Hagar at the Fountain
(No. 1869)
A SERMON DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, NOVEMBER 8, 1885,
BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
"And she called the name of the Lord that spoke unto her,
You-Are-the-God-Who-Sees: for she said, Have I, also, here looked after
Him who sees me? Therefore the well was called Beer-Lahai-Roi." Genesis
16:13,14.
You know the story of Hagar. I am not going to deal with the
allegorical meaning of it–that would be apart from our subject this
morning. I shall speak of the incident simply as it stands, but even
then I shall not use it strictly as a case of sure conversion, for I am
not certain that it was such. I suppose Hagar to have been an Egyptian
woman, probably one of the maidservants who were given by the King of
Egypt to Abram at that unhappy time when Abram's faith failed him and
he went down into Egypt and requested Sarai to conceal the fact that
she was his wife. Sin, whenever it is committed by the child of God, is
sure to involve him in sorrow. In the long run, the result of any false
dealing comes home to the Believer and it does so in very unexpected
ways. Hagar became the special maid of Sarai. God had promised to Abram
that he should have a son and that thus he should be the father of
nations. That blessing did not appear likely to come to him, for there
were no children born to Sarai, nor did there seem to be the
possibility of any.
Husband and wife were both old and well stricken in years. No special
mention had been made of Sarai in the promise as it then stood and,
therefore, it was not clear to Abram but what some other might be the
mother of the expected seed. And when, in her unbelief, Sarai proposed
that her maid should become his secondary wife, Abram listened to her.
According to the custom of the times and of oriental nations, this act
was right enough, but as it was not really right, in itself, and showed
littleness of faith on Abram's part. Sorrow soon came of it. Hagar
began to behave herself proudly towards her mistress and her mistress,
finding herself despised, complained to Abram and began, also, to
behave harshly towards her.
The wrong element would not work in Abram's family. It might do very
well for the Canaanites around him, but in a house where God was
feared, it was an evil principle and could not work for peace or
holiness. Hagar's high Egyptian spirit, finding herself likely to be
famous in the house, would not brook the rule of her mistress, nor
could Sarai, the quiet, but queenly matron, put up with the insults of
her slave. The mistress became hard and harsh to her handmaid. Worked
into a frenzy, Hagar flies from the tent and makes the best of her way
on the road to Egypt, where she originally came. But what could a lone
woman do in her condition, all alone in the wilderness?
Wearied with her journey, she spies a fountain and sits there. It was
the likeliest place for any passing traveler to find her and she sits
down, there, in her proud despair. Perhaps they will send for her.
Abram may repent his yielding to Sarai and send for her. She will wait
there and if no one comes to her aid, she will die rather than return.
She does not appear, at that time, to have lifted up her heart in
prayer to God. She had lived in a godly household, but possibly, as she
thought herself ill-treated, she had conceived a dislike towards the
God of her mistress. Such harsh treatment as she had received was not
likely to incline her towards the religion of those from whom she had
fled! She was godless and hopeless. Do you not see her crouching at the
fountain, half mad with pride and vexation and, at the same time,
stricken with a sullen despair? She knows not what she is to do,
neither does any way of hope open before her. Alas, poor Hagar!
But although there was no prayer of hers for God to hear, another voice
spoke in His ear. The Angel who suddenly appeared to her said, "The
Lord has heard your affliction." That is a very beautiful sentence. You
have not prayed. You have been willful, reckless and, at last,
despairing and, therefore, you have not cried unto the Lord. But your
deep sorrow has cried to Him! You are oppressed and the Lord has
undertaken for you. You are suffering heavily and God, the All-Pitiful,
has heard your affliction. Grief has an eloquent voice when Mercy is
the listener. Woe has a plea which Goodness
cannot resist. Though sorrow and woe ought to be attended with prayer,
yet even when supplication is not offered, the heart of God is moved by
misery, itself. In Hagar's case the Lord heard her affliction–He
looked forth from His Glory on that lone Egyptian woman who was in the
deepest distress in which a woman could well be placed–and He came
speedily to her help.
