Today’s Devotion
Topic: Ishmael: God Hears!
Text: Genesis 16: 11.
The angel of the Lord also said to her: “You are now pregnant and you will give birth to a son. You shall name him Ishmael (which means: God Hears) for the Lord has heard of your misery.” Amen.
After Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. He slept with Hagar, and she conceived.
When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress. And Sarai blamed Abram for this until he said to her, “Your slave is in your hands, Do with her whatever you think best.” Then Sarai mistreated Hagar; so she fled from her.
The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. And he said:
“Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?” “I’m running away from my mistress Sarai,” she answered. Then the angel of the Lord told her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her. You are now pregnant and you will give birth to a son. You shall name him Ishmael for the Lord has heard of your misery.
Beloved in Christ, may the name of this unborn child encourage you through all the changing scenes of life, THAT YOU HAVE A GOD WHO HEARS; because:
“the idols of the nations are silver and gold, made by human hands. They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but cannot see. They have ears, but cannot hear, nor is there breath in their mouths. Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them” (Ps 135: 15- 18).
However we serve the great God who hears the distinct prayers of all creation and responds accordingly to each without getting overwhelmed. You see the Lord does not only hear the prayers we offer, He even hears the heartbeat that accompanied the prayer.
He also hears the thoughts of the mind that are not yet spoken. You know Hagar had not prayed yet, but the silent deliberations of her heart concerning her misery were so “heard by the Lord” that He sent an angel to comfort her.
Beloved in Christ, “this is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us” (1 John 5: 14). He says “call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me” (Ps 50: 15).
What is your misery then? What is the pain you bear? Take them all to God in prayer right now.
Pray with the song “I have a Maker, He formed my heart, before even time began, my life was in His hands. He knows my name. He knows my every thought, He sees each tear that falls and HEARS ME WHEN I CALL.”
As you pray and worship, the power of God will come over you to break every chain of misery and set you free. For it is true that the Lord hears us when we call, He hears even in our silence; THE LORD, HE HEARS EVERYTHING!
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