THE TRAMPLED ONES
KEY TEXT
Genesis 16:4-16 (NIV)
V4- When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress.
V5- Then Sarai said to Abram, ‘You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my servant in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the Lord judge between you and me.
V6- “Your servant is in your hands,” Abram said. “Do with her whatever you think best.” Then Sarai mistreated Hagar; so she fled from her.
V7- The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur.
V8- 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.
V9- Then the angel of the Lord told her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her.”
V10- The angel added, “I will so increase your descendants that they will be too numerous to count.”
V11- 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.
V12- 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.”
V13- 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.”
V14- That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi; it is still there, between Kadesh and Bered.
V15- So Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son she had borne.
V16- Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael.
Life sometimes tramples us.
“To trample” means to “tread under foot.” And it seems that life does that to us sometimes – treading and stepping all over us under its harsh and heavy foot, until we become the trampled ones.
Our key text is about Hagar- a maid trampled by her mistress, Sarai. The Bible tells us Sarai mistreated Hagar [KJV-dealt harshly with her] and it was partly Hagar’s fault too for despising Sarai when she was pregnant with Abram’s child.
Sometimes it is by the flow of the fallen world that we are trampled by life. At other times, we are the ones through our own folly that causes the trampling by people or circumstance, which is the case of Hagar. Whether it is by our doing or not, we do sometimes become the trampled ones, run over by life and people.
This morning, I would like to share a sermon entitled, ‘THE TRAMPLED ONES.”
(I) WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE BECOME THE TRAMPLED ONES?
V6- Then Sarai mistreated Hagar; so she fled from her.
V7- The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur.
Poor, abused, pregnant Hagar fled a great distance from Sarai’s wrath. The location of “Shur” (v7) according to Genesis 25:18 and 1 Samuel 15:7, was near the border of Egypt. Likely she had traveled from Abram’s camp to Beersheba and through Kadesh-Barnea to the Bitter Lake. Shur is the name of the desert in northwestern Sinai, next to Egypt. Hagar was going home to her people, the descendants of Ham, bearing her half-Shemite baby. And she was almost there.
Application: Like Hagar, when we are trampled by the church, which Abram and Sarai are a type of, or by unreasonable people or even by harsh circumstance, we have to a tendency to run to “Egypt”, which is the world. But before we arrive at Egypt, we will be trapped in Shur- a desert place, a dry place where we will thirst and starve spiritually. The way down to the world is through dryness and barrenness. Look into your heart this morning and ask yourself- “Have I thought of leaving this church when my Region Pastor seems to be harsh with me?” “Have I thought of leaving this church when I can’t take the harsh discipline?” “Have I thought of leaving this church and running to Manila when by my own folly I fell into sexual sin and now I am receiving the judgment for my folly which is too hard for me to bear and I want to run away from it all?”
E.g. Recently, a city church planter just packed up and ran away simply because he was harshly reprimanded by a region pastor over his mishandling of leadership.
So, we do have this tendency like Hagar to flee to Egypt when we are trampled and run over by life.
But does the Lord condone that? What does the Lord do to the trampled ones?
(II) WHAT DOES THE LORD DO?
What does the Lord do the trampled ones? Leave them alone and let them die? NO!
1. THE LORD FINDS US
v7 (NIV)- The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur.
KJV- And the angel of the Lord found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur.
God brought help to this fugitive and outcast by the ministry of an angel. The “Angel of the Lord” was God Himself in theophanic manifestation. The place where He found this poor Egyptian maid attracts our attention. It was by a “spring in the desert” [KJV- by a fountain of water in the wilderness], termed in verse 14 as “the well”. This is the first time we read of the “well” in Scripture.
In the Old Testament where the “well” is mentioned, it is beautifully pointing to the One “who giveth the living water, that water of which those who drink shall never thirst” and which is in them a well of water springing up into “everlasting life” (John 4).
