1 00:00:02,720 --> 00:00:13,319 Speaker 1: Life Audio. Hello, thank you for listening to your Daily 2 00:00:13,360 --> 00:00:17,079 Speaker 1: Bible Verse, the podcast that examines one verse each day 3 00:00:17,600 --> 00:00:20,439 Speaker 1: to learn more about God and his will for us. 4 00:00:20,800 --> 00:00:23,640 Speaker 1: I'm your host, Jennifer Slattery, And after this shirtword from 5 00:00:23,640 --> 00:00:33,080 Speaker 1: our sponsors, we'll dive into today's Bible verse, Genesis sixteen eight. 6 00:00:39,840 --> 00:00:43,920 Speaker 1: Today's Bible versus Genesis sixteen eight. And he said, hey, gar, 7 00:00:44,000 --> 00:00:47,080 Speaker 1: slave of Sarai, where have you come from? And where 8 00:00:47,120 --> 00:00:50,760 Speaker 1: are you going? I'm running away from my mistress Sarai? 9 00:00:50,800 --> 00:00:55,280 Speaker 1: She answered, Do you ever react to situations in ways 10 00:00:55,360 --> 00:00:59,760 Speaker 1: that leave you feeling confused and discouraged? Maybe you lose 11 00:00:59,760 --> 00:01:04,520 Speaker 1: your temper over something you later realized was inconsequential, Or 12 00:01:04,560 --> 00:01:07,759 Speaker 1: perhaps a text from a friend angers you or makes 13 00:01:07,800 --> 00:01:12,039 Speaker 1: you anxious, only for you to later recognize it wasn't attacking. 14 00:01:12,600 --> 00:01:16,000 Speaker 1: I've been there. Those situations used to leave me feeling 15 00:01:16,160 --> 00:01:21,320 Speaker 1: frustrated and pulled into toxic shame. I wanted to do better, 16 00:01:21,480 --> 00:01:26,880 Speaker 1: but kept falling into the same self sabotaging responses until 17 00:01:27,000 --> 00:01:30,280 Speaker 1: the Lord invited me to go deeper, to let him 18 00:01:30,319 --> 00:01:33,880 Speaker 1: show me the hurts and learned patterns fueling my behavior. 19 00:01:34,200 --> 00:01:38,200 Speaker 1: To regularly consider where I had come from where my 20 00:01:38,520 --> 00:01:43,000 Speaker 1: reactions were leading me and where God wanted to take me. 21 00:01:43,640 --> 00:01:46,520 Speaker 1: He used Today's verse to prompt that kind of honest 22 00:01:46,520 --> 00:01:49,600 Speaker 1: self reflection. The Lord originally spoke those words to an 23 00:01:49,600 --> 00:01:53,720 Speaker 1: exploited Egyptian slave named Hagar a decade prior. She'd been 24 00:01:53,840 --> 00:01:57,960 Speaker 1: ripped from her homeland and everything familiar. She must have 25 00:01:58,080 --> 00:02:03,000 Speaker 1: felt terrified and pro foundly lonely, suddenly living among foreigners 26 00:02:03,040 --> 00:02:08,120 Speaker 1: as someone else's property, moving through an unfamiliar wilderness. Eventually, 27 00:02:08,280 --> 00:02:11,040 Speaker 1: she probably settled into her new normal and may have 28 00:02:11,200 --> 00:02:15,040 Speaker 1: experienced moments of connection, if not with their masters, then 29 00:02:15,080 --> 00:02:18,400 Speaker 1: with the other slaves traveling with them. She might have 30 00:02:18,680 --> 00:02:23,560 Speaker 1: begun to feel some sense of stability until her owners 31 00:02:23,639 --> 00:02:29,160 Speaker 1: decided to use her for personal gain and Abram violated her. 32 00:02:29,440 --> 00:02:32,679 Speaker 1: He and his wife forced her to become Sarah Saragate. 