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Water in the Desert

Words of Faith Final

Water in the Desert
Words of Faith 4-15-2022
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy © 2022
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
Faith Fellowship Church - Melbourne, FL    
www.faithfellowshipweb.com
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Genesis 21
    [14] Early the next morning Abraham took some food and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar. He set them on her shoulders and then sent her off with the boy. She went on her way and wandered in the desert of Beersheba.
    [15] When the water in the skin was gone, she put the boy under one of the bushes. [16] Then she went off and sat down nearby, about a bowshot away, for she thought, "I cannot watch the boy die." And as she sat there nearby, she began to sob.
    [17] God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, "What is the matter, Hagar? Do not be afraid; God has heard the boy crying as he lies there. [18] Lift the boy up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation."
    [19] Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. So she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink.
    [20] God was with the boy as he grew up. He lived in the desert and became an archer. [21] While he was living in the Desert of Paran, his mother got a wife for him from Egypt.

         Hagar already knew something of the Lord's protection in her life. When she was pregnant, Hagar had been mistreated so badly by Sarai that she had fled into the desert. The Lord had watched over her and brought her back to the family. But now Hagar was on her own to protect an undisciplined adolescent in the desert! Does that sound familiar?
         Once the tiny water supply was gone, death in the desert was imminent. Hagar put Ishmael under some bushes and moved to a distance because she could not watch as he slowly died. It was then that the Lord intervened. "Do not be afraid; God has heard the boy crying as he lies there."  
          God had heard the cry of the boy. God had mercy on Ishmael and Hagar. There was no particular reason for God to show mercy. They had both acted badly. But then, the mercy of God is never "deserved," is it? "Lift the boy up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation."  Suddenly there was a well to provide the needed water. A miraculous provision was made, water in the desert.
          God's care for Ishmael did not end there. "God was with the boy as he grew up."  The father of one whole group of Arab peoples grew up in the desert and eventually married a wife from Egypt. He would father 12 tribes that would be in constant conflict with the tribes of Israel.
          It is fascinating to think that much of the modern Arab-Israeli conflict could have ended under a bush in the desert! But this was not the sovereign plan of God. For His own reasons, God chose to sustain this branch of the family that was born out of impatient disobedience. We will reflect on one reason in the verses ahead.
         For now, there is much for us to hear in this passage. God does not abandon people just because they are the result of our missteps. We cannot throw away our problems with a flask of water. We cannot abandon wives or children without God's compassion going to those people.
         There are no "disposable people" in the plan of God. God hears the crying in the desert of those who have been abandoned. God has a particular heart for the outcast, the widow and the orphan. He sustains even those who do not honor him.
          If we truly desire to have the "heart of God," we will also hear the cries of those in the desert. We will listen to the cry of those cast out and abandoned. We will not be able to ignore the thirst of those in the desert, even if they are disobedient and "undeserving" in our eyes. We are all undeserving of God's sustaining love and grace!
         We will meet many people who are thirsty and crying. Some may have an abundance of material water but lack completely the spiritual water that the Lord provides to sustain them in the desert. Others thirst in every way. If we have the heart of God, we will offer them the water that wells up to eternal life.
          Have you found yourself wondering what to do about people who are lost? How do we respond to those who are defiant and dying? How do we respond to those who have declared themselves to be the enemy of God--  sometimes in the name of another "god?" We respond by offering Living Water. A well in the desert. His name is Jesus.

          Father, show me Your heart for those in the desert. Give me Your compassion for those who thirst. I know that I cannot save anyone, but I can show everyone the well is. In Jesus' name.

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© Jeffrey D. Hoy 2022
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy - Faith Fellowship Church (EFCA)        
2820 Business Center Blvd.
Melbourne, Florida 32940 (321)-259-7200
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
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The Words of Faith devotion is published five days a week by E-mail, excluding Federal holidays. Please feel free to forward this devotion to a friend who might be blessed by this devotion. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is quoted from the New International Version (R) of The Holy Bible. Copyright (c) 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. Words of Faith (c) 1997, 2022 Jeffrey D. Hoy. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to forward this copyrighted material or use portions of it with appropriate notation of the source for non-profit purposes.