back to index2015-10-11 God Who Hears
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And as you're turning over there, I want to say I'm so glad that every single one of you 00:00:16.660 |
There are moments in which this room, it is a spiritual house, but this room can become 00:00:25.040 |
Every Thursday and Friday I lock up the building, and some nights we lock it up real late, and 00:00:29.960 |
especially on Fridays when the collegians are hanging out, we have a great time and everybody 00:00:32.920 |
leaves, it can be like 11 o'clock, sometimes even later than that. 00:00:37.120 |
And after everybody leaves, I turn off all the lights and I come over walking this way 00:00:40.500 |
to set the alarm, and in my mind I'm thinking, "Oh my gosh, I gotta go, I gotta go, I gotta 00:00:46.440 |
Because it's not just dark, I mean at that time it's just pitch black. 00:00:51.040 |
In a big room for some reason there's a weird hum. 00:00:55.800 |
And then in certain bigger rooms you hear weird creaking noises, and you're just like, 00:01:01.920 |
Well, at some nights, some people are gracious and then they say, "Hey, I'll just lock up 00:01:08.480 |
And I look over at him and I'll be like, "I'm so glad you're here." 00:01:13.360 |
It's because it's just kind of unsettling, you know what I mean? 00:01:17.120 |
The fear of the unknown in the pitch black ginormous room. 00:01:23.180 |
One time we cleared the entire sanctuary for an event, and I was locking up after, and 00:01:31.480 |
I started running that way, and lo and behold, all of a sudden, boom! 00:01:35.080 |
And I just fall head over, and I'm like rolling over like, "What is that?" 00:01:39.020 |
Someone left one chair, like right smack in the middle. 00:01:44.260 |
I just ducked my head and slowly walked out the church all hurting. 00:01:52.340 |
I tell you these stories because sometimes having somebody with you just helps a lot. 00:02:00.180 |
I mean, it's not like if seriously, I don't know, a demon or somebody comes out that just 00:02:06.700 |
having one person is going to save the day, but it's just what helps. 00:02:11.340 |
And the thing about it is we live in a generation, and we've always lived in a generation, in 00:02:15.780 |
a world with a lot of pain, with a lot of hurt, with various things that frustrate, 00:02:22.300 |
And in reality, it just helps a lot to have somebody around. 00:02:27.780 |
And the story that I want to read to you is a story about an interesting character that's 00:02:39.900 |
And although in previous times I've read this passage, I might have glossed over her character, 00:02:45.060 |
this time I want to highlight for you that this is an individual who experienced a great 00:02:48.900 |
amount of affliction, but found help in the presence of one. 00:03:01.340 |
In verse 1, this is what it says in chapter 16. 00:03:04.260 |
"Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had born him no children, and she had an Egyptian mate whose 00:03:11.680 |
I'm going to give you a little background story and then read the rest of the passage. 00:03:15.420 |
It starts with Abraham, who at this moment is still Abram, okay? 00:03:21.060 |
He was called, he got a call from God, not the phone call, he got a call from God from 00:03:26.180 |
when he was living in the Ur of Chaldees, which is modern day Saudi Arabia, and God 00:03:29.980 |
said you need to leave your family, you need to leave your home, and I want you to journey 00:03:36.620 |
I'm going to give you an amazing land, but more than that, I'm going to give you a son 00:03:40.420 |
and people, and many descendants will be yours. 00:03:44.140 |
Abraham, Abram, had that promise, he was already married, but even 10 years after, she was 00:03:54.580 |
She was wondering what's going on, didn't we receive the promise 10 years past, nothing 00:03:59.060 |
is happening, so remember what she says, she has a brilliant idea. 00:04:02.420 |
She says, "I've got this maidservant, why don't you have her be a surrogate mother and 00:04:09.060 |
And like a dodo, Abram says, "Okay," and then he has a baby through this maidservant, and 00:04:17.260 |
What ends up actually happening is, Hagar, the maidservant, she too is not a good character 00:04:23.580 |
so far because she ends up getting a sense of pride. 00:04:26.700 |
She looks at her master, who is Sarai, and says, "This is how you do it, this is how 00:04:31.100 |
you have babies," you know, she's boasting, and then in the scriptures it says that she 00:04:35.860 |
looked on her master with despise, okay, she was despicable in her eyes. 00:04:42.300 |
And so Sarai, upset, all of a sudden looks at her husband, "Look what you did," and he's 00:04:46.900 |
