Monday Marker: Surviving the Unexpected

It was a day just like any other day for this single mom. She took care of her son before reporting to her job. Her world was relatively secure.

Little did she know things were about to take a drastic turn, forcing them into the wilderness.

Hagar was only the concubine to her son's father. He was married to Sarah and Hagar was Sarah's maidservant. As Abraham's concubine, she was still inferior to his wife, Sarah.

The man Hagar thought would support her and their son forever, approached her that morning with terribly shocking news. 

At Sarah's request, Abraham was sending them into the wilderness. They had to leave permanently. He sent them away with nothing but a loaf of bread and container of water. 

Hagar lost her job, home and security all in one day. 

God assured Abraham that he should follow through with Sarah’s demand.

This is hard for me to swallow, but God had bigger plans (He always does). When I don’t understand God’s ways, I tell Him so and move on continually trusting Him.

Sarah desperately wanted to give Abraham a son, but they’d both grown past childbearing years. Instead of taking her deepest desire to God, she took matters into her own hands.

She told Abraham to sleep with Hagar, with hopes she’d have a son and they could raise him as their own. Oh, the things we’ll do out of desperation!

Sarah’s twisted plan worked and Hagar conceived and gave birth to Ishmael.

Meanwhile, God promised Sarah and Abraham they’d indeed have a son of their own, encouraging them that nothing is impossible with Him.

Sarah did get pregnant and gave birth to Isaac. When Isaac was old enough to be weaned, they threw a party. By this time Ishmael was about pre-teen age.

At the party Sarah overheard Ishmael bragging about his inheritance rights since he was Abraham's firstborn. In their custom the firstborn son was always the heir.

To ensure Isaac would be Abrahams’s heir, Sarah demanded that he send Hagar and Ishmael away forever. 

Before you develop a disdain for Sarah and cast judgment, we’ve all done things in desperation we regret. Right? 

Maybe Ishmael’s lack of humility came with encouragement from his mother, who maybe, with slight probability, used her son to get what she wanted from Abraham. Manipulation at work.

Back to the wilderness.

Hagar and Ishmael ate the last of the bread and drank the last of their water supply. Abandoned and alone, there was nothing left to do but wait to die. Hagar lifted her voice and cried out to God. So did Ishmael. I wonder if it'd been awhile since Hagar had prayed.

Scripture tells us God heard and responded by sending an angel to encourage Hagar. Hagar opened her eyes and saw a well of water. We don’t know the rest of that part of Hagar’s story, except that they survived, and built a new life in a new place. Ishmael grew strong and eventually married.

The entire story is too much for a blog post, but you can read it in Genesis 16 and 21.

What does this have to do with you?

If you’re a single mom, you’ve probably experienced great need, through unexpected circumstances, whether physical or otherwise. God wants to, can, and will meet your needs.

What do you do when you run out of resources, money and people to help? I’ve been there. My mistake was not turning to God to begin with. I’d wait until my situation was desperate before crying out to Him. I could’ve avoided a lot of frustrations if I’d gone to God first, trusting and waiting on Him instead of creating more problems.

God sees your situation and doesn’t look away with apathy. But He’s not going to interfere where He’s not been asked either.

Maybe you’ve cried out to Him and feel He’s silent. Perhaps your breakthrough is coming through the hardest part which is the waiting.

Turn to His word, stand on His promises for those who wait. Dig in drawing near to Him. Exercise your faith muscle just a little more so you’ll gain strength through the waiting.

Put your trust in God and wait expectantly as you go through the unexpected. You will survive because He will provide!

Waiting expectantly,

Terri