Hope in a Hopeless Place

COLERAINE EVANGELICAL CHURCH

SUNDAY 4 MAY 2025 - MR PHILIP CAMPBELL

GENESIS 21 VERSES 9 TO 20 - HOPE IN A HOPELESS PLACE

The bible is a book of hope. It is filled with stories of love. I don't like the word "stories" because it makes you think of some fiction, a made up thing. The bible contains stories of love, where we see God's power and faith and glory. It is a message of grace and peace, salvation, redemption and also miracles. It is a book filled with impossible hopeless situations. These accounts appear and many are impossible situations, where there seems to be no solution, no way out. Think of some of the storms we read about in the bible. Or nights in the bible, of death and sickness. They are hopeless situations, yet time after time God turns them around for his power and glory. One of these accounts is here this morning. We see in our passage a human who found hope in a hopeless place. It starts in the home of a man called Abraham. He may have been the father of the faithful but he was a man of God, called by God, who followed God. God promised he would be the father of many. Sometimes his family life was a shambles. Genesis 16 verse 1 Sarah appears to have a problem - she cannot have children. Hagar seemed to be the solution. In verses 2 and 3 we see that they thought they would solve the problem themselves. It turned into a shambles. It did nothing but cause trouble for Sarah, Hagar and Abraham. Sarah was jealous because of Hagar and Hagar was jealous of Sarah because of her relationship with Abraham. Abraham was caught in the middle. It seemed an impossible situation. There was an all out civil war in his tent. Hagar finds herself in despair. In this situation she had a powerful encounter with almighty God. Out of the place of pain comes a ray of hope. That means if you are saved today, God can take my hopeless situation and make it for his honour and glory. He can turn your situation around today. If you are not saved God can turn your life around, offer you hope when there is no hope. There is hope for your situation, a plan, a remedy, a cure for your condition. 

It was a time of harsh rejection. Things were tense in Abraham's tent.  Isaac is about 3 years of age and Ishmael 17. They were celebrating as Isaac has now grown from a baby into a young boy. Verses 9 and 10. Hagar faces rejection. How immature Ishmael is, mocking Isaac. The green eye of jealousy appears in his eyes. He saw his hopes and dreams dashed when Isaac was born. Up to his birth Ishmael was in line for all Abraham had. Isaac was the son of promise. Ishmael would never be anything more than he was now. He was the son of a slave. He was jealous of Isaac. He acts out in this feast. Sarah sees her son being bullied and steps in with a heavy hand. "Abraham I have had enough, get this young fella out." She commanded that both be sent out. That word "cast out" means driven away. The reality of the rejection. Abraham is reluctant to do what Sarah asks. Here was Abraham who had fathered this child with Hagar. He had a son and at 17 years of age there was a great bond of love between them. He had provided for him since birth. No doubt he had feelings for him. He does not know what to do in this situation. The Lord visited Abraham and told him to listen to what Sarah had said to do. You have to let Ishmael go. Verse 12. This is as real as it was going to get. I am sure it broke his heart. The word "grievous" means to quiver or tremble. Can you think of it? It grieved his very soul. He was trembling, quivering, shaking by this event. No doubt he loved Ishmael and to let him go would be awful. We know that life can be like that today. One day we get up and the sun is shining. Everything looks wonderful but then we are on our backs. Taken off our feet. Sickness, bad news, a loss of job or something happens in the home. How did I get here? He should have known better than taking matters into his own hands. Sometimes we have been there. God is teaching us valuable lessons. There was a harsh reaction - verse 14. "and she departed and wandered in the wilderness." How many of us have ended up in that place through no fault of our own? Hagar ended up here because of something Abraham had done. How many of us have wandered in the wilderness? Or maybe you are still wandering in the wilderness because of someone else's actions. If you have been in the wilderness it is a terrible place. There is no comfort, no company and no craic in the wilderness. It is lonely. There are some who can relate to that today. I know what it is like to feel isolated, to feel alone but you are there now. For others, you are in a different kind of wilderness - of sin. Maybe not saved. Sin has taken you for a ride. You are realising this morning that you are lost, disillusioned, no meaning or direction in your life. You have tried everything but the world has left you in the wilderness. If that is you and you are not saved I trust you will see there is one with you in the wilderness looking for you. He is calling you. He is wanting to save you. To bring you back into the fold. The world cannot give you that peace. There is only one place that you can find satisfaction - in Christ alone.

