What Hagar Couldn't See in the Desert | The God Who Hears

Hagar lays her dying son under a bush in the desert, walks away so she will not have to watch, and weeps. The water is gone. The father is miles away. And then the story turns on a single line: God heard the voice of the boy. In this message from Genesis 21, we sit with the limits of even the fiercest parental love and discover the God who hears every child right where they are.Preached on a morning of child dedication, this sermon walks honestly into a hard story and lands on good news: your love for your child is fierce and good, and it was never meant to be enough on its own. Your job is not to be God for your child. It is to keep handing your child back to the God who hears.IN THIS MESSAGEWe trace Abraham’s two sons, Isaac and Ishmael, the painful sending away of Hagar into the wilderness of Beersheba, and the moment God hears a forgotten boy and opens a mother’s eyes to a well that was there all along. The name Ishmael itself means God hears. From there we follow Paul’s stunning move in Galatians and Romans, where the true children of Abraham are defined not by bloodline but by belonging to Christ, and we are adopted as children of God who cry out to a Father who answers.SCRIPTURE AND REFERENCESGenesis 21 (Hagar and Ishmael in the wilderness of Beersheba)Galatians 3:29 (heirs according to the promise)Romans 8:14 to 8:15 (the Spirit of adoption)1 John 3:1 (called children of God)Walter Brueggemann, on the God of the dispossessedCHAPTERS00:00 What Did These Families Promise at the Child Dedication?00:44 What Happens When a Parent’s Love Reaches Its Limit?02:32 Who Are Abraham’s Two Sons in Genesis 21?03:16 Why Did Sarah Send Hagar and Ishmael Into the Desert?04:43 What Happens When a Parent’s Protection Runs Out?05:36 Why Did Hagar Walk Away From Her Son?06:47 What Does It Mean That God Heard the Boy?07:27 Why Does God Hear Us Right Where We Are?08:04 What Was the Well Hagar Could Not See?09:52 Are Parents Supposed to Be God for Their Children?11:02 What Does the Name Ishmael Mean?11:46 Who Are the True Children of Abraham?13:34 What Does It Mean to Be Adopted as a Child of God?15:21 Where Is God When You Are in the Wilderness?CONNECT WITH USChurch website: https://pleasantvalleyalive.org/Daily devotional: https://pastorharryjarrett.substack.com/s/daily-devotionalSubstack newsletter: https://pastorharryjarrett.substack.com/#Genesis21 #HagarAndIshmael #GodHears #ChildDedication #ChristianParenting #ChurchOfTheBrethren #Sermon #BibleStudy #Faith #ChildrenOfGod Get full access to Harry Jarrett at pastorharryjarrett.substack.com/subscribe