At His Feet

July 17, 2017: Reflection

Small Straws in a Soft Wind by Marsha Burns

July 17, 2017: It has been a difficult trek, but I want you to look to your destination to remind yourself of where you are going and why you want to go there. And then, look back at your beginning point to see how far you have come and how much you have grown. This perspective will give you the courage to gather your strength for the rest of the journey, says the Lord. 2 Chronicles 32:7a "Be strong and courageous; do not be afraid nor dismayed."

Genesis 16:7-8

The angel of the Lord found Hagar beside a spring of water in the wilderness, along the road to Shur. The angel said to her, "Hagar, Sarai's servant, where have you come from, and where are you going?"

I love stories that go in-depth with a person's life; backstories are the true interesting stories to me because I get to see where a person started, where they are going, and how far they've already come from where they began. It's inspiring to me and heartwarming because it, for some reason, just gives the character in the story life. They have issues and scars and pain hidden deep in their past and its relate-able. I can picture myself in their shoes and share in their struggles and their pain or their moments of happiness but what makes it inspiring is to see a person start from such a low moment in their life to climbing and overcoming the issues they have had to live with...

Today is a reflection day...it's a day to just reflect on things in my life and even though I love stories that go in-depth with another person's life....looking at my own past gets me cringing and feeling very low for the things I use to do...but that is why God tells us to not be afraid or discouraged. It's good to reflect because now we can look back at our lives and see or realize something that we missed beforehand. God says to reflect on where are we going, why we want to go there, and look back at where we started from.

Where are you going?
Doesn't that sound like the same question that was asked to Hagar when she ran away from Sarai because Sarai was bullying her? Hagar was pregnant when she ran away and God asked her "Where have you come from, and where are you going?"

Hagar said "I'm running away from my mistress." She was running from her past, her pain and the struggle she was dealing with...maybe even a little anger (I'm not sure about the anger so please do not quote me.) What was the only thing left to do? She ran away but not into the sunset...I don't think Hagar really had any destination in mind to run to...she was pregnant and a slave who ran away in the wilderness. She was by a spring of water that went along the road to a place called Shur. It doesn't really say if she was lost or if she had a destination in mind...it does say that the angel of the Lord FOUND her.

And what was the reply back to her?

Genesis 16:9
The angel of the Lord said to her, "Return to your mistress, and submit to her authority." Then he added, "I will give you more descendants than you can count."

God told her to go back to her pain; deal with it...in Hagar case, Sarai was her pain and Hagar was to go back to her mistress and submit to Sarai. God promised Hagar that her descendants will be many.

In other words: Go and deal with the pain or whatever is in your past that you are running from. When we do that, it makes a way for God's blessings to come through. It's like this...The stream of water Hagar was sitting by (I'm just assuming she's sitting by sorry). Imagine that stream flowing constantly; it has purpose and it's very refreshing! Now imagine there is a boulder in the middle of that stream, a really big one that cuts off the water flow completely. Ok, now there is no more water flow and now Hagar (us) has no water to drink or wash ourselves with. What should we do to get the water moving again?