Let’s look at the location of this well. First it was located in the “desert” (NIV) or “wilderness” (KJV). Second, the well itself was “by the fountain”. And third, it was at this well that God revealed Himself to Hagar.
Application: It is not amid the gaieties or the luxuries of the world that Christ is to be found. It is not while the soul is enjoying “the pleasures of sin for a season” that the Savior is met with. It is in the wilderness, that is. It is as we withdraw from the attractions of earth and are in that state of soul which answers to the “wilderness” that the Lord meets with the sinner and where is it that the needy one finds the Savior. The Lord finds sinners when they lose themselves. Egypt to which Hagar was fleeing, was the representative of the world kingdom. The Angel of the Covenant still arrests sinners while they are on their way to join His enemies. Christ often finds human souls and brings them to Himself, when this world becomes a desert to them and no earthly hope is left. Abram and his wife were of the family of God – the Church that then was. The Church has, through mistaken zeal persecuted men and made them outcasts and wanderers. But this cannot shut such out from the Divine grace and mercy.
The “well” is to be found by “the fountain of water”. Christ is to be found in the written word. The angel of the Lord finds Hagar and God meets you in your desert and wilderness. God’s favorable time for speaking to our souls often is in the time of our affliction, when the desert is about us, and every other voice is hushed. He comes to you in your conscience and He kindles the spark into a flame within you and comes to your help in His grace when you become the trampled ones.
2. THE LORD COUNSELS US
V8- 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. “Then the angel of the Lord told her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her.”
When the Lord finds Hagar in the desert, you could say that it was GRACE that finds her. Now it is RIGHTEOUSNESS that counsels her. Grace is never exercised at the expense of righteousness. Grace upholds rather than ignores our responsibilities toward God and toward our neighbor. The grace of God that bringeth salvation, TEACHES us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly, righteously and godly, in this present world (Titus 2;12). Note two things here in connection with Hagar:
1. The angel of the Lord addresses her as “servant of Sarai,” thus disallowing her marriage with Abram.
2. She is commanded to “go back” to her mistress. The day would come when God Himself would open the door and send Hagar out of Abram’s house (21:12-14), but till then she must “submit” herself to the authority of Sarai. For another 13 years, she must patiently endure her lot and perform her duty.
Application: Is there anyone here today who has fled from the post of duty? Then to such the Lord’s word is, “Return…..submit.” If we have done wrong, no matter what the temptation or provocation may have been, the only way to Divine blessing, to peace and happiness, is to retrace our footsteps (as far as this is possible), in repentance and submission.
Christianity does not place us above the duties arising from the social relationships of human life. It is in the humble ways of duty that we can best glorify God. We should resist the temptation of seeking large places and occasions in which to do our duty. The angel, in commanding Hagar to return to duty, virtually promised her support and favor under it.
Abram was to become a blessing to Hagar as he had been to Lot.
Application: It is best for us to dwell with those whom God has appointed to minister to us spiritual good. The household of God on earth is not perfect. The operations of divine grace are here complicated with human passion and infirmity. Still, this is the place of our greatest safety and where our souls can thrive the best.
When God appears, it is not for the end that He might gratify our curiosity but to instruct us in the humble tasks of duty.
3. THE LORD INSPIRES US
V10- The angel added, “I will so increase your descendants that they will be too numerous to count.”
V11- 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.
V12- 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.
Hagar was informed by the Angel that she should be the mother of a numerous race.
The patriarchal stories in Genesis feature numerous instances where individuals are promised descendants. There are six such promises to Abram. There is one each to Isaac and Jacob. But Hagar is the only matriarch to receive such a promise. This places her alone among the matriarchs. Hagar’s descendants would be included in Abram’s descendants – as numerous as the star. She was an honored woman. Having prophesied Hagar’s matriarchal glory, the Lord delivered the following oracle in v11-12 informing her of the gender, name, character, and future of her child. It is well known how accurately this oracle has been fulfilled in the Arabs today who, in all ages, have been a wild and warlike people and who, though surrounded by nations that have each been conquered in turn, yet have themselves been insubdued by the great Powers unto this day.
