Scripture: Genesis 16

I am constistantly searching for things…lost keys, pen, matching socks, purse, Bible, school bag, shoes…and the list goes on! Plagued with this issue all my life, I can remember as a kid my mom saying, ‘LOOK! You have to actually look it isn’t going to jump out and bite you.’ You would think after 3o some years one would learn the art of looking, but to this point, I have not.

This morning, I lost my keys. Scouring the house, and out of time I grabbed my spare set, sat my things in the passenger seat, closed the door, opened my other hand, and there, right in my palm were the very keys in which I had searched. It was one of those palm to forehead moments. I laughed as I thought how often is that the case, our sunglasses are on top of our head, our pen is just under that peice of paper, those shoes, well, we actually put them in the place where they belong, and our phone, well, it is right there in your grasp.

It is funny to sit and think about now, but that moment when you realize you can’t find what you are searching for, that is a feeling you hope to avoid it’s a feeling of no control, and emptiness in the pit of your stomach – no one longs for that feeling- ever.

That feeling is one that reminds me of those moments when we can’t feel God. The times when we know he’s there, because his word says,’He will never leave.’ His word promises at the very is mention of his name, he is there, yet, we endure times of barrenness when we just can’t feel him, and don’t see the path laid before us.

Genesis Chapter 16 tells us a story of a woman that experienced a time when she was unable to see the path of God.

There is so much to this story, it can be studied time and time again, and leave you with a new lesson learned. Right now though,I want to focus our attention toward it’s ending. At the demand of Sarah, Hagar was cast out of her home. Can you imagine the thoughts of Abraham as he considered what Sarah asked him to do? He waited a lifetime for Ishmael. Sarah was the one that told him to have the relationship with Hagar, and now, HE has to send her and his own child away? Imagine the ocean of impossibility he faced. God however, stepped in and assured Abraham to listen to Sarah, promising He would take care of Ishmael. Trusting God, Abraham took Hagar and Ishmael, gave them supplies and sent them on their way. As time goes on, and they wander in the desert, they come to a point when Hagar thought Ishmael to be near death. She took her son, a 16 year old boy, and placed him under a bush for shade, and she walked off so she wouldn’t have to watch him die. Sitting there facing her own ocean of impossibility believing her son to be dying, She cried out for God, and God heard Ishmael’s cries. God didn’t have death in His plan for that day. He met Hagar there and unveiled her eyes to see a nearby well. I wonder…was the well there the entire time, or did God place it there at that very moment? Either way, her eyes were unveiled to see what she needed, the thing she was searching for.

There are times in life we find ourselves on paths similar to that of Hagar. It happens when the job is lost, or when financial struggle hits, when we lose a loved one, or are experiencing a troubling time in a relationship, whatever the case, we have all had a point when we wondered, ‘God where are you? I don’t see the well!’

It is at the point when we feel like we can’t go on that God shows up bringing with Him the comfort we need and unveiling our eyes to see the well that we desire to keep us on the path in which we have been set.

Maybe, you are in the midst of your desert right now, and are still wondering if God is even there, I assure you He is, He is there right beside you walking each step along with you. Reach to Him. Pray in the powerful name of Jesus that He would unveil your eyes, to the work He is doing in your life, and when He starts to nudge your heart and open your understanding, trust Him, RUN after Him…Choose Him…