33 00:02:33,080 --> 00:02:37,680 Speaker 1: The NASB phrases it this way, Sarai took Hagar the 34 00:02:37,720 --> 00:02:41,520 Speaker 1: Egyptian her maid and gave her to her husband as 35 00:02:41,600 --> 00:02:45,080 Speaker 1: Abram's wife. The fact that this was a commonly accepted 36 00:02:45,120 --> 00:02:48,480 Speaker 1: practice at the time doesn't make it any less disturbing 37 00:02:48,919 --> 00:02:52,920 Speaker 1: or cruel. That trauma alone would be enough to plunge 38 00:02:52,960 --> 00:02:57,320 Speaker 1: anyone into deep shame and fear. Added to what Hagar 39 00:02:57,480 --> 00:03:01,640 Speaker 1: had already endured, it likely intensified her pain even further. 40 00:03:02,040 --> 00:03:06,960 Speaker 1: Verse four tells us that once she conceived, she despised Sarai. Well, 41 00:03:06,960 --> 00:03:10,480 Speaker 1: we don't know how that played out. I don't blame her. 42 00:03:10,520 --> 00:03:12,880 Speaker 1: In fact, whenever I read this part of the story, 43 00:03:12,960 --> 00:03:18,000 Speaker 1: I find myself wondering why the Lord didn't intervene. Maybe 44 00:03:18,040 --> 00:03:22,880 Speaker 1: you've wrestled with similar questions. The Bible doesn't always explain 45 00:03:23,200 --> 00:03:26,920 Speaker 1: what God allows, but in the passage surrounding today's verse, 46 00:03:27,120 --> 00:03:31,120 Speaker 1: it does reveal how He responds to us in our pain. 47 00:03:32,160 --> 00:03:36,360 Speaker 1: He meets us in it, as he did with Hagar. Eventually, 48 00:03:36,400 --> 00:03:39,360 Speaker 1: the tension between her and her mistress became so great 49 00:03:39,480 --> 00:03:43,600 Speaker 1: that she fled into the wilderness pregnant. Maybe she planned 50 00:03:43,600 --> 00:03:46,520 Speaker 1: to return to Egypt, or maybe she was simply overwhelmed 51 00:03:46,560 --> 00:03:50,240 Speaker 1: by everything she'd endured and the intensity of her emotions. 52 00:03:51,200 --> 00:03:55,040 Speaker 1: Perhaps you've been there and found yourself more alone and 53 00:03:55,200 --> 00:04:00,200 Speaker 1: vulnerable than ever as Hagar had. She likely would have 54 00:04:00,240 --> 00:04:04,880 Speaker 1: died had the Lord not pursued her, but she didn't 55 00:04:05,440 --> 00:04:09,000 Speaker 1: because he did. Verse seven tells us that the Angel 56 00:04:09,040 --> 00:04:11,240 Speaker 1: of the Lord, who many scholars believe was the pre 57 00:04:11,280 --> 00:04:15,040 Speaker 1: incarnate Christ found her by a spring of water? Did 58 00:04:15,120 --> 00:04:19,000 Speaker 1: you catch that Hagar didn't go looking for God? She 59 00:04:19,120 --> 00:04:22,719 Speaker 1: might not have been able to in her overwhelmed, hurting state. 60 00:04:23,120 --> 00:04:25,120 Speaker 1: I also wonder how much she knew of him, his 61 00:04:25,440 --> 00:04:28,320 Speaker 1: character and ways. She may have assumed he was like 62 00:04:28,360 --> 00:04:32,000 Speaker 1: the selfish and fickled so called deities worshiped in Egypt. 63 00:04:32,440 --> 00:04:37,280 Speaker 1: If so, that makes his response all the more beautiful. 64 00:04:37,560 --> 00:04:41,960 Speaker 1: He revealed himself as the God who sees, the one 65 00:04:42,000 --> 00:04:46,320 Speaker 1: who saw her pain in that moment and every moment before. 66 00:04:47,000 --> 00:04:50,440 Speaker 1: He saw her condition, her pregnancy, her vulnerability and need, 67 00:04:51,120 --> 00:04:54,680 Speaker 1: and he promised to bless her. But first he asked 68 00:04:54,680 --> 00:04:58,839 Speaker 1: her where are you coming from? And where are you going? 69 00:04:59,360 --> 00:05:02,520 Speaker 1: And he asked her where are you coming from? And 70 00:05:02,560 --> 00:05:06,640 Speaker 1: where are you going? Notice he wasn't seeking information. He 71 00:05:06,640 --> 00:05:10,520 Speaker 1: already knew everything she had experienced and the plans he 72 00:05:10,520 --> 00:05:14,400 Speaker 1: held for her. Where had she come from? Deep affliction? 