going, "What, what, I didn't do anything," he's like, "This is your fault, you know, 00:04:50.460 |
judge between me and God, look what happened, ahhh," and then we pick up our story, okay? 00:04:56.300 |
Verse 6, it says, "But Abram said to Sarai, 'Behold, your maid is yours in your power, 00:05:07.300 |
So Sarai treated her harshly, and she fled from her presence." 00:05:13.740 |
Verse 7, "Now the angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, 00:05:20.380 |
He said, 'Hagar, Sarai's maid, where have you come from, and where are you going?' 00:05:26.860 |
And she said, 'I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai.' 00:05:30.220 |
Then the angel of the Lord said to her, 'Return to your mistress and submit yourself to her 00:05:36.380 |
Verse 10, "Moreover, the angel of the Lord said to her, 'I will greatly multiply your 00:05:40.220 |
descendants so that they will be too many to count.' 00:05:44.180 |
The angel of the Lord said to her further, 'Behold, you are with child, and you will 00:05:48.540 |
bear a son, and you shall call his name Ishmael, because the Lord has given heed to your affliction. 00:05:56.060 |
He will be a wild donkey of a man, his hand will be against everyone and everyone's hand 00:06:00.740 |
will be against him, and he will live to the east of all his brothers.' 00:06:05.380 |
Then she called on the name of the Lord who spoke to her, 'You are a God who sees.' 00:06:10.180 |
For she said, 'Have I even remained alive here after seeing him?' 00:06:15.860 |
Therefore the well has been called Bir Laharoi. 00:06:21.820 |
So Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram called the name of his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael." 00:06:28.620 |
Let's take a moment to pray that God will bless our time in the Word. 00:06:31.980 |
Father God, we want to take a moment to pray that as we read Old Testament stories, help 00:06:43.220 |
Mainly, help us to see who you are in this story. 00:06:47.020 |
God, your character of mercy and love for all of us here, may our hearts be encouraged 00:06:57.740 |
God, that your spirit and presence would be there. 00:07:04.220 |
Lord God, we pray, Father Lord, that for Pastor Aaron and the family in the midst of time 00:07:08.780 |
in which they suffer, would your presence ever be more clear. 00:07:14.580 |
And God, we pray for Pastor Peter that as he ministers, as he preaches the Word and 00:07:18.940 |
encourages, would you use them as your hand and feet. 00:07:25.240 |
So we read this story, and there's amazing stuff to be learned here. 00:07:29.780 |
But the thing about it is, the multiple times that I read it, I read it as this is the pinnacle 00:07:34.540 |
story of how God called us to faith, and then we botch it. 00:07:40.500 |
Because Abraham, in many ways, was the father of faith, and he is to us an example of somebody 00:07:48.620 |
And we know that here in chapter 16, this is an epitome of a very typical prototype 00:07:57.940 |
They exercised their own will and then made a mess of it. 00:08:02.100 |
So, silly Abe, why did you listen to your wife? 00:08:07.520 |
And then you have silly Sarai, how come you couldn't wait? 00:08:11.180 |
Why have this silly idea of having your maidservant do what God said he would eventually do for 00:08:22.220 |
Yes, Sarai probably received a lot of other ridicule and mocking. 00:08:26.740 |
How come the wife of the patriarch isn't having children? 00:08:33.300 |
I bet you she was mocked, because even Hagar felt this sense of mockery towards her. 00:08:38.060 |
And then, Hagar, you silly lady, if so, you know, they asked you to do this, why have 00:08:46.580 |
And the reason why I highlight that is because this story typically is preached by way of 00:08:50.860 |
saying they were asked to have faith, they failed to have faith, and then so here come 00:08:57.700 |
Sarai and Abram are like fighting each other, you did this, and Abram's like, what did I 00:09:04.220 |
And then strife between Hagar and the master. 00:09:07.580 |
Not only that, but Ishmael is born, and we know, if you guys know the story, that he 00:09:15.700 |
As a matter of fact, if you read Arabic traditions, so, you know, all the different religions 00:09:21.260 |
around that Middle Eastern area, Islam, and the various religions that are associated 00:09:27.260 |
with it, they trace their ancestry to Ishmael. 00:09:31.700 |
The great prophet of Islam, Muhammad, he traces his ancestry to Ishmael. 00:09:36.420 |
And so what you see is, not only are your consequences immediate, and your relationships 00:09:40.300 |
are not all broken because of your lack of faith, you create a future genealogy of strife. 00:09:48.220 |
