No Room for Misery

 DEVOTION

GENESIS

NO ROOM FOR MISERY

Gen 16:7-16

7 The angel of the LORD found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. 8 And he said, "Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?" "I'm running away from my mistress Sarai," she answered. 9 Then the angel of the LORD told her, "Go back to your mistress and submit to her." 10 The angel added, "I will so increase your descendants that they will be too numerous to count." 11 The angel of the LORD also said to her:

"You are now with child and you will have a son. You shall name him Ishmael, for the LORD has heard of your misery. 12 He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone's hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers."

13 She gave this name to the LORD who spoke to her: "You are the God who sees me," for she said, "I have now seen the One who sees me." 14 That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi; it is still there, between Kadesh and Bered. 15 So Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son she had borne. 16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael.

NIV

Although Hagar was Egyptian, the LORD did not withhold from her visiting or speaking the truth into her life. Interestingly, the LORD already knew everything that had happened and was happening in Hagar's life. Yet, his first communication with her was a question: "Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?"  The story continues, and the LORD directs her to return to her mistress and submit to her. Does any of this relate to our lives? We should notice the LORD tells her to name him Ishmael, for the LORD has heard of your misery. The Hebrew word Ishmael means "the LORD hears." We should understand that the Lord also hears our hearts' cry. We may not be in the same misery that Hagar experienced, but there are many forms of misery. However, we can be assured that as we go through those times when we feel a sense of misery, the Lord hears our hearts. He already knew Hagar's misery, and he already knows ours, or that we will experience some. That is not to say we must feel misery, for we can live with joy; in fact, we can live full of peace and joy. When Jesus said that he was the vine and we are the branches, and about the Father's love, he told us that he gives us his joy and puts his joy in us, so that our joy will be complete. Hagar knew only misery, not that joy. We should remember when those times come when we might submit to misery, feeling alone, left out, not experiencing or sensing the presence of the Lord, not receiving a healing or some other blessing, that Jesus put his joy within us. We know we are redeemed; our salvation is secure in Jesus; he will come back to take us where he is, so why should we want the pain of misery when we can have the joy of Jesus? We sing that we have the joy, joy, joy down in our hearts, where? Down in my heart, we've got the joy, joy, joy down in our hearts to stay. Because the joy of Jesus is there to stay, there is no room there for misery.