which she was running. In fact, God told Hagar to go back and ‘face the music.’ He gave her the strength to do the right thing, even when doing the right thing was difficult. Now that is a refreshing quality! God is ‘the God who refreshes me’ even in the desert places. Often we find ourselves in the desert places of life: a marriage falling apart; a prognosis of an incurable disease; impending financial disaster; the loss of a job; heartaches caused by friends, co-workers or even family members; the death of a loved-one. In those times we can run into the desert, or we can run to the God of the desert places.
Let me suggest the better option is the second one: run to the God of the desert places. You’ll find He is the God Who sees you, Who hears you, and Who refreshes you.
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