Hagar:  When God’s Best Servants Fail Us

By Brother Mezahra

She was an Egyptian maid, probably enslaved since childhood, taught to believe she is nothing more than a slave, with no rights to liberty or the chance to choose her own destiny. She watched others enjoy what she felt she could never have. She wanted and desired to be like them. Instead of getting her heart’s longing, she was crushed with the harsh realities of slavery. Slavery was a situational reality that taught her to believe she will never have her heart’s ambitions. The maid’s name was Hagar.

The mere fact that a lady lived, for as much as a day, in such circumstances, reveals the depth of sorrow that fills our world. But behind every scene of sorrow, God’s love works, touches, and heals. Eyes may fail to notice, but Omniscience can never fail to know our tears, and He whose very nature is love will not fail to care when we weep.

Let us trace God’s love in her life, and realize the greatness of our God.

When God first revealed himself to her

One day, a man chose to go to the land of Egypt, an old Bedouin, around 75 years of age. He was accompanied by a lady around 65 years of age. He said the lady was his sister. The woman was of a very unusual beauty. At the age of 65 she exceeded in beauty all the young women in the whole land of Egypt. She was so beautiful that Pharaoh's officials saw her and praised her to Pharaoh; and the woman was taken into Pharaoh's house. What unusual beauty must this old woman have to be so beautiful at the age of 65! The woman’s name was Sarai. The man’s name was Abram.

Pharaoh was so pleased from Sarai that he gave her brother Abram a treasure. “He treated Abram well for her sake; and gave him sheep and oxen and donkeys and male and female servants and female donkeys and camels.”

Hagar was probably one of the female servants. She was a property that others can dispose of at their will. The previous day she belonged to Pharaoh, the next day she belonged to Abram.

But Sarai was Abram’s wife, not only his sister. Abram had lied. It was such a sad black mark on the life of this great man. Just a while ago, God told him he will be a father of a new line, the Heir of God’s promises. Here we witness him losing faith in God, and relying on Egypt to satisfy his temporal needs. Here we witness him lying to protect himself, instead of relying on God for protection. How cowardly to endanger his own wife, how negligent to forget that Lot his nephew (along with others as well, who depended on Abram for safety) were watching him and seeing how God’s anointed failed because he preferred to protect his own safety and sacrificed the safety of those who relied on him.

In her new camp, Hagar probably did not fail to notice the effect of all this on Abram. The days that Sarai spent in Pharaoh’s house were heavy days for Abram, full of sorrow. God taught him the depth of the consequences of his choices. But discipline is always for a time, and it is always with a purpose in God’s heart. It is intended for our best.

But the Lord did not fail to intervene. He struck Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram's wife. And Sarai was returned to Abram.

Hagar watched this unusual scene with dazzled gaze.

In this scene, she saw God’s power. She had never known anything more powerful than Pharaoh, and yet suddenly she recognized there was one stronger than the whole land of Egypt. Her entire life probably taught her that Pharaoh was the supreme ruler, whose decisions could not be challenged. He gave his commands and none objected. He could have any woman he wanted, and none could say no to him. If Pharaoh wanted a woman, he would have her, and for an entire life time. None could change or challenge his decisions. She probably never heard or even imagined it possible that Pharaoh would return a woman after he had taken her.

In this scene, she saw God’s love. What a contrast existed between the cruel gods of the nations and this God that intervened on behalf of Abram. Abram lied, and she would expect him to suffer the consequences of his choices. Yet God was most merciful, and even defended his servant, rebuked kings for his sake, and said “touch not my prophet.”

And ever thus, Our Lord touches. The Lord noticed this slave girl, born and raised in Egypt. He cared about her, felt her sorrows, and cared to show right before her eyes his attributes. If Abram failed to be a faithful witness of God’s nature, God will not. Abram’s very sin became the occasion to display who God was. Abram’s sin and failure did not prevent God from showing his wondrous nature to the eyes of this slave.

To Hagar’s eyes, God Showed his power that made Egypt make amends, and his love that blessed rather than condemned the sinner. God’s dealings with Abram were stern but full of love, and God knew that the eyes of a slave were watching. He would not fail to send to her heart a message of love.

Hagar’s trust growing in Abram

Hagar watched as Abram traveled back as far as Bethel. And there she saw the altar at which he worshipped God.

In the few years that followed those days, Hagar witnessed the life of Lot, Abram’s nephew. She witnessed how Lot’s trust in Abram was shattered down in Egypt, when Abram neglected others to care for his self. She witnessed how Lot defined the Lord’s garden as the land of Egypt, and saw in Sodom and Gomorrah a land that resembled Egypt and that he could trust more than Abram. She saw Lot’s trust and dependence in Sodom proved futile and totally shattered in the great war between the five and four kings in Genesis 14. Sodom could not protect Lot, and he was led captive.

She saw how Abram went to rescue him.

Ten full years passed. At their beginning, Lot’s trust in Abram was shattered. But Hagar saw something different during these ten years. Her trust in Abram grew.