There was a time of hopeless reality. There were problems - verse 14. The water was spent in the bottle. Abraham saddled her with bread and a bottle of water. When you consider the resources Abraham had, with all his acres of land, servants and flocks and herds but he only sent her with bread and water. He had all the resources int he world to look after her for the rest of her days but he didn't give her anything. Abraham trusted God. That God was going to do right with Hagar and Ishmael. He was releasing them into the hand of God. She trusted God with all her heart. It was a desperate situation in the wilderness. Hungry and thirsty. The burdens are too heavy. They have exceeded my ability to carry my burdens. We have a good Saviour - Matthew 11 verse 28 "come unto me all ye that are heavy laden and I will give you rest." The Lord tells you the believer to come again to him. There was pain in this hopeless reality. Verse 16. Here we see the pain of Hagar's broken heart. She was sure her only son would die. She leaves him under a tree and goes away a distance. She doesn't want to witness the death of her son. Hagar turned her back on her son and left him to die. Think of another tree, another person who turned his back on his son during those moments on Calvary. "At the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice Eli Eli lama sabachthani My God My God why have you forsaken me?" Jesus was being punished for something he never did. For the sin he never committed. He was taking the punishment for our sin. He was bearing what we should have borne. He was suffering pain and rejection for you. So that he could offer you hope and salvation. The hope of something more than a wing and a prayer. He went to the cross to suffer and die so that he could offer you hope and salvation. The assurance and peace, that our future would be secure. Hagar found herself in a situation she couldn't fix, she couldn't escape from. Maybe that is you today. You are in a place where you cannot fix it, will never escape from it. King David found himself in that situation in Psalm 55. "O that I had the wings of a dove to fly away and be at rest." To get away from the troubles of this world. We cannot control them or fix them. It is not God's will for that to happen. He wants to teach us a lesson. It is easy for us to say "Hagar, it's going to be alright, God is in control, God is in the middle of it all." Hagar had a previous promise from God - Genesis 16 - that he would make Ishmael into a great nation. God was not going to take his life now. He would not die of starvation. We have all of God's promises today, all we have to do is open his word and read them. He does not love us to leave us to do life on our own. We have God's word to strengthen us, to guard and keep it. Are you reading it today to find the promises for yourself? God has promised he will sustain and strengthen us. God is your hope in that hopeless situation. We can become blinded to God's word in such a hopeless situation. God was fulfilling his promise to Hagar even though she didn't realise it. Verses 16 and 17. A prayer offered. We can lift our voice in prayer, talk to God. We don't know if Hagar prayed but we know God heard the prayer of the lad. All we have to do is lift our voices to God. We have that ever present resource as a believer. If you are not a believer today you need to cry "save me from sin, from certain death in this wilderness, save me that I may go to be with thee." The problems will come in our lives but God is ever present with us. God is there in the middle of our hopeless situation. He is there to develop us, to make us more like his Son Jesus Christ. Sometimes he has to take us through that wilderness for us to realise that he is there. The hope is our hopeless situations, channeling through those circumstances. 

There is a hope revealed. Hagar was coming through this time enveloped by things she did not realise. God had given her a promise. He had a plan in her pain. Sometimes we have to walk through dark times. He is behind the scenes all the time. Verse 17. God was there all the time. "What aileth thee? Fear not for God hath heard the voice of the lad." She had God's presence in the middle of the trouble. She had God's peace. God called her by her name. He knows your name and all about you. God has provided for you. He has provided us with each other to encourage us along the way. God's provision is everything Hagar needs. What Hagar couldn't see in her situation was that God had his hand on her life. What is troubling you today? Whatever it is, if you are not saved is it your sin? Is your past life troubling you? "Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest." Take those years of hardship and heartache to the Lord in prayer. Cry out to him. Rest in his promises. Be refreshed from God's word. He is working out all things to his glory and good.