A different nation to which the Israelites are gonna continue to fight. 00:09:58.740 |
But now when I read this story, I find something quite amazing, something altogether different, 00:10:05.020 |
If you look at verse nine, an angel of the Lord appears. 00:10:10.340 |
Or I guess verse seven, the angel of the Lord appears. 00:10:13.140 |
And then in verse eight, he asks Hagar, Sarai's maid, where have you come and where are you 00:10:22.820 |
There's a sense in which she's essentially being cast out, and without somebody providing 00:10:27.800 |
for her, a tribe or a clan, so to speak, a family, she has no chance of survival. 00:10:33.820 |
She's literally in the desert, wandering to die. 00:10:38.900 |
Angel of the Lord appears, where are you going? 00:10:45.460 |
But then what's profound is starting from verse nine, the angel starts to speak to her, 00:10:52.660 |
Return to your mistress and submit yourself to her authority. 00:10:57.260 |
But then furthermore, verse 10, moreover the angel of the Lord said to her, I will greatly 00:11:01.380 |
multiply your descendants so that they will be too many to count. 00:11:05.900 |
Does that strike you as a bit unusual and shocking? 00:11:09.540 |
To me it does because remember, Sarai is not a part of Abraham's family. 00:11:24.580 |
But then when he gives her a promise, like I'm going to greatly multiply you and your 00:11:28.140 |
descendants will be so numerous you can't count it, what does that sound like? 00:11:31.660 |
That sounds like the promise he gave his promised people, and more specifically his promised 00:11:39.460 |
So what I'm saying is, the focus of the story all of a sudden changes to, it's not simply 00:11:46.980 |
that God is frustrated with the lack of trust of Abraham and Sarai. 00:11:51.620 |
More so the focus of the story is on God intervening with his grace and mercy, promising stuff 00:12:03.860 |
And so if you look at this further, look at verse 11. 00:12:07.660 |
The angel of the Lord spoke to her further, "Behold," okay, holds her attention, "you 00:12:13.340 |
are with child, your child will bear a son and you shall call his name Ishmael." 00:12:16.820 |
And in every single one of your Bibles, no matter what translation you have, you should 00:12:20.100 |
probably have a little subscript or a little number. 00:12:22.700 |
And it sometimes tells you what those Hebrew names mean. 00:12:27.260 |
If you have a, again, like a reference Bible, it tells you. 00:12:40.980 |
A truth to encourage your hearts this morning. 00:12:55.020 |
God, through the angel, gave that son a name, which means God wanted to make a point for 00:13:09.100 |
She was a servant asked to do something that even, yes, although in that day and age, that 00:13:16.260 |
"You can't have children, so you're gonna do it." 00:13:25.420 |
You're gonna make me go through childbirth and labor and that son's not really even gonna 00:13:34.060 |
But even then, after that, she's mistreated and then she's cast out and left essentially 00:13:48.820 |
When I look out into this congregation this morning, with my eyes, I see a gathering of 00:13:54.580 |
people well-dressed, prepared for service, which is good. 00:13:58.860 |
You guys are presenting your best before God. 00:14:02.580 |
You guys have combed your hair, all that kind of stuff. 00:14:12.740 |
I feel like, yeah, I'm with the household of God worshiping. 00:14:17.140 |
But I know that people in here still internally struggle. 00:14:26.380 |
Some of us struggle in our marriages, relationships, families. 00:14:29.060 |
Some of us struggle with our own sins and vices. 00:14:31.420 |
Some of us struggle in so many different ways. 00:14:36.060 |
The thing about it is, in the midst of that struggle, I want to encourage you this morning, 00:14:49.220 |
That God saw us, had our situation and circumstance, a sense of desperation. 00:14:58.300 |
And so the passage says to us very clearly, I'm naming him Ishmael because the Lord has 00:15:23.500 |
God sees through every pain, every affliction, every hurt, every moment of feeling isolation, 00:15:33.940 |
And I want our hearts to be encouraged with that truth this morning. 00:15:39.060 |
But you know, there's even more, something just more profound about just simply that 00:15:44.780 |
But the fact of the matter is, if I am honest, a lot of my suffering and the hardship and 00:15:53.980 |
In the sense that there are situations to which the affliction and the hurt that's in 00:16:05.060 |
That lady Sarai, my master, what a wicked lady. 00:16:08.820 |
And she's sitting there thinking, she's making my life miserable. 00:16:12.740 |