Application: God cannot impart to us the future in the present but He gives us what is next to it – HOPE. It is with this inspired hope that our soul is sustained amidst the varied trials of life and we are kept in the attitude of waiting upon God. Without hope in the future, God would be a dark enigma (mystery). We take refuge in the thought of that goodness which God has laid up for us when we are trampled and oppressed by the apparent exceptions to His goodness. The good news here is no matter how trampled, how low and how despised you are today in the eyes of men, God has laid up a hope for you.
E.g. One of my secrets of surviving any trampled situations in life is by clinging on to the promises of God. I realize that each time I am trampled by life, I will find myself like Hagar, crying in my spiritual wilderness beside the well, which is the word of God. And the revelation from the well never dries up. Line upon line would I received promises upon promises and one day Psalm 119:49-50 surmises my experience, “Remember thy word to thy servant, in which thou hast made me HOPE. This is my comfort in my affliction that thy promise gives me LIFE.” I remember how decimated, worthless and hopeless I was feeling. But then at the well of God’s word, He instructed me to bear with my humiliation for a while. He promises me in Zechariah 9:11-12- “I will set your captives free from the waterless pit. Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope; today I declare that I will restore to you double.” Just as He promised the trampled Hagar to multiply her descendants, God also gave me the same promise in Jeremiah 30:18-22, “Thus says the Lord; ‘Behold I will restore the fortunes of the tents of Jacob, and have compassion on his dwellings; the city shall be rebuilt upon its mound, and the palace shall stand where it used to be. Out of them shall come songs of thanksgiving, and the voices of those who make merry. I will multiply them, and they shall not be few; I will make them honored, and they shall not be small. Their children shall be as they were of old, and their congregation shall be established before me; and I will punish all who oppress them. Their princes shall be one of themselves, their ruler shall come forth from their midst; I will make him draw near, and he shall approach me, for who would dare of himself to approach me? Says the Lord. And you shall be my people, and I will be your God.” These promises of God were quickened to me by the Lord on 22 November 2008 and again on 10 July 2009. As I reviewed those dates, they were those times when I felt the heat of affliction the greatest. But with those promises given in the midst of my suffering, God really inspired hope within me to endure my trampled condition.
Today, I dare to testify to the glory of God that He did restore the fortune of the tents of Evangel. Financially, God is good as to steer us out of financial reds. Spiritually, I don’t feel like a captive in a waterless pit but that I am faring well in Him and I see how God works behind the scene to restore and renew me. To God be the glory. Also, literally this year, we are going to build the house of God in the original plan- Tabuc Suba and I believe God will multiply Evangel to be a big congregation according to His word and great and prominent people will arise from our congregation.
4. THE LORD HEARS US
v11b- You shall call him Ishmael, for the Lord has heard of your misery.
Wow! What a powerful verse! Do you know the Lord hears our misery?
The name “Ishmael” means “God has heard”. Its very sound commemorated God’s remembrance of Hagar in her oppression. Whenever she murmured or sang it to her baby, she would commemorate this event. Even when he was so difficult that she shouted his name “Ishmael”, she recalled God’s intervention.
Illustration: The guillemot is a small sea bird that lives on the rocky cliffs of the northern coastal regions. These birds flock together by the thousands in comparatively small areas. Because of the crowded conditions, hundreds of females lay their pear-shaped eggs side by side on a narrow ledge, in a long row. Since the eggs all look alike, it is incredible that a mother bird can identify those that belong to her. Yet studies show that she knows her own eggs so well that when even one is moved, she finds it and returns it to its original location. Is that not remarkable? But let me tell you what is even more remarkable. We are told in the Bible that God knows and hears it all. Everything! He is so well acquainted with his flock that he knows the thoughts and the desires of our hearts and our motives. He knows and understands the pain we have in life. He knows when we have been moved to where we should be in life and is ready to pick us up and bring us back into the center of his will. God knows and He hears.
