Surprised by Grace (27): Seen and Heard

I couldn’t stand watching my son die of thirst!

Water was gone.
Nowhere in this wilderness could I see water.

The two of us alone.
He is just a boy.
How could I live with seeing my own boy die before me?
But what could we do?

But to weep.
Then die.
No surprise.

Some time ago it was just me.
Similar predicament.
The boy was not born yet; just me.
I bolted from my master and his wife, pregnant.
I had to run away to survive.
His wife’s abuses were getting unbearable.
Perhaps she couldn’t stand to see me blessed with pregnancy, whist she still barren.
She felt I was too arrogant.

Whosever fault it was, I was bound to lose.
I had to run away.
But near a spring, the LORD saw me.
He comforted me.
He promised me my child would become great.
He even named the boy Ishmael!
He told me to return to my master and submit to his wife.

What else could I do?
The LORD who saw me and instructed me.
So I went back.

But this time many years later, I was banished, together with my son.
This time is different.
Instead of us running away, we were simply let go.
Yes, let go.
Maybe to die.
Probably of thirst.
Nobody cares, as if the boy were not his son.

How could a man be so callous?
And a supposedly righteous man?

Who is our advocate?
Who will hear our plea?

Perhaps if we cried louder it would be heard and somehow my boy would have water to drink and needn’t die.

And surprise!
He did hear.
Years ago He saw.
Now He heard!

He let me see too!
There was a well!
Water!
My boy had water to drink!

Eventually I took for my boy a wife from my motherland of Egypt.
He grew to be a great shooter.

Whenever I think about these events I am still unable to contain my surprise.
I was down twice, years in between, yet helped up by the God who sees.
And hears.

The LORD of the universe stooped down to see and hear us!
Amazing.
What a surprise.

I have no term to describe it.
Maybe that’s what finally be so popularised by Paul.
Grace.

Yes grace surprises.
Twice in my life.

Georg Pencz: Abraham sending away Hagar and Ishmael—Abraham holds forth a vessel as Hagar and Ishmael stride before him, from the series ‘The Story of Abraham’ [circa 1543] (CC0, via Wikimedia Commons)