July 31, 2012
Thereafter, Hagar used another name to refer to the Lord , who had spoken to her. She said, "You are
the God who sees me." She also said, "Have I truly seen the One who sees me?" --
Genesis 16: 13 (NLT)
Imagine the scene with me. You are 17 years old; in a foreign country. You do not know the language. You do not understand the culture. You are alone and frightened. Deep inside your heart is broken because you are only in this predicament through the evil scheming of your brothers -- ten of them. You stop and think that it could have been worse because they had actually wanted to kill you. You saw the murder in their eyes. The hatred in their hearts for you. Only one stood up to stop them from killing you and that dear brother suggested leaving you in a cistern to die from starvation. Eventually, they merely decided to sell you into slavery"and that is where you find yourself now. A slave in a foreign country at age 17. Such was the plight of Joseph. I am sure he felt alone. I am sure he felt that God must have somehow forgotten about him. Left him to this fate. But the Bible says otherwise:
When Joseph was taken to
Turned out God saw exactly where Joseph was. He never lost sight of him at all. Was Joseph still in slavery? Absolutely. Was he still there because of the treachery of his brothers? Absolutely. Was he still scared and in a foreign country? Absolutely; but God saw him and prospered him in his suffering. Later on, Potiphar's wife would try and seduce the 17 year old boy but he understood right from wrong and refused her. The infuriated wife would falsify rape charges against Joseph and had him thrown in prison. Alone again; in a deep dark cell. Stone floors to sleep on. Legs in irons. Wrists shackled. Thirteen long years in a cell. The once favorite son of Jacob, now so far removed from home. Where are you God? What happened to the dreams you gave me? This is what I get for taking the righteous stand? Once again however, God knew exactly where Joseph was:
Potiphar was furious when he heard his wife's story about how Joseph
had treated her. So he
took Joseph and threw him into the prison where the king's prisoners were held,
and there he remained. But the Lord was with Joseph in the prison and showed him his faithful
love. And the Lord made Joseph a favorite with the prison warden. Before long, the warden put Joseph in charge of all the
other prisoners and over everything that happened in the prison. The warden had no more worries, because Joseph took care of
everything. The Lord was with him and caused everything he did to succeed. --
Genesis 39: 19-23 (NLT)
I am not sure where this writing
finds you today. I am not sure if you feel that God is sometimes an absentee
landlord in your life. Maybe it seems that He is not there or He has lost track
of you somehow. That is a lie from the devil beloved. He never loses sight of
where you are. He knows exactly where you are today. He sees you in Potiphar's
house. He sees you in prison; falsely accused. He has a plan that requires
faith and His timing before deliverance comes. In the interim however, God can
also prosper us within the desert experiences of our lives. Was Joseph still in
prison? Absolutely but God prospered him in prison. We have been sold the lie
that prosperity equals everything we want while God is trying to provide us
with everything we need.
This brings us to the key verse
for today. Abram and Sarai had been unsuccessful in having children, even
though God had covenanted with Abram that his descendents would number the
stars in the sky through a son of promise. But Abram was in his mid 80s now and
Sarai in her mid 70s so using their human logic, it did not seem that children
were going to be born unto them. Sarai takes matters into her own hands and has
Abram sleep with her servant Hagar, who conceives. Sarai then begins to treat
Hagar so harshly that she runs away into the wilderness. God however, sees
exactly where we are:
The
angel of the Lord found Hagar beside a
spring of water in the wilderness, 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 (NLT)
God sees us beloved, no matter how deep the wilderness is that we are in. No matter how harsh life has been to us. Hagar was not the mother of the child of promise but she was God's creation and He saw her and knew exactly where she was. I want us to focus on the two questions the angel of the Lord asks her here in the 8 th verse. They are the same two questions God is asking us to consider today in the middle of our wilderness.
Where have you come from?
Where are you going?
Jehovah Roi is the God who sees you beloved. He was with Joseph in Potiphar's house and in prison. He was with Hagar in her wilderness too. He is also with you. He sees you today and He sees exactly where you are. I feel this is a prophetic word for us today to consider these two questions if we are seeking relief from the wilderness we find ourselves in. Where have you come from? We need to remind ourselves how far we have come. The devil loves to steal our progress in Christ. Don't let him do it. Where are you going? What is the Word God has spoken into your life beloved? Joseph was given a dream that God would bring to pass some 15 years later. Hagar was given her promise here in her wilderness. More descendents than she can count is the promise the angel of the Lord makes to her. Whether God has spoken His promise into your life and it hasn't come to pass yet or He is revealing it to you in your wilderness -- He sees you. He sees exactly where you are"
Rev. Anthony
