FAITH OVER TEARS

GENESIS 21

Something intriguing happened in this chapter in verses 16 and 17. " So she sat opposite him, and lifted her voice and wept. And God heard the voice of the lad ... "

Isn't it amazing that it was Hagar who lifted her voice and wept but the Word says and God heard the voice of the lad; Ishmael? The Word did not record Ishmael weeping, the Word recorded Hagar weeping but why did God not respond to the wailing of Hagar?

“ So she sat opposite him, and lifted her voice and wept. And God heard the voice of the lad ... ”

We must establish that Ishmael is the son of Abraham. And Abraham is known as the father of Faith. Therefore, God responded to the seed of Abraham which makes Ishmael a seed of Faith. What does this tell us? God does not respond to our weeping, nor to our crying, nor to our rumbling, nor to our lamentations, nor to our complains nor to our sorrowful faces. God responds to our Faith.

It's not about how much we weep but it's about how much we believe!

Hagar wept so loud but her weeping fell on deaf ears because she wept as a result of unbelief. We most at times cry when we see that there is no hope at the end of the tunnel, when we think that we will no longer survive. I can imagine for Hagar, we're in the middle of a desert, all I see is sand, all I see is nowhere, I've been deserted by my master and our only source of strength has been diminished and Hagar, having no one to turn to, begins to cry. Why do you cry when you have the Lord, God, Almighty on your side? It simply means you do not know who you have and that is faithlessness. A person who is full of faith will always look unto the hills and know that his help comes from the Lord.

My friends, in order for us to catch the attention of heaven we do not need to cry, we need to believe. Jesus made it very simple when He said all the amount of faith we need is the faith of a mustard seed. So little yet it can move mountains (Matthew 17:20). Refuse to see the situation as bigger than you. You have a God who is bigger than your problems. All you have to do is to call on Him and He will surely answer. Glory to God!