We have not much difficulty in deciding who the Angel was that appeared
to her. We are sure that this Angel of the Lord was that great
Messenger of the Covenant who was, afterwards, to appear in actual
flesh and blood, but who many a time before He was born at Bethlehem,
anticipated His descent to earth and visited it in human form. His
delights were always with the sons of men and so when there was a
message to be brought to men, that Blessed One, the Second Person of
the Divine Unity condescended to be the bearer of it! In the present
instance I discern foreshadowing of the Son of Man! I perceive sure
traces of the Christ who, in a later age, would dwell among mankind!
Read a little before the text and you will find it written, the Angel
of the Lord "found her"–it is the deed of the good Shepherd to find a
lost sheep! I see before me that Son of Man who came to seek and to
save that which was lost. Surely this is that great Shepherd of the
sheep who goes after His sheep until He finds it! He has come far into
the waste after her and He rested not until He found her. Great
gladness filled His heart, as when a merchantman finds a pearl of great
price. I see high joy in the Countenance of this Angel of Jehovah. We
read in verse seven, "The Angel of the Lord found her by a fountain of
water." Significant place! Can you forget how, when that Blessed One
was here in flesh and blood, He found another woman at the well. "Jesus
being wearied, sat thus on the well. There comes a woman of Samaria to
draw water. Jesus says unto her, Give Me to drink." Does not this story
of Hagar read like a rehearsal of that Samaritan incident? "He found
her by a fountain of water."
This fountain is further said to be "in the wilderness." Note that.
Remember those words of His when He actually became Incarnate–"What
man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not
leave the 99 in the wilderness and go after that which is lost until he
finds it?" Again we read, "He found him in a desert land, and in the
waste howling wilderness." This wonderful appearance of the Christ
before He actually assumed our flesh, has a likeness to His actual
Incarnation of the most delightful kind. 'Tis He! We are sure it is He!
All the tones of the voice and the modes of the speech are His. That
this Angel of the Lord was God, we also know, for our text says, "She
called the name of Jehovah that spoke unto her,
You-Are-the-God-Who-Sees." The all-seeing God had veiled Himself in
that angelic form! That Divine One, whom we adore as the Son of God and
the Son of Man, condescended to be the Messenger of mercy to a poor
slave woman who had run away from her mistress!
None but God would have thus condescended. The world had no pity in
those days for slaves of any kind, much less for those who had left
their master's house. Here the Lord of Love found a noble opportunity
by revealing His gracious Nature to a forlorn one. No eye pities her
and no hand brought her deliverance–"Now will I arise, says the Lord."
The Angel found her and it is of that finding and of what came of it,
that I am going to speak this morning. May the Holy Spirit cause the
words to be with power!
I. In speaking of Hagar, I shall first dwell for a little upon HER
REMARKABLE EXPERIENCE. I pray that to some daughter of sorrow a similar
experience may come. May your case be mirrored in that of Hagar, as
when one sees his face in a looking glass.
Observe that Hagar had outlawed herself. No doubt she had much to put
up with, but she had been insolent and provoking to her mistress and,
at last, she had, in her impatience, deliberately left the house of
Abraham and left the abode of the chosen family. Whatever that house
may have been, it was the best place, then, upon the earth! It was
almost the only spot under Heaven where the Lord God was known. You
might have said of Abraham's family, "you are of God, little children,
and the whole world lies in the Wicked One." She, an Egyptian, once
benighted by the superstitious worship of her country, had enjoyed the
light of the knowledge of the true God for a while. But now she had
turned her back on it. She could not but have marked Abraham's high
character and sincere devotion. She must have seen his true and real
faith in God and the way in which he endeavored to order his household
aright. Whatever faults she may have perceived there–whatever errors
she may have suffered from–she could not but have noticed that there
was a great difference between Abraham's tent and the abodes of Egypt!
But now she quits her place of privilege, she renounces the high hopes
which surrounded her and, in her fierce passion, she rushes, she cares
not where! The untamable spirit which afterwards showed itself in her
son, Ishmael, raged in
her bosom. So, too, have we met with those who have deliberately left
the ways of God and the people of God and all semblance of goodness
because they have thought themselves badly used. They have happened to
suffer somewhat and, in the bitterness of their spirit, they have
resolved to take no more of it. They vow that they will have nothing to
do with God, or with His people–they will turn their backs upon
everything that is religious and they will mix with the world in its
most ungodly form. They do not, indeed, care what becomes of them–they
would flee from the Presence of God, Himself, if they could. Friends,
relatives, good men and the circle of blessing they would quit and roam
in a wilderness, hoping to be forgotten. Now their hand is against
every man and every man's hand is against them–and in their high
spirit they are prepared to defy the universe to subdue them!
