The Covenant with Hagar the Servant

 Hagar held a promise that was not originally intended for her. She was a servant. Foreign. Female. Powerless. She belonged to Sarai, and when Sarai couldn't bear children, Hagar's body was offered as a substitute.

She wasn't asked.
She was assigned. 

For a moment, she held the one thing Sarai wanted most. And Sarai full of rage, jealousy, and pain, turned against her. Scripture says Sarai, "Mistreated her." The word in Hebrew implies oppression. Violence. Abuse. 

So Hagar did the only thing she could think to do. She ran. She ran with no plan. No protection. No allies. No map. A pregnant woman, alone, in the desert. Unloved. Unseen. Unwanted. Then she collapsed beside a spring. Not just physically empty, but emotionally starved. Not just abandoned by Sarai, but by the whole world.

That's where God found her. Not in a temple. Not while she was praying. Not in a moment of worship. But in the dirt. Seaty. Desperate. Running.
"Hagar," the angel of the Lord says. He calls her by name.
"Where have you come from, and where are you going?" He knows the answer, of course. 

"I'm running from my master, Sarai," she replies. 

And then, something happens...

He sends her with a NEW promise. One that is hers to carry. 

"You will give birth to a son. You shall name him Ishmael, for the Lord has heard of your misery." (Ishmael means, "God hears") 

Hagar, who no one listened to, carries a child who will bear the name of a God who does. Not only that - God promises descendants. A future. A legacy. He speaks to her like he spoke to Abraham. 

Imagine that. A servant woman, receiving the same kind of covenant blessing. 

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