"The
angel of the Lord found Hagar beside a desert spring along the road to
Shur. The angel said to her, 'Hagar, Sarai's servant, where have you
come from, and where are you going?' " Genesis 16 7-8
Isn't it funny how often we can read a passage of scripture yet never hear what He is saying through the passage? The above is one such scripture. I've read it countless times. I have many other scriptures on the page underlined. Not so with this one. The question asked of Hagar by the angel just never really resonated before. But the other day, when I heard a teaching from Beth Moore, it did. If we truly wish to know Him in all of His fullness, than sooner or later, He'll "catch up with us." When He does, more often than not, He'll ask us a question. He caught up with Hagar. Seems like He always catches up with me. Has He caught up with you?
Contemplation. Meditation. These have bad connotations in the western Christian culture. We tend to link them with eastern religions and thought, yet real biblical meditation is a powerful experience. When the angel spoke to Mary about the divine Son of God that she would give birth to, and all that He would be, His Word tells us that "She treasured these things in her heart." She dwelt upon what she had heard, and what it was the Father was speaking to her through those words. Throughout Scripture, both Old Testament and New, we see the same. When God spoke, those who listened and heard, did so because they meditated upon just what He had said. As one old country lady put it, "they chewed on it." Chewed, digested, and saw it become a living part of them. In our culture, where speed is always of the essence, we want to get the "church" part of our lives over with so we can move on to all the other interests we have. Small wonder that what He speaks to us "in church" or "in our devotions" rarely goes further or deeper than that particular moment. So when the Lord asks of us the question He asks of Hagar, we not only don't hear it, we would have no answer if we did. But He asks this question of each of us. Where have we come from, and where are we going?
In the "easy believism" of the western church, we are invited to come to Christ while not really knowing why we need to come to Him. Usually the need is presented in the promise of Him giving us a better life. Not often do we hear it is because we are hopelessly lost. Life is tough. Jesus will make it better.
We're told He'll meet us where we are, but we have little or no idea about where we have come from, and what brought us to where we are. We don't really know where we are. We come into this world in a fallen state with no hope of changing our situation. Do we really know that? Have we any sense of how hopeless that situation is? Of our desperate need of a Savior? Do we really know that this is where we are? Until we can really answer the first part of His question, we'll never be able to answer the second. Which is why most of us just drift instead of live. Everything is here. We talk about heaven, but it has little if any meaning in our day to day living. We don't really know where we're going, because we don't really know where we are. So in the end, we just wander.
The fruit of all this is far beyond what I can write of here. So I'll leave us with His question to Hagar. Where have we come from in truth? Many are interested in discovering their ancestry roots. Have we any idea of our spiritual ones? Do we understand how desperate our need, how total out lostness? Do we know where we're going? Do we look for our home in this world and life, or, like Abraham, do we move every forward toward that city "whose Builder and Maker is God?" Do we seek a life built on eternal foundations, or are the foundations of this world more than enough for us? Where have we come from, and where are we going? It's a "now" question. Everything depends on our answer. The Lord has caught up with us. What happens now?
Blessings,
Pastor O
Isn't it funny how often we can read a passage of scripture yet never hear what He is saying through the passage? The above is one such scripture. I've read it countless times. I have many other scriptures on the page underlined. Not so with this one. The question asked of Hagar by the angel just never really resonated before. But the other day, when I heard a teaching from Beth Moore, it did. If we truly wish to know Him in all of His fullness, than sooner or later, He'll "catch up with us." When He does, more often than not, He'll ask us a question. He caught up with Hagar. Seems like He always catches up with me. Has He caught up with you?
Contemplation. Meditation. These have bad connotations in the western Christian culture. We tend to link them with eastern religions and thought, yet real biblical meditation is a powerful experience. When the angel spoke to Mary about the divine Son of God that she would give birth to, and all that He would be, His Word tells us that "She treasured these things in her heart." She dwelt upon what she had heard, and what it was the Father was speaking to her through those words. Throughout Scripture, both Old Testament and New, we see the same. When God spoke, those who listened and heard, did so because they meditated upon just what He had said. As one old country lady put it, "they chewed on it." Chewed, digested, and saw it become a living part of them. In our culture, where speed is always of the essence, we want to get the "church" part of our lives over with so we can move on to all the other interests we have. Small wonder that what He speaks to us "in church" or "in our devotions" rarely goes further or deeper than that particular moment. So when the Lord asks of us the question He asks of Hagar, we not only don't hear it, we would have no answer if we did. But He asks this question of each of us. Where have we come from, and where are we going?
In the "easy believism" of the western church, we are invited to come to Christ while not really knowing why we need to come to Him. Usually the need is presented in the promise of Him giving us a better life. Not often do we hear it is because we are hopelessly lost. Life is tough. Jesus will make it better.
We're told He'll meet us where we are, but we have little or no idea about where we have come from, and what brought us to where we are. We don't really know where we are. We come into this world in a fallen state with no hope of changing our situation. Do we really know that? Have we any sense of how hopeless that situation is? Of our desperate need of a Savior? Do we really know that this is where we are? Until we can really answer the first part of His question, we'll never be able to answer the second. Which is why most of us just drift instead of live. Everything is here. We talk about heaven, but it has little if any meaning in our day to day living. We don't really know where we're going, because we don't really know where we are. So in the end, we just wander.
The fruit of all this is far beyond what I can write of here. So I'll leave us with His question to Hagar. Where have we come from in truth? Many are interested in discovering their ancestry roots. Have we any idea of our spiritual ones? Do we understand how desperate our need, how total out lostness? Do we know where we're going? Do we look for our home in this world and life, or, like Abraham, do we move every forward toward that city "whose Builder and Maker is God?" Do we seek a life built on eternal foundations, or are the foundations of this world more than enough for us? Where have we come from, and where are we going? It's a "now" question. Everything depends on our answer. The Lord has caught up with us. What happens now?
Blessings,
Pastor O
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