While she was there, in the moment of her desperation, she was found by
the Angel. He had come on purpose to seek her out and find her and He
had not failed in His search, as, indeed, He never does. This was the
last thing she thought of. She may have hoped to have been found by
some merchants going towards Egypt, or to be picked up by certain of
the wandering gypsies of the wilderness–but she had not thought that
God, Himself, would come after her! What was there about her that
Jehovah should come out of His place to seek her? Yet He came in
unexpected Grace, as He is known to do. He remembered the low estate of
His handmaiden and because His mercy endures forever, He found her by
the fountain in the wilderness.
When the Angel of the Lord found Hagar, He dealt graciously with her.
Indeed, this was the objective of His finding her! He came in pity, not
in wrath. His first act was to awaken conviction within her. He said to
her, "Hagar, Sarai's maid, from where have you come? And where will you
go?" This language is singularly like the Lord Jesus Christ's mode of
address. The name of the person is mentioned. This forcibly brings to
my mind the speech of our Lord when He said unto the woman, "Mary," and
she turned and said unto Him, "Rabboni." He says, "Hagar, Sarai's
maid"–His words are personal words and she cannot mistake them. Is not
this the Lord's way in other cases? Has He not said, "I have called you
by your name"? He adds her description and reminds her that whatever
else she might be, she was "Sarai's maid." How surprised she must have
been! She had never seen the august Personage before, but evidently He
had seen her, before, and knew all about her, for His words searched
her through and through.
Then, further to bring her to her right senses, the Angel asks her,
with touching pathos of tone–"From where have you come?" What have you
left behind you? What have you given up? All your hopes lie in
Abraham's tent and you have left the place. For you, there is a high
destiny, and you are flying from it. You are, after all, a favored
woman and you know it not. You are flying away from that which will be
your blessedness! This is the question of the Holy Spirit to every
runaway rebel. O wandering Sinner, what are you doing? In fleeing from
goodness, God, hope and Grace, do you know what you are leaving?
Again, He asks her, "Where will you go?" Her crouching form is before
Him. She lifts up her eyes, all red with tears, and she weeps anew as
He says, "And where will you go?" "Will you go further into the
wilderness and die there of thirst and hunger? Will you go down into
Egypt, back to all the cruelties of that benighted land? Where will you
go?" It is thus the Lord meets runaway sinners that are bent upon their
own destruction. He calls to them by name and asks, "From where have
you come? What are you leaving? What are you losing? What are you
rejecting? What are you turning your back upon? And where will you go?
What can be the end of such a life as yours? Where can it carry you but
to destruction? Where will you go by this course of desperate sin? Can
you face the Eternal and the Judgement Seat and the curse that withers
the ungodly? From where have you come and where will you go?"
It is thus, I say, that the Covenant Angel met with many of us when He
awakened our consciences and made us pause in our headlong rush of sin.
Some of us heard the warning voice many years ago and we can never
forget it–the call rings in the chambers of our memory even now. It is
thus that the Lord met with some of you a short time ago and you are at
this moment filled with gratitude for the interposition. I believe that
this morning the Lord will thus meet with some who are in this
congregation, whom I know not, but whom He knows right well, for His
eyes are resting on them now and His voice is speaking to them through
my voice. Like as He said of old, "Hagar, Sarai's maid, from where have
you come? And where will you go?" so does He speak at this hour, and
asks you why you are bent upon destroying your own souls!
This worked in her mind conviction, after a certain sort–and where the
Son of God spiritually speaks to the heart, a deep and piercing
conviction is felt! His Word lays sin bare and open–and makes the
guilty conscience feel that nothing
is hidden from God, but that all things are naked and open to the eyes
of Him with whom we have to do. As when the butcher hangs up the body
of a beast and, with a stroke, lays bare the heart and inwards of the
creature, so with a single Word, the Angel of the Covenant reveals the
heart of Hagar. Thus, also, the convincing Spirit deals with the sinner
and lays him bare even to the backbone, till all the secrets of his
soul are revealed and he cries, "You-Are-the-God-Who-Sees!" The Word of
the Lord, by revealing the thoughts and intents of the heart, proves
its own Divine origin to him who feels its operation and thus God,
Himself, is made known as speaking by the Word.
