God Open Our Eyes - Genesis 20-23

Genesis 21:17-19 (ESV Strong's)
And God heard the voice of the boy, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What troubles you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. Up! Lift up the boy, and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make him into a great nation.” Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. And she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink.

God Opens Our Eyes

In the above passage we have a portion of the story about Sarah’s handmade, Hagar, and her son (fathered by Abraham), Ishmael.   Once Sarah had her own son, Issac (the promised son for Abraham, from God), Sarah wanted Hagar and Ishmael gone.   Reluctantly, but by God’s command, Abraham sends Hager out with some water, which eventually runs out.   The above passage is what happens next.  

Hagar put Ismael under a tree to die and was preparing herself for that event.   This is where God intervenes.   God sees her and steps into history to change her focus.  We are not sure, from this point, exactly what happened.   Did God actually create a place that had water?  Or, was Hagar so distraught and in pain she simply did not see the water God points her to?   We do not know the answer, but we do know it took God intervening in her life for her to see the need she had was provided to her.   We can, in life, become so distraught with our pain and the pain of our children and loved ones that we don’t see the solution right in front of us.  It is hard to read this passage and not think about Jesus’ interaction with the woman at the well in John 4.  She cam to get water at the well, but Jesus tells her His is the “water of life” and if she drinks of Him she will “never thirst.”  Jesus, of course, was talking spiritually.   But the woman was so distracted by her thirst and the labor of drawing water from a well everyday, she missed the point entirely.   We have so much struggle in this life and Jesus says, “I am right here.”   But we miss it because we are focused on the temporary and temporal and not the eternal.   God wants to open our eyes to His provision in the mist of our struggle.  Look!! There is water right there!!!   His name is Jesus!!