But Hagar also has to own up to the fact that her arrogance and pride cause a rift in the 00:16:18.660 |
Sarai, she might be complaining, "Yeah, look what you did. 00:16:24.220 |
And Abraham could be sitting there like, "Hello? 00:16:34.060 |
It's a lot like some of the complaints we have. 00:16:35.700 |
It makes me think of in recent history, the last couple months, I've had a lot of expenditures 00:16:44.900 |
Sometimes I complain, I'm like, "Oh, why is it so expensive?" 00:16:48.900 |
And it's really expensive to get four new tires for a minivan. 00:16:57.780 |
So realizing, "Oh my gosh, having new brakes and pads and rotors for a minivan is crazy 00:17:04.340 |
So I start to verbalize my expression of frustration. 00:17:06.500 |
Like, "Oh my gosh, those auto mechanics, they're just ripping me off because I know how to 00:17:12.700 |
It's much cheaper than that, but it's like this much money. 00:17:15.260 |
And then tires, oh my gosh, I can't believe it's that much money. 00:17:18.500 |
And I can sit here and complain and feel like, 'Woe is me. 00:17:23.060 |
And then someone can look at me and be like, "But you like that minivan. 00:17:33.000 |
You guys know, I mean, some of you guys don't know, but I've been wanting a minivan since 00:17:38.500 |
It's kind of like one of my life goals accomplished. 00:17:46.900 |
Sometimes we feel like we're in a world of hurt, but looking at the scenario, it's due 00:17:58.220 |
And yes, it is sometimes due to, just like with Abram and Sarai, lack of faith. 00:18:08.660 |
Because in this scenario, the consequences of the family rift and the consequences of 00:18:27.540 |
Do we read in the Bible, "You made a mess of it. 00:18:33.540 |
You better get that straight before you come to me." 00:18:44.800 |
Even when a lot of that pain and affliction is due to our own devices. 00:18:53.460 |
Now I want to just highlight to you how important this theme is in this passage, because it's 00:18:57.580 |
just like shouting at me now when I read this. 00:19:02.060 |
It says again, "Behold, you're going to have this son, and God names him Ishmael." 00:19:06.260 |
And God says, "Because the Lord has given heed to your affliction, God hears and sees 00:19:12.260 |
And then her response, Haggad's response, go over to verse 13. 00:19:15.860 |
It says, "Then she called on the name of the Lord." 00:19:22.940 |
Lord is cap and all caps because that's the name of Yahweh. 00:19:27.580 |
But then it says, "She called on the name of the Lord who spoke to her. 00:19:37.300 |
Because in the Hebrew, it just simply reads, "You God see me." 00:19:43.860 |
But in that right center, there is a focus on God's name. 00:19:59.660 |
She calls on the name of the Lord, Yahweh, and then she calls him something else. 00:20:09.660 |
Because she is emphasizing one point, one singular thing she's focused on in the midst 00:20:14.980 |
of her pain, in the midst of her devastation and feeling desperate. 00:20:19.580 |
She experiences God and then she calls him something, which is El Roy. 00:20:24.540 |
And that El Roy simply means, "The God who sees." 00:20:33.900 |
I want to encourage your hearts that as Hagar is experiencing that, have you ever felt that? 00:20:42.580 |
When you're in pain, sometimes the knee jerk reaction is like, "Oh, I'm in pain." 00:20:50.100 |
And oftentimes we are designed to have someone know what we're going through because we know 00:20:56.540 |
How many of you guys have had a difficulty sharing because part of you says, "Why bother 00:21:08.300 |
And even if I did go through all that, maybe they won't even understand." 00:21:15.280 |
Because for us, although it's good to share with our brothers and sisters, don't stop 00:21:21.020 |
People are simply trying their best to understand. 00:21:34.460 |
"Therefore," verse 14, "therefore the well, the place to which she was at, was called 00:21:42.100 |
And that probably has another subscript, a little asterisk on it. 00:21:45.300 |
It says, "Behold, as being cadet, she had been bereft to say, 'This place still stands 00:21:52.260 |
It means the well to which the living one sees. 00:21:57.060 |
So by His name, by her response, by the way that she names even the location to which 00:22:05.520 |
We need to understand God hears and sees the afflictions of His people. 00:22:12.760 |
I want to just encourage you guys again that for us, perhaps some of us, we are hurting 00:22:24.240 |
and we have difficulties in our private life. 00:22:28.360 |
And sometimes we have inclinations and desires to let people in and have them help us, but 00:22:33.000 |
sometimes we're even afraid of that because after all the efforts, it might not help. 00:22:41.560 |