When He had thus worked conviction in her, the Angel who had found
Hagar, next gave her an exhortation. He said to her, "Return unto your
mistress and submit yourself under her hands." A hard message, as it
seemed to her in her pride, no doubt. "Return," however hard the way!
"Submit yourself," however humiliating the deed! Hagar is not
spared–the Angel puts His words very plainly. If it were kindness to
say, "Return," it is still greater kindness to say severely, but
truthfully, "Return to your mistress." Mark, not to your master, only,
but, "to your mistress." He also says, "Submit yourself under her
hands," to show that the submission must be entire and absolute. Put
yourself back into your right place and then Grace can deal with you.
When the Covenant Angel deals with any man or woman among us, He will
say, "Return, return, return. Repent and be converted. Turn you; turn
you. Why will you die?"
The Gospel does not spare the sinner the pangs of repentance. It calls
him to sorrow after a godly sort. You must abhor your sins and flee
from them, or your sins will be your ruin! You must so repent of your
sins as to make such restitution as may be possible. You must replace
stolen goods and recall false words. You must humble yourself where you
have been insolent. You must bow yourself down before God and submit to
man, also, so far as you have wronged him. God the Holy Spirit, when He
deals with a proud, unrighteous heart, lays justice to the line and
righteousness to the plummet–and sweeps away as with hail every refuge
of lies. He cries, "Return! Submit!" and puts the matter so closely
home that there is no misunderstanding it! He bids the man confess and
forsake his sins and gives him no hope of mercy unless he will do so.
God has not met with you, Friend, if you go on in your sins! God in
mercy has not met with you if sin remains sweet to you and repentance
is unknown to your heart. You must go back to the place from where you
came and you must submit yourself, or nothing will go right with you.
When the Angel of the Lord had thus spoken with Hagar, calling her by
her name, working conviction in her heart and pointing out her duty, He
then added rich promises–promises which, to her mind, must have been
very unexpected and consoling. She was a runaway slave girl, but He
says to her, "I will multiply your seed exceedingly, that it shall not
be numbered for multitude, and you shall bear a son, and shall call his
name Ishmael." That name signifies, "God hears me," because the Lord
had heard her affliction. The Angel went on to tell her what this child
should be who would be the joy of her heart. Little does a sinner know
what blessings are in store for him, if he repents and submits to the
Lord's will. He is come to the borders of the wilderness of death, but
God intends to bring him back to peace, joy and happiness! Oh, if only
the proud sinner knew what God's Grace will do for him, it would break
his heart to think he had been so rebellious! Oh, if the obstinate know
what a place there is at the Father's board and in the Father's heart
for the returning prodigal and how much he is still beloved,
notwithstanding all his naughtiness, he would quicken his footsteps and
wish to have wings upon his heels, that he might fly back to his
Father's house and his Father's bosom!
O Soul, I do pray that Jesus Christ may find you this morning and say
to you, "Return unto Me, for I have blotted out your sins like a cloud,
and like a thick cloud your iniquities. Return unto Me, for I have
loved you with an everlasting love. Therefore with loving kindness have
I drawn you."
So you see, Hagar's experience was a very remarkable one, although by
no means peculiar to herself. Blessed be God, it has happened to tens
of thousands, that where sin abounded, Grace did much more abound! When
they have run away and outlawed themselves, Grace has followed them,
Grace has convicted them, Grace has admonished them and Grace has made
large promises to them. Their proud heart has yielded and their spirit
has become gentle as that of a little child, as Hagar's spirit was, and
they have returned to the great Father's house and submitted
themselves. And rich blessings have become theirs. Is it not written,
"If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land"?
Though Ha-gar had banished herself away from the house of Divine favor,
yet the Lord devised means for restoring her and she was restored! Thus
much on her remarkable experience.
