Reflections - It's Complicated - but God is with us.

This week's story from the Old Testament reminds us that families have always been complicated! If you take a read through Genesis you will find the story of and elderly Abraham and Sarah - who were gifted by God with a child who they named Issac. But prior to this, in the years where they were yearning for a child together, Abraham had a child (named Ishmael) with his servant Hagar. In this week's scripture reading, we get to the part of the story where Hagar and Ishmael have been cast away - and this servant woman is wandering about in the wilderness with her young son.

Read Genesis 21: 8-21

They had no water and Hagar puts her son under some bushes (probably to protect him from the sun.) She's helpless, crying, and worrying that her child will die.

Have you ever felt like that? Sometimes when we deal with a problem it may seem as if there is no solution. We don’t know what to do. We feel helpless. Our families can be just as complicated and sometimes we can feel - or literally be - cast out like Hagar. In Hagar’s case, the Bible says an angel of God spoke to her, comforted her, and she is provided with water to give her son to drink. In the end, “God was with the boy, and he grew” (21:20).

Moral of the story: God is with us. Hagar opened her eyes to God’s message and saw things in a different way. Can this be true for us? Perhaps we don't encounter angels - or we don't hear the voice of God speaking to us - But God is with us. God is with us when we feel helpless. When we feel like we are cast out. God is with us to comfort us, to give us water, and to remind us that we are loved.

#Sixthyouth

(picture is called Hagar and Ismael by kfwisely on DeviantArt)