God has blessed the people of faith with the congregation, the brothers and sisters of 00:22:45.960 |
Christ, so that we might all continue to encourage each other in love. 00:22:51.640 |
But to me, one of the profound things of a fellowship of a church that does that is that 00:22:56.640 |
we make the reality of God's presence all the more real in those moments of pain. 00:23:03.040 |
And so I want to encourage you, if some of you guys are hurting in private, if some of 00:23:07.160 |
you guys have certain afflictions, remember that God is Yahweh El Roy, the God who sees 00:23:15.480 |
He saw Hagar's fears, He saw Hagar's worries, He saw everything about her and even the generations 00:23:34.440 |
It wasn't simply that, okay, I'm going to promise all this stuff and whabam, peace. 00:23:40.120 |
God encouraged her with His knowledge of her and His presence. 00:23:48.560 |
Please turn in your Bibles to Genesis chapter 21, verse 9. 00:24:03.280 |
And to give you a little backdrop, in Genesis chapter 16, Ishmael is born and then 13 years 00:24:17.760 |
Within those 13 years, there's a lot of stuff more so pertaining to Abram and his, again, 00:24:22.360 |
being a chosen person, a figure that God wants to create a nation through. 00:24:27.480 |
And then finally, at the beginning of chapter 21, they have a son. 00:24:35.520 |
So maybe about one years old, you know, whenever children are weaned off the mother's milk. 00:24:40.440 |
But what's really interesting about this story is, so now you have potential for greater 00:24:52.240 |
Chapter 21, verse 1, it says, "Then the Lord took note of Sarah, and as he had said, the 00:25:00.880 |
So Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age at the appointed time of which 00:25:09.440 |
Verse 9, "Now Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had born to Abraham, mocking. 00:25:18.280 |
For she said to Abraham, 'Drive out this maid and her son, for the son of this maid shall 00:25:28.880 |
Essentially what you have is, so far, 13 years have passed, so Ishmael is probably 13, 14 00:25:36.960 |
So here he is, fully comprehending everything that's going on. 00:25:40.280 |
Now this baby is born, but the baby seems to be now the true heir of the family. 00:25:45.800 |
So you can imagine Ishmael thinking, "Oh, seriously? 00:25:50.320 |
So he's looking down on the baby of promise, and then Sarah sees that, and as a mom, she's 00:25:59.040 |
She gets upset, she's like, "How dare he mock my son!" 00:26:01.880 |
And then she goes to Abraham and says, "Get rid of the whole family. 00:26:12.840 |
Verse 11 says, "The matter distressed Abraham greatly because of his son. 00:26:17.160 |
But God said to Abraham, 'Do not be distressed because of the lad and your maid. 00:26:24.160 |
For through Isaac your descendants shall be named. 00:26:26.800 |
And the son of the maid, I will make a nation also, because he is your descendant.'" 00:26:34.200 |
Because Abraham was without a son, and Ishmael essentially was the only son, I'm guessing 00:26:43.360 |
He had an affinity and said, "Oh, I can't do that. 00:26:49.360 |
But then God says something very interesting, which is God affirms Ishmael is not the promised 00:26:56.960 |
So he says, "Do what Sarah says and cast her out." 00:27:03.440 |
"So Abraham rose early in the morning and took bread and the skin of water and gave 00:27:06.680 |
them to Hagar, putting them on her shoulder and gave her the boy and sent her away. 00:27:11.560 |
And she departed and wandered about in the wilderness of Beersheba. 00:27:20.580 |
Then she went and sat down opposite him about a bow shot away. 00:27:24.280 |
For she said, 'Do not let me see the boy die.' 00:27:27.000 |
And she sat opposite him and lifted up her voice and wept." 00:27:34.960 |
God promised Hagar that her son would be blessed and would have many descendants. 00:27:45.680 |
Friends, the simple truth that we have the promises of God does not mean you're going 00:27:49.660 |
to be free from difficulty, heartache, and pain. 00:27:55.960 |
And in this moment, can we all affirm the fact that perhaps the vast majority of us 00:28:01.040 |
have not been afflicted to the degree she is now? 00:28:11.520 |
Maybe we felt in many ways isolated, outcast, whatever it may be. 00:28:15.240 |
But that hurt, probably speaking, is not as great as this. 00:28:20.280 |
Let's take a moment to just imagine what she's gone through. 00:28:23.960 |
She's being cast out of her home with nothing but her son and a water bag and some perhaps 00:28:30.880 |
But the thing about it is it's not like as though some kid was running away from home 00:28:34.800 |
in this day where they can just go to a buddy's house. 00:28:46.360 |