II. Now, I want you to notice HER DEVOUT ACKNOWLEDGMENT. When that
which we have described happened to her, she acknowledged the living
God. My text says, "She called the name of the Lord that spoke unto
her, You-
Are-the-God-Who-Sees." She spoke to Him that spoke to her–after this
fashion do we all begin our communion with God. Oh, when God speaks to
you, you will soon find a tongue to speak to Him! I do not mean when I
speak to you in His name–for what am I? You ought to hear us if we
truly speak for God, since it is of His kindness that He sends His
servants to speak to you. But if the Covenant Angel comes, Himself, and
if He speaks to the heart, then He unstops the deaf ears and loosens
the dumb tongue. Men soon speak to Christ when Christ speaks to them!
Did you but know the power of the Almighty Word of Grace, you would
understand that as darkness gave place to light when He said, "Let
there be light," so do men's hearts quit their sin when Jesus speaks to
them in tones of effectual Grace. Hagar knew no speaking to God till
God spoke with her, but after He had spoken to her, there was no
silence!
What did she say? She acknowledged Him to be God. "She called the name
of the Lord that spoke to her, You-Are-the-God-Who-Sees." It is one
thing to believe there is a God, but it is quite another thing to know
it by coming into personal contact with Him! They give you books to
prove that there is a God–all well and good–be convinced by them.
They tell you to walk abroad and see God in His works. Do so. You
cannot better employ yourselves, for God is everywhere. His breath
perfumes the flowers and His pencil paints them. But you will not learn
God in this fashion if you use this method by itself. To go from Nature
up to Nature's God is a long step for broken legs–we are so mangled by
the Fall that we never take that step without Divine help. But, oh, if
the Lord meets with you! If He reveals Himself to your heart! What
assurance! What certainty!
Think not I am talking, now, of things that are not–I speak what I,
myself, have felt. God has met with some of us as surely as ever one
spirit has met with another! Men have so spoken to us at times that we
can never forget their speech, but never has human voice come with such
force as that of the Lord of Hosts, the accents of whose Words we shall
hear as long as memory holds her place and reason sits on her throne!
We may forget the words of father, mother, wife, or friend, but not the
voice of the God of Love! "When You said, Seek you My face; my heart
said unto You, Your face, Lord, will I seek." None doubt the existence
of God when God has come into contact with their spirit. When we have
felt His power and tasted His love–and known His overwhelming
influence–then have we said, "Jehovah, He is the God," and we have
bowed in solemn worship before Him!
I do not know that Hagar had ever thought of God before, but she
discerns Him now and speaks wisely. No doubt she had heard of Jehovah,
for she had joined in the devotions of Abraham's family, but now, for
the first time in her life, she recognizes in deed and of a truth that
the Lord lives for her and, therefore, she speaks to Him and calls Him,
"The-
God-Who-Sees."
Observe, dear Friends, that she acknowledged His observant love. She
could not help acknowledging it, for it flashed before her eyes! I do
not think when she said, "You-Are-the-God-Who-Sees," that she meant
merely that God is Omniscient and therefore that He saw her, but she
meant this, "You see me with a special observation. You see me with
eyes of tender concern and loving care. You know me in my adversity."
She felt in her inmost soul that eyes of thoughtful love were fixed on
her. "Hagar, Sarai's maid," knew that she was especially under watchful
care. Those holy eyes had noticed all her sin which had been brought to
her remembrance. Those eyes had seen her duty which she was now willing
to resume. Those eyes had spied out the promise for her, which promise
had brought a warm comfort to her poor, chilled spirit. "Oh," she said,
"what a God You are–the God-Who-Sees, who knows, who considers and
thinks of me!" Now she has a God, not in theory, but in fact!
You that only know God as One who made the heavens and earth, do not,
indeed, know Him at all. He must be personally a God to you, or He will
not be your God at all. To us, the true God is the God who sees us.
Does not His Law begin, "I am the Lord your God, which have brought you
out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage"? His special
care is the mark by which we know Him. It was so in Hagar's case–God's
watchful care towards her made Him real to her. She knew that He must
be God! She could not doubt it, for she had been so strangely found out
by Him. In the extremity of her lost estate, when she had gone to the
uttermost of sin and sorrow, He had found her out and so she calls Him,
"The-God-Who-Sees me."
