Read Online Wounded by God's People by Anne Graham Lotz - Free Book Online Page B

by the Jabbok River, leaving him both blessed and limping. 5 He was described in a similar fashion when He confrontedJoshua outside of Jericho, told him to take off his shoes because he was on holy ground, and then told him how to overcome the enemy fortress. 6 He appeared to Gideon in this way, appointing him as the deliverer of His people when he was hiding from the Midianites in the winepress. 7 Again and again this intriguing figure appears throughout the history of Israel. Scholars agree that the Angel of the Lord is a “theophany,” or an appearance of the pre-incarnate Son of God. Astoundingly, He is Jesus before Bethlehem! Who can fathom the magnificent grace of God in that the very first time we encounter the visible Son of God is right here, at the spring beside the road to Shur, revealing Himself …
    to a woman not a man;
    to a servant, not a warrior;
    to an Egyptian, not a descendant of Abraham;
    to a sinner, not a saint;
    to a slave, not a king;
    to an outsider, not an insider.
    What an undeserved, compassionate intervention of the Creator in the life of one wounded woman. He intentionally sought and found her — while she was running!
    Why?
Why did God go after Hagar? Why didn’t He just let her run away, die in the desert, have a timely miscarriage, or return to Egypt where she would never have been heard from again? Having Hagar out of the picture would have solved a lot of problems in Abraham’s household. So why didn’t God simply dismiss her as Abraham had done?
    The incredibly wonderful, amazing answer is because God loved Hagar! God felt her pain even though it was provoked by her own arrogance. He cared so much about the wounds inflicted on apregnant Egyptian servant that He left His throne in heaven and ran after her, pursuing her right into the desert. While God chose Abraham as the one through whom He would uniquely bless the world, Hagar represented the world that He wanted to bless.
    God loved Hagar as much as He loved Abraham!
    This is a truth to wrap your heart and mind around, especially in a world that sometimes thinks God cares more about …
    Jews than Muslims,
    whites than blacks,
    the churched than the unchurched,
    insiders than outsiders,
    men than women,
    rich people than poor people,
    adults than children,
    religious people than atheists;
    that He cares more about
us
than
them
.
    God cares about each of us and all of us — period! And because He really does love you — He really does care about you — you and I can run, but we can’t
outrun
Him.
    When Hagar knelt to get a refreshing drink from the spring, she heard a sound. It may have taken a few moments to quiet her racing heart and collect her scattered thoughts so she could really listen. It must have been a sound more beautiful than gurgling water, clearer than a singing bird, softer than the desert wind, more tender than her mother’s voice.
    Glancing in the direction of the sound, her eyes must have squinted against the harsh, glaring light of the sun, trying to focus through her tears on who was speaking to her. Then she saw Him. A mysterious figure gazing at her with a compassion that reachedback before the foundations of the world, reached ahead all the way to the cross, reached up all the way to heaven, and reached down to her — right there — on the desert road that led to Egypt.
    He was speaking to her, calling her by name.
Hagar …
    And the little wounded runaway servant girl, with tears streaming down her grimy face, her heart still pumping furiously, her breath coming in ragged gasps, encountered the One Who Sees and pursues those who are running. She met the amazing God David worshiped and to whom David prayed:
    Where can I go from your Spirit?
    Where can I flee from your presence?
    If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
    if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
    If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
    if I settle on the far side of the sea,
    even there