Questions God Asks 06: “Where Have You Come From, And Where Are You Going?”

Knowing where you are in life is crucial. To understand where you are well, you need to know where you are from, and where you are going.

If you know only where you are from and aren’t sure of your destination, you may take any direction. Unfortunately, not every direction leads to your desired destination. There is no room for circumnavigation here, and even if we had, that would involve too much trial and error. 

On the other hand, if you know only where you are going but do not know where you are from, you may miss the wisdom that your experience and history have brought your way.

A man or a woman who doesn’t know where they are from, equally doesn’t know where they are going. Any direction is good enough for them.

Context

"The angel of the Lord found Hagar beside a spring of water in the wilderness, along the road to Shur.  The angel said to her, “Hagar, Sarai’s servant, where have you come from, and where are you going?” “I’m running away from my mistress, Sarai,” she replied" (Genesis 16:7-8, NLT)

Hagar is a woman on the run.

She has created a big problem for herself. She despised the hands that fed her and changed the narrative of her life. Up to the time when the Bible introduces her, Hagar was but an Egyptian servant girl in the house of Abram. She was Sarai’s handmaid. She went and came at Sarai’s instructions. 

Appalled by an apparent delay in God’s promises, Sarai devised a strategy to help God fulfil His promises to Abram. Like all of us, the chosen couple fell into the danger of running ahead of God. Refusing to let Him fulfill His promises in His own time and way, they reasoned in favour of the shortcut.

Hagar became the instrumentality through which Abram and his wife could help God. While to Abram and Sarai, this was a degradation from faith and trust, to Hagar it was an elevation.

In oriental culture, if a woman could not bear children, she could give her handmaid to her husband. Any children resulting from this engagement became theirs. In some instances, such arrangements were motivated not just by barrenness. Competition to have more children could be a motivator, especially in the unfortunate case of a polygamous marriage. The two sisters married to Jacob, Rachael and Leah, had their servants Zilpah and Bilhah bear children for them through their husband Jacob. While Rachael used this to solve her barrenness, Leah used it to add more children to her house.

As soon as Abraham had matrimonial contact with Hagar, there were results and the genesis of problems. 

"So Abram had sexual relations with Hagar, and she became pregnant. But when Hagar knew she was pregnant, she began to treat her mistress, Sarai, with contempt. Then Sarai said to Abram, “This is all your fault! I put my servant into your arms, but now that she’s pregnant she treats me with contempt. The Lord will show who’s wrong—you or me!” (Genesis 16:4-5, NLT).

Without disclosing details, the Bible records that Hagar began to treat Sarai with contempt.

Thinking about it, you ask yourself a few questions. Maybe she started being bossy and refusing to be instructed by the queen of the house. Maybe she told Sarai that she was the problem, erecting her barrenness on the billboard. Maybe she considered herself the woman of promise and wanted a co-wife’s treatment and privileges.

Hagar had not read The 48 Laws of Power. No wonder she made a futile pursuit of trying to outshine her mistress. She disturbed the hornet’s nest and could not escape but be stung. Unable to endure harsh treatment from Sarai, she eventually fled from her face.

But where was she coming from and where was she going? She was running away from the wrath of a powerful woman—a wrath she had brewed by her contemptuous attitude—but going to no one knows where. At least she knew where she was coming from as demonstrated by her single-sided answer to a two-fold question.

Eventually, she was instructed to return to the woman of the house and submit to her. God promised that He would multiply her seed exceedingly.

Life Application

There is something in life called the peril of forgetfulness. We are always slow to count and ready to forget our blessings. I consider our history and what God has done for us as a blessing be it good or bad. 

Here is a slave whose life is taking a different turn. Sarai has elevated her to share the embrace of her husband. As soon as she has tangible evidence that she has conceived, Sarai is despised in her eyes.

It can be a big problem if one is only used to suffering and narrow attainments. If you are only used to servitude, when your best day in the office is a kind treatment by the master, elevation can be overwhelming. Hagar makes the mistake of disrespecting the person who vouched for her and saw value in her ‘CV.’ 

However, when she got a direct result of sticking her finger in the adder’s den, she felt that the bite was unfair and too much to withstand and fled.

Instead of being provided for in the wilderness, divine instructions demanded her to go back and do things right. She could only achieve the promises of the covenant through obeying the voice of God and appreciating where God has brought her from.

We all know our stories better than any other person. We know how God has been keen to see value when people may have written us off. We can’t afford to fool around and use the iron rod on those we feel better than and expect the blessings to continue flowing.

Sometimes the solution to our problems is not seeking a different station, but doing things right in our current station.

Get back to that marriage and do things right. Get back to that relationship you gave a break and do things right. Go and apologise to that friend you don’t talk to anymore and do things right. Call your brothers and sisters and heal the broken relationship.

If you find yourself in a desert and are seeking something easier ahead, God thinks you should go back and clear the mess you have created before you can seek His favours. 

So, “Where have you come from, and where are you going?” Come on and tell God the truth!