In the Presence of that God she felt overpowered and ready to yield.
She was so overwhelmed that no rebellion remained within her. She girds
her garments about her and she makes the best of her way home to the
tent of Sarai. Her mistress is hard, but sin is harder. She will go
back and bear the reproach and rebuke, for she has a promise hidden in
her heart to sustain he. She shall yet be the glad mother of a father
of nations who shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren. She
returns surrounded with God. Bathed in the sense of the Divine
oversight, she resigns herself to her work. Though Abram should not
encourage her and Sarai should not acknowledge her, yet the Lord's eyes
would be upon her and God's favor was preparing great things for her.
Her heart was light within her, because of the Divine favor, and in
that spirit she was subdued unto the will of God.
That is what I want to happen to many a poor soul this morning in a
still fuller and more spiritual sense. Pray, you people of God, that it
may be so! If you are here, this morning, Mistress Sarah, let me put in
a gentle word for your poor maid. If she does come back to you, do not
treat her harshly again. Do not drive her away again, but receive the
runaway and make the best of her. Let the past be buried. Say, "If an
angel has appeared to you, and taught you to know the Lord, I will
gladly receive you and show the kindness of God unto you."
III. Let me now call to your notice THE MANIFEST AMAZEMENT of this
woman, for in her glad surprise she uttered a sentence which runs as
follows–"Have I, also, here looked after Him who sees me?" This is a
sentence very hard to be understood. Not because it is hard to make out
a meaning, but because it is so full of meaning! It reads like an
oracle. Expositors will tell you that as many senses may be given to
this sentence as there are words in it–and each one of these senses
will bear a measure of decent defense. I shall not go into them all,
but I think I see clearly that she was amazed that God should care for
her. "You, God see me. Have I, also, here looked after Him who sees
me?" Does He see me? Do I see Him? If I had loved God when I was in
Sarai's tent, I could have understood His following me here. If I had
sought Him when I was with Abram and had known my master's God in
Canaan, I could have understood that He should remember me now. But I
was a wild Egyptian! I would not bow my knee to Jehovah. No, I had no
wish nor thought for the living God–yet has He looked after me, the
slave girl for whom nobody cared? He has spoken to me concerning things
to come."
Brethren, it is a great wonder to me, this day, that ever my God should
think of me. Brothers, Sisters, do you not share that feeling, each one
for yourself? Do you not say, "Why me, my Lord? Why me"? Sit still in
holy wonder and adore and bless the Lord!
I think her next amazement was that she should have been such a long
time without ever thinking of Him who had thought so much of her. She
says, "Have I also here looked unto Him who sees me?" "What? Have I
been these years with Abraham and heard about the God who has been
looking at me in love–and have I never glanced a thought to Him?" Her
ungodliness astounds her! Brothers and Sisters, when you are brought to
God, it will strike you as though a dart went through your flesh, that
you should so long have done despite to God and heavenly things! Then
will you say, "Have I forgotten Christ? Have I forgotten God? Has He
had designs of love to me and purposes of Grace for me, and yet have I
rebelled against Him? Did He die for me and did I refuse to live for
Him? Did He bleed His life away on the Cross for me and have I been,
all these years, thoughtless and careless of Him?"
It will stagger you! You will feel ready to sink into the dust when you
once feel the folly and meanness of your course. You can bluster, you
can be proud and careless when you know not God–but when you once
fully meet with Him, you will be ready to bite your tongue to think you
could have lived so long in ignorance and neglect of your God! Hagar
was evidently startled as she remembered that she had never, up till
that time, looked to the observing One.
But next, she is amazed still more to think that at last she does look
unto God. In effect she cries, "What? Has it come to this? Have I,
also, here looked after Him who sees me? Is Hagar at last converted?
When I had bread to eat I never looked after God and now that I have
come into this wilderness, do I seek and find Him? No creature can hear
my call and do I now call upon my Creator? I am alone, alone, alone!
There is nothing here but this well, and lo, the Angel of Jehovah has
found me and spoken with me and now, in this wild place, I, for the
first time, look after the Lord who has looked after me! Is this the
place, the spot of ground where I must close in with my Maker and know
that there is a God and believe His promise–and begin to live in
expectation of its fulfillment?"