Exodus 2:23-25- In the course of those many days the king of Egypt died. And the people of Israel groaned under their bondage and cried out for help and their cry under bondage came up to God. And God heard their groanings, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. And God saw the people of Israel, and God knew their condition.
Let me highlight the action word of God when it comes to our bondage and oppression – God heard; God remembered, God saw and God knew.
Application: What is your misery today? What is your bondage today? Who tramples you? What is your pain? God hears; God remembers; God sees and God knows.
5. THE LORD SEES US
Young Hagar’s response to the Lord’s oracles was remarkable. So “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.” That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi; it is still there, between Kadesh and Bered” (v13-14). Surprisingly, Hagar did not revel in the information about the child she would bear but rather in God. In amazement she bestowed two names – one on God and the other on the place. Both celebrate the same reality – God’s omniscience. She named God, “You are a God of seeing” (El-Roi). She named the well, “Beer Lahai Roi”, which means “well of the living one who sees me.”
Hagar realized that all her knowledge of God depended on His initiative in knowing her. When she felt as if God were absent, she learned that He was watching over her (Psa 139:1-12). Her soul sang. She was the only person, male or female, in the Old Testament who conferred a name on God. She also obeyed God, traveling all the way back through Kadesh-barnea to Beersheba to Abram’s tents in Mamre. And there she submitted to Sarai. Having been used, mistreated and rejected by her superiors she was overwhelmed by the thought that the Lord Himself cared for her and had plans for her and her unborn son which would have worldwide repercussions. Even though she was well on the way back to her native Egypt, and had no idea what awaited her in Abram’s household, she returned on the basis of the word from the Lord. In so doing, she started to make something positive out of the mistakes she had made.
Abram and Sarai were also required to alter their attitudes to the young woman in order that they might receive her back into their household. Perhaps it was the reminder that the Lord is called “El-Roi- You-Are-The-God-Who-Sees”, which served to bring them to a recognition of the things they had done so badly. Nothing is more likely to encourage men and women to rectify their errors than the reminder that the Lord is not unmindful of what they have done and requires and accounting from each one.
At the ripe old age of eighty-six Abram received the gift of a son who would perpetuate his name. Although, he would later discover that he had jumped the gun on the Lord’s plan, Abram nevertheless rejoiced in his boy whose very name, “Ishmael”- “God hears” –was a constant reminder to him that he was to live in the conscious enjoyment and under the caring gaze of the Lord his God.
Many times we think we are more capable than our God and we think we know more than our God and that God is blind to our plight. We are wrong. Our God is El-Roi- He knows and He sees.
Let me close today’s message with a hilarious story:
Illustration: A cowboy on the western frontier came across a Red Indian lying flat with his ear to the ground. The Indian looked up at the cowboy sitting on his horse and said, “Wagon: four horses; two passengers; woman wearing calico gown; heavy man driving; thirty minutes away.” The cowboy’s jaw dropped as he said, “That is so amazing! You can tell all of that just by putting your ear to the ground?” “No,” the Indian replied, “they ran over me half an hour ago!”
There are times in life when we all feel like that Indian. Maybe people have deliberately run over you – a friend, your spouse, a coworker, an employee- just knocked you down and left you deeply wounded. Or maybe circumstances have flattened you. Your health has broken. Your house has burned. That financial risk you took just didn’t work out. And just when you needed encouragement the most, people seemed to be oblivious to your hurt, or they misinterpreted your actions and asked, “Why are you so down in the dumps?” Everyone who is trampled needs encouragement and comfort at times. Know this, trampled ones – the Lord finds you; He counsels you, He inspires hope in you, He hears you and He sees you. Whatever place of suffering you feel trapped within, God cares. And when you labor to remain faithful to God’s leading and submit to what God has called you to do, God will do something about it.
END OF SERMON
Sermon of Pastor Lily
Preached at EFC Iloilo on 27 Feb 2011
