Reverend Michael Mwangi
Senior Pastor, Fedha Church, Kenya Assemblies of God
Some of us are wandering in the wilderness with scarcity and limitations
Wengine [Others] the resources zimeisha [have run out]; what we had is gone, we have nothing left. Not even the strength. Tuko kama Hagar na mtoto wake [We are like Hagar and her child].
We are desperate and almost giving up.
Hatuoni tukitoboa [We don't see a way out]; as time goes on, things are getting really worse. The year 2026 has begun and you have no way out. Maybe, like Hagar, you are just waiting for the worst... you're waiting for the house to be locked up.
You are desperate and the cry is all over—school fees for the children, rent, bills, parents back at home where the sun is scorching and there's drought, and you don't even have a job or finances.
1. God Hears; Call unto Him
Genesis 21:17
And God heard the voice of the lad. Then the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said to her, “What ails you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the lad where he is.”
The last thing you can ever do when you get to that point is to cry unto the Lord. Hagar was helpless, was sobbing, lamenting... but the boy cried for help.
Wengine wetu kikiumana [Some of us when we suffer], we just sit in despair and lock ourselves away to be alone. We just sit and wait, grieving and waiting for the worst. We even stop coming to church, and we shut everyone else out, we don't even answer the phone.
That boy cried. He cried out and God heard him. GOD RESPONDED to the cry of the boy, not the mother. Hagar and the slave mentality limited her, but Ishmael had observed the father crying out to God.
We have a God who hears. God's ears are attentive to our suffering.
Psalm 34:18
The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves such as have a contrite spirit.
God is not distant, but rather very near to those suffering. Even in your deepest moments of despair, just call unto Him and He will specifically reach out to rescue you whose spirit is broken or crushed.
2. God Has What You Need.
Genesis 21:19
Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. And she went and filled the skin with water, and gave the lad a drink.
Call unto me... cry out to God, and I will show you great and unsearchable things. God did not create the well at that moment. The well was just there, right there all this time Hagar and the boy were crying and suffering. He just opened her eyes. Wengine wetu tunaina tu giza [Some of us are just in darkness]. Things look dark and grim, yet our solution is right there but our eyes are closed. Some of us are about to make very drastic decisions and move to look for our water. But let us seek God, and He will show us where our blessing is.
Psalm 24:1
The earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness, the world and those who dwell therein.
Haggai 2:8
‘The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine,’ says the Lord of hosts.
Proverbs 8:17-18
I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently will find me. With me are riches and honor, enduring riches and righteousness.
3. God Has Our Future
Genesis 21:20-21
So God was with the lad; and he grew and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer. He dwelt in the Wilderness of Paran; and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.
God had the future and the family of Ishmael ready, right there in the desert, not with Abraham. In that barren wilderness, God gave Ishmael success.
Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.
(Genesis 25:12-15 mentions the twelve princes from Ishmael, like Jacob's twelve sons). Whatever you need to be successful in life, God has it. Tumtafuteni huyu Mungu [Let us seek this God]. It doesn't matter where you are, as long as you are in God's plans, you will succeed. He has a good plan for you. Ako na blue print ya maisha yako; wacha kuhangaika na kutangatanga hapa na pale [He has the blueprint for your life; stop struggling and wandering here and there].
Joshua 1:8
This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.
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