It might well astound her! Perhaps somebody has come into this service
this very day, almost driven to desperation. You have acted so
wrongly–I cannot tell how wrongly–and now you are smarting from the
consequences of your foolishness. If God is meeting with you, this
morning, you will cry out in astonishment, "What? Have I come here to
find God? Have I come into this miserable condition that I might be
driven to look after Him? This is surprising Grace!"
An old man in the country was a gracious father and brought up his
children in the fear of the Lord–but his son, while yet a youth, must
see life in London and, therefore, he came to the great city and
plunged into all sorts of sin. He
cared nothing for the Sabbath and even felt glad to escape from the
weariness of the Meeting House to which he had been taken from his
infancy. It was no design of his to ever find God, but God found him in
the most unlikely of all the places in the world, namely, in a low
play-house. A scene occurred in which a mutinous sailor was to be
hanged and, asking for a glass of spirits, he was represented as
drinking to his own health in the words–"Here's to my immortal soul."
"Immortal soul," thought the foolish youth, "Immortal soul!" He had
almost forgotten that he had an immortal soul. It was a shot fired at
the center of the target–it struck him home–he was ready to drop! He
sought the open air and a place where to weep. The next Sabbath found
the young scapegrace at a Prayer Meeting, seeking his father's God,
and, before long he found peace through the blood of Jesus! He began
preaching the Gospel which he had so grievously abused. God knows how
to get at the heart of sinners!
Remember Colonel Gardiner about to commit a foul offense? He made an
appointment and reached the spot an hour too soon. While he waited, he
saw, or thought he saw, his Savior, and heard a voice accusing him of
ingratitude. He fled the place of his temptation, sought pardon and
became eminent as a saint. What a surprise it must be to rebels to be
thus seized in the arms of Grace and transformed into friends of the
King! I ask God that such a surprise may await souls who are here
today! May you, also, inquire in amazement, "Have I here, also, looked
after Him who sees me?"
One other surprise Hagar had, and that was the surprise to think that
she was alive. It was the common conviction of that age that no man
could see God and live. She knew that she had seen Him in angelic form
and she marveled that she found herself alive and able to look up with
hope. The awakened sinner, when he is met with by the God of Grace,
wonders that he has not been cut down as a cumberer of the ground! If
the Lord had met with me in a way of vengeance and caused me to wither
away from the root like the fruitless fig tree, I could not have
wondered–but to bless me in infinite compassion is a wonder, indeed!
If He had sentenced me to depart to the lowest Hell, I could not have
complained. But to meet me in love–to pardon, relieve and save
me–this is a miracle of Grace! Does the Lord say, "I receive you to My
heart, and I intend to bless you from now on and forever"? Then does He
act like a God! Who but He would speak thus? His Grace awakens an
amazement which is not soon forgotten or easily expressed. The soul
cries in surprise and delight–
"Depth of mercy, can there be Mercy still reserved for me? Can my God
His wrath forbear? Me, the chief of sinners, spare? I have long
withstood His Grace, Long provoked Him to His face. Tell it unto
sinners, tell, I am, I am out of Hell!"
IV. My time has fled, or I should have asked you to notice HER HUMBLE
WORSHIP. Her humble worship was expressed by her using an expressive
name for the Angel of the Lord. She worshipped God heartily and
intelligently, according to her knowledge. She did not use the first
word that came to hand, but she spoke fitly, thoughtfully and well. She
knew that the Lord was the seeing God, for He had seen her, and so she
worshipped Him under that title, "You-Are-the-God-Who-Sees." We cannot
worship "The Unknown God"–at least, such worship lacks eyes and light
and is fitter for owls and bats than for man.
Yet be it observed that she worshipped beyond her knowledge, according
to her apprehension, for she said, "Have I here also looked after Him?"
As if she knew that she had not fully seen the Lord, but had only
looked at Him as He retreated from her. Like Moses, in a later day, she
had only beheld the back parts of God, the skirts of His garments–His
face she had not seen. The Hebrew has that force. Hagar felt there was
much more of God than she had seen and, in that belief, she worshipped
and adored with lowliest reverence.
