Genesis 21:15 When the water in the skin was gone, she put the boy under one of the bushes.
The wording of today’s verses confuses me a bit. Hagar “put the boy” under a bush. She went off because she didn’t want to watch “the boy” die. God heard “the boy crying as he lies there.” I literally had to look up the age difference between Ishmael and Isaac to be sure we were dealing with a teenager and not a child. Sources say Ishmael was 14 years older than Isaac.
Genesis 21:16 Then she went off and sat down about a bowshot away, for she thought, “I cannot watch the boy die.” And as she sat there, she began to sob.
Also, I am left with that same sense that I don’t fully understand all that’s going on here. God encourages Abraham to do whatever Sarah asks to take care of the Hagar/Ishmael situation. God waits until they are totally out of water and Hagar thinks she is preparing to watch her son die. And then He intervenes. God is not intentionally cruel. So something else must be going on here.
Genesis 21:17 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.
Precious Savior, I know I have a tendency to think I know what is going on, what *should* be happening, in a given situation. I also know there is so much that I don’t know, don’t understand. Help me not to be so quick to pass judgment. Help me to remember who You are and who You are to me. Help me to trust that even when life feels out of control, You are already on the other side and You are holding me securely in the palm of Your hand. Help me, Jesus. Amen.
Genesis 21:18 Lift the boy up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.”
Have a blessed day.