And for a woman with a young child to go out, it is again, second time death. 00:28:54.520 |
When I first read this story, I remember thinking, "Oh, that's so sad. 00:29:02.080 |
And the reason why that matters is because you can imagine that how exhausted, how dehydrated, 00:29:06.480 |
how spent and weak they must have been that she had to lay down a full-grown boy next 00:29:14.480 |
And then think about the mother's pain to walk away from her son. 00:29:25.000 |
And we read later on that the boy was crying. 00:29:29.640 |
So she goes a bow shot away and she prays essentially and says, "Please, don't let 00:29:39.720 |
Because seriously, the nightmare of every parent is to see their child go before them. 00:29:43.360 |
So she's essentially saying with that statement, "I would rather die first than my own son." 00:29:59.640 |
She can try desperately to grab strength somehow, but what is she going to do in a moment like 00:30:16.120 |
And the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, 'Hagar, what is the 00:30:22.000 |
Do not fear for God has heard the voice of the lad where he is. 00:30:27.040 |
Arise, lift up the lad and hold him by the hand for I will make a great nation of him.' 00:30:34.040 |
She went and filled the skin of water and gave the lad a drink. 00:30:39.480 |
He grew, he lived in the wilderness and became an archer." 00:30:43.720 |
This story, again, of Hagar to me before was just failure of faith. 00:30:48.800 |
The story more so highlights, uplifts God's intervention of mercy through his presence. 00:30:57.200 |
And so the second truth for you to write, the first was God hears. 00:31:12.480 |
You don't have to turn there because it's a long passage. 00:31:14.200 |
I'm just going to summarize and give you the gist. 00:31:16.840 |
In Ezekiel chapter 48, God is promising the nation that I will restore you. 00:31:25.000 |
They were not just felt rejected, they were literally overcome by pagan nations. 00:31:30.280 |
They were held captive and enslaved and they were oppressed and were crying out to God. 00:31:34.120 |
And God through the prophets regularly promised them, 'I will restore you.' 00:31:38.360 |
And God says, 'I will restore you to a degree where you will have a beautiful city. 00:31:42.200 |
And this city is so real, I'm going to give you the measurements.' 00:31:44.680 |
So chapter 48 of Ezekiel, God gives the measurements of the pillars. 00:31:48.520 |
God gives the measurements of the temple and the foundation, the courtyard. 00:31:52.280 |
And in that, in the midst of that, do you know what he says? 00:32:00.200 |
And the name of that holy city is the Lord is there. 00:32:06.800 |
That term, the Lord is there, is so unique because it's the only place in the entire 00:32:10.520 |
Bible where that term is used and that term is Yahweh Shammah. 00:32:20.040 |
We learned a moment ago that God is Yahweh El Roy, the God who sees. 00:32:24.440 |
Here, we notice that God is the God who is there. 00:32:27.400 |
His presence is there and His presence fills the city and that is their reward. 00:32:37.200 |
Not simply to overcome those pagans, not simply to overcome my financial distress, not simply 00:32:42.160 |
to overcome my work distress, family distress, God's presence is their portion. 00:32:49.520 |
And so I want to encourage you, brothers and sisters in Christ, we know theologically that 00:32:59.680 |
God, if you guys are in BCC, you guys learned that today along with a thousand other things. 00:33:14.600 |
That means He both rules in that area, arena. 00:33:22.280 |
But for this poor Egyptian slave, it means God's grace is with them. 00:33:29.360 |
Can I, if any of you are struggling, hurting, seeking out for some strength, for whatever 00:33:35.960 |
you can find, can these words encourage your heart? 00:33:47.360 |
You know, the reason why I'm preaching this from the book of Genesis is because I've been 00:33:50.040 |
walking through the book of Genesis with the youth group students now for almost a lap, 00:33:54.880 |
full year, and I'm still not done with the book of Genesis. 00:33:57.600 |
And the thing about it is I see this theme repeated over and over again. 00:34:04.200 |
So although this is a bit of a Bible verse look up exercise, please bear with me and 00:34:15.760 |
In Genesis 26 verse three, this is already a time in which Abraham is almost out of the 00:34:22.840 |
He's leading his family and there is a famine in the land. 00:34:26.920 |
There is desperation simply for basic necessity, food. 00:34:31.160 |
And God says this, verse three, sojourn in the land and I will be with you. 00:34:36.080 |
I will bless you for to you and your descendants that will give all these lands. 00:34:39.720 |
