Trust Issues Part 1: Let me introduce myself...

I was reintroduced to a woman from the Bible recently. She has two significant stories in the Old Testament, one of which includes my favorite name of God as a key part of the plot. However, as I studied her anew, I compared her two stories. In doing so, I recognized exactly what God has been doing in my own life in the area of trusting Him. I thought I'd take you on a similar journey in a series about trusting Him, so this blog post is Part 1.

Have you met Hagar?

Poor girl... horrible name. Sounds just as depressing as her life was: Egyptian slave forced into a marriage with her mistress' husband then tormented by her rival. Here's the recap of the intro to Hagar's first story in the Old Testament (for full story, see Genesis 16).

Sarai is married to Abram but can't get pregnant. In order to give her husband a child, Sarai gives her slave, Hagar, to Abram as a wife.  Abram + Hagar = preggers. Sarai gets jealous and turns into a royal witch. She "dealt harshly" (Genesis 16:6) with Hagar, so Hagar runs away into the wilderness. Better than The Young and the Restless, right?! Then enters our Hero.

A pregnant and despondent Hagar sits in the wilderness next to a spring of water when, "The angel of the Lord found her." (Pause for effect.) Hagar was an Egyptian slave girl, not a native Israelite. Not only had she been living with a people who were not her own, was placed in a relationship not of her own or her family's choosing, but now she was in the freaking wilderness, most likely suffering from morning sickness. Define "rock bottom."

In the midst of circumstances beyond her control and as an alien in a foreign wilderness, God sought her out. GOD! THE God. The God of the universe. Busy, important, almighty God "found" her. Go ahead and take a moment to relate.

Not only did he "find" her, but He already knew her name and her place in life (v. 8): "Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?"

So God "found" her, called her by name, identified her desperate circumstance ("servant of Sarai"), and then identifies just how lost she is ("where are you going?"). He then gives direction to Hagar and further explains to her her current circumstances ("you are pregnant") and reveals her future and that of her son's.

Her response (v. 13)? "So she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, 'You are a God of seeing,' for she said, 'Truly here I have seen him who looks after me."

God didn't not hold out His hand to shake hers and say, "Hi, my name is the God of seeing." He didn't wear a nametag or have a shirt with it embroidered on the chest. Instead, God introduced Himself to her by showing her Who He is.

She was a seemingly worthless piece of property. He called her by name.

She was lost and alone. He found her and joined her.

She had no direction for a future. He outlined her next step and gave her a glimpse into the generation to come.

She was a woman forced to look after the needs of others, even at the sacrifice of her own body. He looked after her and provided.

He didn't ask her to trust Him. He showed her that He is trustworthy and gave her the choice.

As I end this first part of my series on trusting God, I ask you to challenge yourself as He challenged me. Looking past your circumstance and even yourself. Put aside your wilderness and your place in life and ask this question: Who has He shown Himself to be?

The first step for me in truly trusting God is not about me. It's about knowing Him. In order to trust someone, I need for that person to be worth trusting. I'm so thankful that my sweet Savior loves me enough to show me that He is trustworthy.

Faithfully, fluffully His,