Fear Not!

The message I received from studying Hagar is to "Fear Not!" No matter what your situation God hears your cries. When I first read about Hagar I didn't feel like I identified with her at all! But after I read a few more times over, I began to see a parallel illuminate.
While we may not be slaves to actual people, we do become slaves to the influences in our lives. There are so many worldly influences in our lives that affect us like casual sex, drugs & alcohol, negative or hostile attitudes & behaviors to name a few. Whatever it is we are a slave to, its like we're handcuffed to it & it pulls us further away from the will of God for our lives.
For Hagar, it was pride. Her behavior caused Sarah to abuse her & I imagine it got overwhelming for her to the point where she ran away. The voice of the Lord told her to go back & she obeyed, only to be sent away a few years later after Sarah found Ishmael taunting Isaac.
Hagar wandered thru the wilderness, ran out of water & left her son under a bush to die because she was out of water and she had no way to provide for him. She walked away & sobbed.
Sometimes our behaviors cause US to become out of the will of God. Sometimes it gets so out of control that WE wander into wilderness as well. I think sometimes God has to take things out of our control. Maybe we have to hit rock bottom & have nothing for Gods strength to operate in our weakness.
Like Hagar, when we are alone wandering in the wilderness with nothing & nobody, God says to us, "Fear Not, He hears our cries!" Now, he has our undivided attention to open our eyes & meet us at our point of need! To save us from ourselves & worldy influences and reveal to us his word, his promises for our lives...