Hidden Faith: Genesis 21:15-21
It's amazing how much evidence of faith is found if we take the time to look for it. Faith is the stoic trait that doesn’t need the spotlight but supports everything else. Faith is easily overlooked, but in those who know God, it is always present.
There are hard questions to ask about this part of the story. If Abraham cared enough about the boy to be saddened to send him away, why did he dispatch Ishmael and Hagar with nothing more than a water skin and bread? If Hagar had lived among nomads for a decade, why did she seem helpless in the desert? If Ishmael was in his teens in this story and was an independent child, why was he content to stay under the bush and die as Hagar expected?
Maybe it is because I am a man, but Abraham’s ease of sending Ishmael into the desert with practically no provision is the most troubling aspect of this story. The desert is not an easy place to survive. Ishmael is a teenager and still needed guidance and would make poor decisions. How could Abraham do this?
The answer is simple. God promised to bless Ishmael. Although Abraham didn’t always act perfectly, he certainly saw God do the impossible in his own wife. Abraham didn’t send Ishmael unprovisioned; Abraham sent Ishmael with a solid understanding of his relationship with God and believed God would make Ishmael strong. How much provision did Abraham need to give Ishmael if God said He would care for the child?
As for Hagar, she was originally from Egypt, probably a serving among the nobility with Abraham arrived. As Sarah’s handmaiden, she would have been an important servant in Abraham’s household. She wouldn’t be out doing menial tasks; she would be doing things like helping Sarah organize the necessary household work. Since she didn’t grow up among the nomads, she would have been used for what skills she already possessed and not given the nomadic training a child would naturally receive.
Hagar also relied upon God. God had promised to make Ishmael strong. Her comment about not watching her son die in the wilderness implies she’d lost hope, but she certainly didn’t close herself off to God. Neither does God disappoint her. In her time of need, God is there.
The same is true about Ishmael. Reading Hagar’s description, it seems like she left him to die. But reading God’s description, Ishmael was not helplessly laying around waiting for death. Ishmael used the faith Abraham taught him to plead with God and entice God to come and take action. It’s possible to go further and see Ishmael as a figure of incredible faith in this story. He would have been trained to survive in the dessert, but rather than try to solve his own problems he turns to God. Ishmael knows God saves.
It's amazing how much evidence of faith is found if we take the time to look for it.