- Back in Egypt, she saw God on Abram’s side in his dealings with Pharaoh.

- She saw the dignity with which Abram allowed Lot to choose whatever land he wants, and how Abram did not choose for himself.

- She saw God using Abram to rescue Lot, defeating that mighty king Chedorlaomer who had subdued the whole region for twelve years. This war had a most strong impression on her. Abram was literally a hero. An old man traveling with a few hundreds of armed servants, to face a mighty army many times stronger than him, was an intense description of heroism. Abram’s failures in Egypt were forgotten in the light of these new proofs of bravery and chivalry.

- She saw Melchizedek, king of Salem, and a priest of God Most High, the most brilliant type of Christ in the Old Testament. She saw him bringing out bread and wine, and blessing Abram. When the king of Sodom offered Abram a fortune, Abram was so full of God’s Spirit that he refused to take a thread or a sandal thong or anything that belonged to Sodom.

These incidents had their deepest impression on the mind of that maid. To Hagar, Abram was an unparalleled hero of faith. She heard how God called him, and saw God’s work in his life. She was so close, since she was the maid of Abram’s wife, Sarai.

And just like her, we live, witnessing great men of God, and little by little we trust them. To us, they are God’s representatives, and we often get our concept of God from what we see in their life. But such trust will always prove to be futile. We learn, as Hagar learned, that the best of God’s servants will one day fail us. And a deep sorrow it will be to our hearts. But those circumstances are not coincidental. God stands behind the scene. He allows them for a reason, and will not fail to be our shelter when all others fail. He wants to be the ultimate and only rock in which we trust.

A special circumstance…

Hagar watched ten years pass. Her mistress was barren, and did not conceive any children to her husband. Hagar understood the longing in Sarai’s heart for a child, and saw her sorrow. Hagar lived ten long years, day by day, in the shadow of Sarai’s growing despair.

How hard it must have been for Sarai. How hard it must have been for Abram.

There was a custom in the land where barren Women gave their maids to their husbands. The maids conceived, and the children born were considered the mistresses’ children.

Abram would not even suggest using this custom. Every nerve of nobility inside him would move against him. How could he cause such a sorrow to his wife? How could he choose to hurt her by sharing their marital bed with a maid?

Abram chose to not even mention it. No one could even suggest it to Abram without risking his fury. He had grown a noble man.

Hagar watched, as Abram refused to use that custom. Her admiration of him grew. How noble of him to refuse to hurt his wife. It was a most impressive scene. Abram wanted a child, and Hagar was right before his eyes. He only needed to decide, and he could have her come to his bed, get her to bear his child. But Abram refrained from touching her, and with the motive of protecting his wife from sorrow. Hagar witnessed the monogamy that Abram exercised, the faithfulness of his marital life. And with each observation, Hagar’s admiration grew; she admired him, and admired his God.

Sarai admired her husband as well. But she also knew his longings for a child. She knew God’s promise to him to have a seed. But she did not have his spiritual depth to believe that God can work in her dead body to conceive.

In her heart, Sarai searched for means to get her husband a child. She contemplated the painful option of using that land’s custom in giving maids. To her, it was such a deep pain, a dear sacrifice. It would mean that she would allow another woman to share her husband’s bed, and to even bear and nurse the very child she wanted.

The day came when Sarai decided to make that sacrifice, and accept that humiliation. No one else could suggest the thought to her husband, no one but her.

We read in Genesis:

“So Sarai said to Abram, ‘Now behold, the LORD has prevented me from bearing children. Please go in to my maid; perhaps I will obtain children through her.’ And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.”

It was neither Sarai, nor Hagar’s fault. Abram failed to have faith in his God. He chose to use the flesh to achieve God’s promises. He accepted his wife’s suggestion without asking God for guidance.

And Hagar found herself, for the first time ever, in a position that she never dreamt she could have. She was taken to her master’s tent, shared his bed, conceived of his child. She became the woman bearing the child of the master of the whole camp. Her son, seemingly, to be the heir of the whole camp, and of God’s promises. She went through all this with a deep trust in Abram. If he gets her to this position, he will not fail to care for her. His choice gave her a new view of herself. For the first time, she felt that she was an equal. She no longer felt she was less. And when she looked at her mistress, she no longer saw a greater, but rather an equal, if not a lesser.

It was almost heaven for Hagar. Every longing of her heart was fulfilled in a sudden twist of history.

Hagar treated harshly…

Sarai could not bear it.

Sarai blamed Abram for her lost esteem in her servant’s eyes. She blamed Abram as if it was his fault. Sarai could not tolerate the thought that she is now an equal, probably even less, than her servant. Her pride was deeply wounded.

Abram gave her his permission to do what she wants to Hagar. Instead of bowing down in deep humility, recognizing his own fault in the matter, Abram refused to protect Hagar from Sarai.

