Dire Straits

Have you ever been in dire straits? Have you been in a situation that you had no idea how you could ever get out of it or past it? Did you simply want to sit down and cry until you could cry no more? Were you at a point that you thought you might die?

We experience many tough situations in this life. Some of them are steep hills to climb, but we believe we can climb them. Some are nothing more than speed bumps, even if they are a more than a little inconvenient. Then there are those heart wrenching, depressing, and dire situations.

Hagar was in a dire situation. She had been expelled from Abraham and Sarah’s camp. She had faithfully served Sarah until she started flaunting the fact that she had had a son by Abraham when Sarah could not. Eventually Sarah had a son, too. But Hagar continued to boast about her son being the firstborn. Sarah had finally enough of the flaunting and had Abraham send her away.

Hagar only had one skin of water and some bread. We cannot go long without water. So, when Hagar ran out of water, she thought her and her son’s end had come. But God heard the voice of the boy and provided. Hagar was pointed to a nearby well by an angel.

When we are in a dire situation and we call out to God, he hears us. When we put our faith in God, he leads us to the well—his well. God provides for our needs, our necessities. God will not abandon us, even when we may have made bad decisions to put ourselves in a very bad situation.

I pray we all put our faith in God. I pray we ask God to guide us in our decision-making process. I pray each one of us will ask God to pull us out of any dire situation we may find ourselves. Turn to God in tough situations. Build your relationship with God beforehand. Put your faith in God. Trust God to provide.

Genesis 21:15-16 When the water in the skin was gone, she cast the child under one of the bushes. Then she went and sat down opposite him a good way off, about the distance of a bowshot; for she said, “Do not let me look on the death of the child.” And as she sat opposite him, she lifted up her voice and wept.