I will establish the oath which I swore to your forefather. 00:34:43.600 |
Later on in the same chapter, Isaac runs into another problem, limited resource, lack of 00:34:50.080 |
And so with his neighbors, now there's strife. 00:34:54.600 |
But if you give up the well, what's going to happen? 00:35:06.760 |
And the Lord appeared to him that same night and said, I am the God of your father, Abraham. 00:35:14.400 |
I will bless you and multiply your descendants for the sake of my servant, Abraham. 00:35:27.760 |
And when Isaac is too old, his eyes get all dim. 00:35:38.320 |
Even though I'm not the first child, I want the blessing. 00:35:42.880 |
And what ends up happening is, just like Abraham, when you, when you go about your own way, 00:35:51.240 |
And it's so sad because although he loved his mother, he doesn't ever see his mother 00:35:55.800 |
And he's married and Rebecca doesn't get to see her son. 00:36:01.560 |
Jacob can't go back to his father because he's deceived him. 00:36:15.560 |
Take a look at Genesis chapter 28, verse 15 through 16. 00:36:20.080 |
Genesis chapter 28, verse 16 through, I mean 15 through 16. 00:36:25.560 |
What's happening in the story as you turn there is Jacob is walking in the wilderness 00:36:32.880 |
And he's so sad that in the evening he decides to lay down, but there's nothing to lay on. 00:36:37.320 |
So he essentially lies on the side of the road in the dirt and is so dejected. 00:36:41.520 |
He's using a rock for a pillow and he's just sad. 00:36:46.480 |
In that context, verse 15, behold, I am with you. 00:36:52.680 |
I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you. 00:36:56.680 |
Then Jacob woke from his sleep and said, surely the Lord is in this place, but I did not know 00:37:13.360 |
We can feel a sense of depression, anxiety, insecurity. 00:37:28.560 |
What's more, later on, Jacob is going to his relatives land because he has to go somewhere. 00:37:34.080 |
And if you turn to Genesis chapter 31, in his journey over there, he meets Rachel, girl 00:37:43.760 |
Looks like things are looking up, but what ends up happening is Jacob gets duped and 00:37:48.720 |
then he ends up finding himself married to Rachel's sister who happens to be not so good 00:37:55.600 |
And then what ends up happening is he ends up being swindled to work like three times 00:37:59.600 |
as much as he was originally supposed to work. 00:38:02.000 |
And next thing you know, not only is he married to both the sisters, but he's entangled with 00:38:07.240 |
And then what ends up happening is Lebon, the father-in-law starts to mistreat Jacob. 00:38:10.720 |
It says that he is no longer on friendly terms. 00:38:21.080 |
Verse one, Genesis chapter 31 verse one, then the Lord said to Jacob, return to the land 00:38:30.880 |
I can just keep going just for the sake of time. 00:38:33.960 |
What happens is when Jacob gets old, guess what? 00:38:37.120 |
His 12 sons, many of them are very vile and wicked. 00:38:40.600 |
They get angry at Joseph, the younger brother, because Joseph is a little proud. 00:38:45.560 |
Joseph is clearly the guy that Jacob loves most. 00:38:48.440 |
He's got his like nice gown, almost like a royal robe. 00:38:51.840 |
So then the brothers say, let's kill the guy. 00:39:01.480 |
What do you do when you're sent as a slave by your own brothers? 00:39:06.840 |
Genesis 39, two, the Lord was with Joseph and the Lord caused him to become a successful 00:39:16.080 |
He's falsely accused because he's working as a slave now. 00:39:18.760 |
He's been entrusted with a lot of things, but a wicked woman in the home, essentially 00:39:22.240 |
Potiphar's wife, she's making advances towards him and she says, lie with me. 00:39:27.640 |
She says, lie with me and grabs on his shirt. 00:39:31.120 |
Now she thinks of this as an opportunity to falsely accuse this guy. 00:39:42.240 |
What do you do when you're, when you're falsely accused? 00:39:45.120 |
When you're hurt because people think the worst of you rather than the better? 00:39:48.600 |
People assume the wrong of you, judge you, make you feel like you're worse than you really 00:39:56.200 |
I mean, Genesis 29, 21, but the Lord was with Joseph, extended his kindness to Kim, 00:40:03.640 |
gave him favor in the sight of the jailed chief. 00:40:06.600 |
Brothers and sisters, the reason why I went through that exercise of going through the 00:40:10.120 |
passages is to show you every one of these significant figures in the Bible, Jacob's 00:40:14.280 |
a significant figure, Joseph's a significant figure. 00:40:17.160 |
They experienced a full gamut of life experiences that we would call affliction, pain, hurt. 00:40:27.560 |
