A wilderness experience

LIMAVADY INDEPENDENT METHODIST CHURCH SERMON NOTES FROM SUNDAY 9 MAY 2021 GENESIS 16 - THE WILDERNESS EXPERIENCE What is the wilderness experience? We find it here in Hagar's life. It was a place of revelation. Sarah spoke roughly to Hagar and Hagar ran away from her troubles and difficulties. We don't want to face up to them but there comes a time when we must. Hagar was running from the attitude in Abraham's house. It caused a hurt, a grievance. The only thing she could do was to run away. Do you ever get into the situation like that? A problem in the home or in the workplace or with someone else? You may think to yourself that the best thing to do is to get away from it but it has to be faced up to. The wilderness can be lonely and barren. It is also a dangerous place for a young girl to be in that wilderness where robbers and other thieves would come upon some unsuspecting traveller. She was going into the place of danger. We need to be careful too. We need to make a decision. To flee is going against God. We are actually running away from God. The prophet of old, Jonah didn't want to go to Nineveh. He thought these people were the worst of the worst, the great enemies of God's people. Instead of facing up to the situation he ran away. He got into a ship that was going to Tarshish. A great storm arose just to bring him back again. He was out of the will of God. When fleeing from God it is a dangerous place to be in. We need to be walking in the way God would lead us. Verse 7 "and the angel of the Lord found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by a fountain in the way to Shur." God had not forgotten about her. God can put his finger on that which troubles us, even in the wildernesss and solve the problem for us. A little maid in Abraham's house. She was called to do some mundane things, insignificant in that house but not to God. She was hurt and felt let down. She ran away to this barren place but God knew where she was. John 3 verse 16 - whenever we think of God loving us so much that he would send his only son to die on Calvary to save us - that is real love. In whatever situation you are in today, whether you are fleeing from God there is a decision you have to make that may have dire consequences for you and your family but God still wants to meet with you even now. Abraham was an important figure in God's hands. He would be the foundation stone in all Israel. Sarah was an important woman in the plan of God yet so too was Hagar. God did not forget about her. Sometimes we think we are not really important, insignificant, that there is someone more important than us but God loves you. He wants to come to the exact place where you are at today. He knew about the hurt Hagar was experiencing. It all came about because of turning away from God, trying to give God a helping hand. Think too of Jacob and Esau and their father and mother Isaac and Rebekah in Genesis 25. Psalm 27 verse 14 "Wait on the Lord; be of good courage and he shall strengthen thine heart; wait, I say, on the Lord." In Genesis 25 a difficulty arises because they were not waiting on God Before the birth of Jacob and Esau, "Isaac intreated the Lord for his wife because she was barren and the Lord was intreated of him and Rebekah conceived." Then we see in verse 22 "and she (Rebekah) went to inquire of the Lord." She took her problem to the Lord. We read in verse 23 "and the elder shall serve the younger." God is saying to Rebekah that the eldest boy will serve the youngest boy. Yet we later find Jacob in the wilderness - why - because his mother couldn't wait on God. The blessing would have been his one day anyway. In Genesis 27 Jacob was told by his mother Rebekah to bring a lamb and she would take it into Isaac and Jacob would receive the blessing due to Esau. She then proceeded to dress Jacob up to deceive her husband into thinking it was Esau who was receiving the blessing. All she really had to do was wait on the blessing. It is also a place of recognition. In Genesis 16 verse 8 we see that the angel knew her name and knew everything about her. Do you remember when Jesus came into Jericho and Zacchaeus was up a tree watching? Jesus knew exactly where he was. He stopped at the exact tree and said his name. He asked him to come down. Maybe the Lord is stopping right where you are today. The Lord knows all about us today. Remember when the 2 disciples were on the road to Emmaeus and Jesus drew alongside them. He knew everything about them, where they had come from, what they were talking about and where they planned to stop. Remember when Jesus met Nathaniel, he told him that he knew him whilst he was under the fig tree. Or think of Samuel when he lay down to sleep one night. God came to him and spoke to him. The angel in this chapter asked Hagar 2 very searching questions - "whence camest thou and whither wilt thou go?" Most of us can answer the first question but where are we going today? To heaven and home or to a lost Christless eternity? Hagar was confused and God wanted her to face up to this situation. God had a plan and purpose for her. She admitted where she had come from "I flee from the face of my mistress Sarai." She admitted her problem. Remember Elijah the great prophet who stood on Mount Carmel proclaiming the word of God. He had seen the fire fall from heaven and everything including the water on the altar being consumed. Then where do we see him again? Out in the wilderness. Why? Jezebel had promised to kill him. It struck a chord in his heart that caused him to flee. God meets him in the wilderness, a place of reconciliation. He is in a cave hiding. The Lord came with a great searching question - "what doest thou here?" God told him he had a job for him to do but why was he hiding? God questioned why he couldn't trust him to handle the situation with Jezebel. 1 Kings 19 verse 10 Elijah boasted that he was the only one true to God. Hagar too thought that when she was pregnant she was above her mistress. Pride brought her down. Elijah was found in the wilderness. Hagar was now reflecting on her situation. What will she do? Will she allow her past hurts to stop her? Do we sometimes say to God "I have had enough?" Sometimes we get to that stage. Paul got to that stage in Corinth. He was faithfully preaching the word but not seeing any souls saved. In fact he saw more opposition that he thought possible. He decided to go to the Gentiles and preach to them. God called him in the night and told him not to do that but work on in Corinth. He waited another 1 1/2 years before he saw a great work done in that city. It was also a place of reconciliation. The Lord tells Hagar what to do - verse 9 "Return to thy mistress and submit thyself under her hands." She was told to go back. You have been hurt but you must go back and bow down to her authority. We sometimes will go back when we get an apology but that is not God's way. Hagar cannot run anymore. She must face the situation. By leaving God out of the situation she had run away. Now she must return and face the situation she had caused. Are we in a barren place today? The Lord tells us to go back. There will be a time in the future when the door will open for Hagar to leave Abraham and Sarah. Jacob stole the blessing and birthright. Esau was so angry that he threatened to kill Jacob. Many years later Jacob had to step back and offer reconciliation to his brother. Hagar had to go back, submit herself to her mistress' authority. Do we need to ask the Lord to sort out the situation we are in today? Maybe you are in a wilderness, a place of hardness, a place of barrenness. It is a place of reconciliation, revelation and recognition.