Magnanimity is a forgotten virtue in our world. It means to hurry to protect the weak from the strong. It is to use our power to help the helpless, to shelter the feeble, and to stand on the side of the fragile and defenseless. It is to refuse to stand aside when others suffer. It is to get involved in the lives of those who need our involvement. It is not enough to protect one’s self. If we saw someone being attacked, it is our duty to defend the powerless. It is the spirit with which our Lord set his eyes to the Cross. Humanity was going to eternal damnation. Could his noble heart choose to abandon us? No, he would die and endure the worst of deaths to save us. None showed magnanimity as much as our Lord.

A beautiful passage occurs in the book of Job, describing magnanimity.

“If I have despised the claim of my male or female slaves when they filed a complaint against me, what then could I do when God arises? And when He calls me to account, what will I answer Him? Did not He who made me in the womb make him, And the same one fashion us in the womb?”

Abram failed to exercise magnanimity toward Hagar. He did not listen to her objections. He did not choose to protect her.

What was Hagar’s fault? Did she ask to share her master’s bed? Did she even ask to be taken from Egypt? Did she ask to conceive Abram’s child? Did she take one step, or suggest any course of action? No. the fault fell entirely on Abram.

To Hagar, it meant a lot. Everything she knew about God came from this man. And this man failed her. What a mean and base act Abram exercised: He chose to get her to his bed, to get her pregnant, and then to allow her mistress (his wife) to treat her so harshly, and for no sin of Hagar, but rather for his own failure to live in faith. Hagar was pregnant, and in her very first pregnancy. She was a woman and a slave. She was the weaker in every sense of the word. And everything was totally not her fault.

Wounded, broken, betrayed, hurt, and defenseless, she chose to run away from the camp, back to Egypt. To Hagar, the entire story about God meant nothing any more. Abram was God’s faithful witness on earth, and it was none other than Abram that failed her. If it was Pharaoh that failed her, she would have understood. But it was not Pharaoh, it was not the world. It was God’s anointed servant, the best of God’s people on earth. No wound could be deeper.

Servants of God, learn to never do as Abram did. God entrusted us with other people’s lives. Let us not fail them. They see God in our lives. Let us not distort His image in their eyes. Let us be faithful witnesses.

God intervenes…

Nothing can be more touching in this scene than God himself appearing to this running maid. God appeared to Hagar. The term “the Angel of the LORD” that describes God’s appearance to Hagar, is a term that appears for the very first time on the pages of Scriptures.  Never had God appeared like this in two entire millenniums that occurred before this incident.

And we are not surprised. When God’s most anointed servants fail so deeply, God will not leave himself without a witness. If Abram didn’t care about Hagar, God did. The term “the Angel of the Lord” did not occur again until Abram presented Isaac as a sacrifice. Abram did not have the privilege of this appearance till after his obedience was tested to the fullest.

Later on, this term did not appear again on the pages of Scriptures till God appeared to Moses in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush. And the message is clear: If the whole land will have not witness to him, if Moses did not choose to witness to God, then a bush, blazing with fire, will burn in the middle of the wilderness on Mount Horeb.

God does not leave himself without a witness. If everyone refuses to declare his love, he will not fail to appear himself in a bush, or even personally, to restore a maid to her trust in God.

Ever thus, it must be. In the book of Revelation we read of seven churches. When the description reaches the last one, a state is described in which the church was in such a sad condition. It no longer represented any of God’s attributes. They were rich in their own eyes; they were wealthy and had need of nothing. What does God do when the whole church fails to reveal him?

We read,

“To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: The Amen, the FAITHFUL and TRUE WITNESS, the Beginning of the creation of God, says”

If people failed, our Lord remains the faithful and the truest witness, the true revelation of God’s very essence, the incarnation of the fullness of deity.

When the church and even the best of God’s servants fail us, let us remember the “Angel of the Lord”. Let us remember the incarnate Son of God. If we can see no love anywhere from anyone, let us remember his cross, and know that he knows our tears, and cares for us. He remains the faithful witness, when all others fail.

And his message to us is the same that he held Hagar’s heart with.

- “Where are you going?” reminds us of all those great things that God has stored for us in our future.

- “Where did you come from?” reminds us of all his faithfulness in our past.

- “Return and submit” gives us his healing instructions. He guides, and where He takes us, He will take care of us until the time is right to get us out of there and free us.

- And in the most unexpected of circumstances, he will give us his promises, so that we can hold them by faith. To Hagar, in that most harsh of circumstances, God appeared, and God gave her his promises.

It is no wander that Hagar’s heart could not but melt. She described God after this great revelation. She no longer heard about him. She had her personal experience with him. She called God: “you are the God that sees”. You see, Lord our sorrow, you take care, you know, you understand, and that is sufficient.

Many years later, she had her freedom, and was no longer a slave.

She had a son to take care of her. And she chose for him a wife from her homeland.  Her grandchildren were twelve men and one lady, all princes. And she was a free woman living with her own family. God fulfilled his promises to her.

May his name be praised.