73 00:05:15,080 --> 00:05:20,120 Speaker 1: A history marked by suffering, fear, and uncertainty. But that 74 00:05:20,240 --> 00:05:24,640 Speaker 1: wasn't where she would remain because God had something better ahead. 75 00:05:25,160 --> 00:05:28,839 Speaker 1: Maybe God is asking you those same questions, where have 76 00:05:28,960 --> 00:05:34,440 Speaker 1: you come from? What in your past is affecting your reactions? 77 00:05:34,520 --> 00:05:38,599 Speaker 1: And perspective, and where are you going? Are your responses 78 00:05:38,720 --> 00:05:44,200 Speaker 1: leading you in the direction you want? And also where 79 00:05:44,279 --> 00:05:49,040 Speaker 1: is God leading you? And will you trust him enough 80 00:05:49,200 --> 00:05:53,479 Speaker 1: to follow? If you're unsure regarding where He's leading? Consider 81 00:05:53,480 --> 00:05:57,560 Speaker 1: reading John ten, focusing especially on Christ's promise in verse ten. 82 00:05:58,760 --> 00:06:03,960 Speaker 1: Let's pray, Holy Father, you see the depths of our soul. 83 00:06:04,040 --> 00:06:07,120 Speaker 1: You don't just see our reactions. You see what is 84 00:06:07,240 --> 00:06:10,680 Speaker 1: fueling them. You see the wounds, the lies, the deception 85 00:06:11,360 --> 00:06:16,000 Speaker 1: that's lying beneath our behavior. And that is what you change. 86 00:06:16,040 --> 00:06:19,720 Speaker 1: That's what you heal and what you transform. So, Lord, 87 00:06:19,760 --> 00:06:22,680 Speaker 1: we are inviting you to do a deep work in 88 00:06:22,720 --> 00:06:27,040 Speaker 1: our soul. When we behave in ways we wish we hadn't, 89 00:06:28,240 --> 00:06:31,120 Speaker 1: remind us to turn to you, to sit with you, 90 00:06:31,360 --> 00:06:36,120 Speaker 1: to seek your perspective, to invite you into the deepest 91 00:06:36,160 --> 00:06:40,440 Speaker 1: places in our soul so that you can steadily push 92 00:06:40,560 --> 00:06:44,320 Speaker 1: back the darkness within us with your light. Thank you 93 00:06:44,440 --> 00:06:48,159 Speaker 1: that you never leave us stuck in our pain, in 94 00:06:48,200 --> 00:06:53,560 Speaker 1: our messes, in our enslaving behaviors, our self sabotaging behaviors. 95 00:06:54,480 --> 00:07:01,040 Speaker 1: You always gently, lovingly, steadily and progressively provide a way out. 96 00:07:01,080 --> 00:07:03,159 Speaker 1: And so we ask also that you give us patient, 97 00:07:03,440 --> 00:07:07,679 Speaker 1: give us patience with ourselves, and patience with your working. 98 00:07:08,120 --> 00:07:12,400 Speaker 1: Remind us that transformation doesn't happen overnight. It's a process. 99 00:07:12,520 --> 00:07:14,760 Speaker 1: It's a process as we come to know you better, 100 00:07:15,280 --> 00:07:20,720 Speaker 1: trust you more, and become more sensitive to your transformative voice. 101 00:07:21,640 --> 00:07:25,960 Speaker 1: And we ask for that now. May we hear your 102 00:07:26,080 --> 00:07:30,960 Speaker 1: voice above all others. Increase our love for you, increase 103 00:07:31,280 --> 00:07:35,400 Speaker 1: our trust in you, increase our courage to obey you. 104 00:07:35,960 --> 00:07:38,360 Speaker 1: We love you, and we praise you. And it is 105 00:07:38,400 --> 00:07:41,200 Speaker 1: in the name of your son, our Savior, Jesus Christ, 106 00:07:41,240 --> 00:07:42,680 Speaker 1: that we pray Amen.