Her worship was wonderfully personal. It is not "God sees," but
"You-Are-the-God-Who-Sees." And it is not, "Has God looked after His
creature?" but, "Have I here, also, looked after Him who sees me?" True
religion is always personal, but it becomes wonderfully so when a man
is specially arrested by Sovereign Grace, for then he adores as if he
were the only man in the universe and beholds God as if no other eyes
throughout all the ages had ever beheld Him. Oh, it is wonderful to
feel alone with the Lord, while the Lord is searching you through and
through!
Remark, again, that her worship proved itself deeply true, for it was
followed by immediate practical obedience to the command of the Lord.
Obedience is the best of worship! She returned to her mistress and was
subject to her. Oh for Grace, this morning, if God meets with us, not
to tarry a single minute in rebellion, but to return at once to
subjection to the Lord! Oh, to cry with Thomas, "My Lord and my God,"
and then to live as in His sight! It were well to keep the finger
forever in the print of the nails, that we might never lose our
fellowship with Jesus, nor our joy in the great Father, nor our
subjection to the ever-blessed Spirit of all Grace.
V. We will conclude by glancing, for an instant, at the well which
became THE SUGGESTIVE MEMORIAL of this special manifestation and
singular experience. That well–we do not know what it had been called
before–but that beer, or well, was henceforth called Beer-Lahai-Roi,
or, The Well-of-Him-Who-Lives-and-Sees. Will we not all, at this time,
drink of that well? It was a very happy thought to attach a holy name
to a well, so that every traveler might learn of God as he refreshed
himself. When a person comes to drink at certain fountains, he reads
"Drink, gentle traveler, drink and pray." The inscription is most
suitable. It is fit that men should pray when they receive so precious
a refreshment as pure water. It was specially meet that travelers
should henceforth and forever pray at a spot where the Lord, Himself,
had been and had called to Himself a wanderer who had felt compelled to
cry, "God lives and God sees."
Brothers and Sisters, there is a God and we know it. He is not an
abstraction far away, but He is a reality and sees and observes–and
takes care of men and women. Many of us have proven this to be a fact.
Now next time you eat, worship Him that lives and sees! Next time you
drink, worship Him that lives and sees! Let our tables and our wells
remind us of Him who removes our hunger and quenches our thirst.
Better still, let this very name of God–"The Living and The Seeing
One"–be as a well of water to you for the comfort of your hearts. By
this may your griefs be assuaged. "Mother is dead!" What a loss is the
death of a mother to many a girl and to many a young man! "Mother is
dead" is the token of temptation without defense. Such a stay and
holdfast, Mother often is, that when she is gone, Satan gets a dire
advantage over a young soul. Yet if Mother is gone, the Lord lives–and
all the gentleness and kindness of a mother are treasured up in Him!
God lives–think of that and be comforted. This well is never dry. Your
father is dead, or your dear, kind brother is dead and you are left
alone to bear the buffetings of a cruel world. Never mind. Let not your
heart fail you. Do not run away. God lives and sees. He in whom is all
fatherhood, all friendship and all kindness, still stands near you,
watching for your good. Come and drink at this well! The waters are
cool and clear. Drink and live!
Did I hear you cry out in anguish, "Nobody cares for me"? Do you say,
"Nobody knows me in this terrible city. Here I am in this great London
as much deserted as Robinson Crusoe on his lone island"? I know what
you mean. London is worse than a wilderness to many. A man may lay
himself down and die in these streets and nobody will care for him. The
millions will pass him by–not for lack of kindness, but from lack of
thought! There is no such horrible wilderness as a wilderness of men.
Yet, take comfort–the living God sees you! He sees not as man sees,
with a mere gaze of cold notice, but His heart goes with His eyes. You
have not prayed yet, but He hears your affliction. Oh, begin to pray
and He will speedily deliver! Spread your case before Him and He will
regard your petition!
I would encourage you to get alone, if you are in sorrow and sin, and
tell it all out before God and see if He does not deliver you. Some of
us have gone to Him in plights as terrible as yours and we have ordered
our cases before Him–and He has answered us. We can truly say, "He has
delivered us" and, therefore, we encourage you to seek His face in the
same manner. May the Lord bring you to seek Him at once, for His great
love's sake, and then to Him shall be Glory forever and ever. Amen.
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