Fri.'s Devo - Living Waters

Read Gen. 21:14-22

I would have loved to be a fly on the wall when Abraham sent Hagar and his son away. I can only know that God gave him the grace to do it. Whenever I feel tested I’m going to think of Abraham. First, he is asked to send away his first-born and later he will be asked to sacrifice his promised child. I bet he wondered about God’s sanity. The thing is, God doesn’t do things that make sense to us, he does things that make sense to eternity. (That ought to be a famous quote!) Abraham gave her bread and water and sent her to the wilderness. That is a recipe for death without the Lord’s miraculous intervention. But, that is what happened. When Hagar ran out of provisions she sat Ishmael down and walked a couple hundred yards so she would not have to watch him die. How sad! She broke down and cried and the Lord spoke to her. He told her to pick the kid up as if dedicating him to God. God said he would live and become a great nation. Then God opened her eyes to see a well of water where they were sustained and learned how to live in the wilderness. Ishmael became a great archer so he could hunt and defend them. They lived in the desert of Paran and his mother got him a wife from Egypt. Egypt is the opposite of Canaan. Egypt means “double straits” which means double trouble. God’s land means “double blessings”.

Lord, thank you for providing for us in the middle of our deserts. Help us to be a cup of cool water to those that are thirsty.