Some day, says God, the whole Middle East from North Africa to Iraq will be “a blessing in the midst of the land.”
Abraham was certainly conflicted when Sarah insisted that Hagar and her son, Ishmael, be sent away from their encampment. But the Lord told him to go ahead, and that, because of His promise to Abraham regarding his offspring, Ishmael would not only survive but thrive, and God would make a great nation from him as well. So early the next morning, Abraham said goodbye to his other son and his mother, and they headed off into the wilderness south of Beersheeba. What desolate country! Soon their supplies ran out. Hagar placed her boy under a shrub and sat some distance away, saying to herself, “Let me not see the death of the boy” (Gen 21:16). Then she began to weep. Now we read something interesting in the narrative: “God heard the voice of the lad” (v 17). Not the woman’s weeping, but her son! He cared about this wild boy. And we should never forget: God not only cares about the Jews; He cares about all the people groups in the Middle East. At this moment, like Ishmael, many are crying out to the true God, having felt abandoned and hopeless in the faith they once believed. Millions are turning to the Lord, many of them after an Ishmael-like experience when “the angel of God” appears to them. And, as in this story, they are shown a well of water in their moral desert, and drinking from it, they discover the Answer to their desperate thirst. It is the One who said (in John 7:37-38), “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” Christian, please pray for the sons of Ishmael today, as well as the sons of Isaac. They can become brothers—by sharing the true faith of Abraham, who rejoiced to see the Christ.