And the theme of the story is, and their success rested in God's presence. 00:40:34.400 |
And their hope and rest, when they're in the anxiety of like, what do we do when something 00:40:44.120 |
Their peace and rest comes with God's presence. 00:40:48.400 |
And that is my encouragement to you this morning. 00:40:51.040 |
Can we say along with Jacob, surely the Lord is in this place. 00:40:55.840 |
Will our hearts be encouraged to say, perhaps I did not know it at the time, but God who 00:41:00.080 |
is strong, God who sees, God who knows all things, God who hears, he is with me. 00:41:10.920 |
And as a final way of exhorting, you know, after learning these truths, that God is the 00:41:17.840 |
God, Yahweh El Roy, who hears, I'm sorry, who sees. 00:41:23.680 |
And then learning about God, God Yahweh Shema, the God who is there. 00:41:29.240 |
I think just exhortation is, let's remember that. 00:41:37.800 |
Her son is literally named after the event and the experience of God seeing her in the 00:41:47.040 |
For us too, in our hearts and our minds, we need to remember the powerful God who is here 00:41:52.920 |
The merciful God who intervenes, the gracious God who pours out his mercy in the time of 00:42:03.280 |
But what's more, as we exercise this trust, we realize we get a better picture of God 00:42:12.160 |
We exercise this trust and just as God sees us, we see God in a better light. 00:42:18.520 |
It's when we put our trust and faith in him, we understand to a greater degree through 00:42:23.240 |
experiencing him, just how faithful and trustworthy he is. 00:42:29.280 |
And that's why, to me it makes sense that we as believers practicing trust, we should 00:42:39.540 |
We should be persevering in our obedience in the midst of suffering. 00:42:42.460 |
We should be persevering in the midst of difficulties. 00:42:45.840 |
And that is why God could even exhort us and command us in the scriptures to Joshua and 00:42:50.480 |
say, "Have I not commanded you, be strong and courageous. 00:42:53.380 |
Do not tremble or dismayed for the Lord your God is with you." 00:43:01.420 |
I hope that when we experience devastation, discouragement, conflict and affliction, those 00:43:09.160 |
things happen and it's almost a regular pattern for those who are faithful. 00:43:14.220 |
But when we not be like those with no hope, with no peace, and over time they're still 00:43:21.580 |
weak, because they're still trying so hard to find strength on their own. 00:43:28.020 |
If we can neglect this truth that God sees and God hears and God is there, what will 00:43:36.900 |
We're going to be in a moment of desperation and whatever comes our way, we're going to 00:43:42.140 |
Not only that, we're going to feel a sense of hardness and bitterness. 00:43:45.180 |
If there's other people causing us affliction and pain, we're going to say, "Well, they 00:43:48.980 |
We're going to sense a feel of desperation, "I want those people to know what's happening." 00:43:53.860 |
And there's a sense of expression, explosion, frustration. 00:43:57.260 |
And in the end, all of that is going to ruin us. 00:44:01.700 |
But for those of us who understand that God is a God who hears, who sees and who is there, 00:44:08.420 |
we have hope for rest, peace, stability, security in our God who is so powerful. 00:44:17.260 |
I hope that you guys are challenged to be strong and courageous in the presence of God. 00:44:22.260 |
Father God, we want to thank you so much again. 00:44:30.500 |
We thank you God that Lord in the midst of our lives here, that you the God of the universe 00:44:42.760 |
And King David would ask, "Who are we that you would be even mindful of us?" 00:44:54.660 |
But Lord, you esteem us and God, you give attention to us. 00:44:59.380 |
We thank you so much that we read of the story of Hagar. 00:45:02.380 |
And we are so encouraged that God, although she experienced so much pain, although she 00:45:06.180 |
experienced so much difficulty, Lord, you appeared at the right time in the right way 00:45:13.880 |
And God, you strengthen through your promise and through your presence. 00:45:18.180 |
I pray that for every single one of us in this room, we would leave this place knowing 00:45:25.940 |
I also pray that through this week, we would grow a hunger to say, "Father God, sometimes 00:45:32.100 |
We feel like the answer is just better people in our lives, people who will love us. 00:45:36.240 |
Sometimes we think like the answer is just this change the environment scenario." 00:45:40.300 |
But help us to have a true hunger for your presence. 00:45:46.380 |
We thank you so much, Lord, it's in Christ's name.