HAGAR, doubtless, had taught Ishmael about the true God, because we are told that God heard the voice of the lad, the lad who was lying under the shrub, and we may suppose that Ishmael called upon God. There is a sweet verse in the 50th Psalm, “Call upon Me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify Me.”
And now again the Angel of the Lord is the one who has to convey a message to Hagar. It is said that God heard the voice of the lad, and the Angel of God called to Hagar out of Heaven, and said “What aileth thee, Hagar? fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is. Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in thine hand: for I will make him a great nation.” How her heart must have beat with joy! and then when God opened her eyes to see a well of water near her, a well which she had not seen before, she went and filled the bottle with water, and carried it to her boy, and so he drank, and must have felt better. And God was with the lad, and he grew, and dwelt in the wilderness of Paran. It seems as if his mother lived with him until he had grown up to be a man, for she took him a wife out of the land of Egypt, the land in which she herself had been born.
“God shall hear,” or “God will hear.” Let us not forget these words.
Ishmael lived hundreds and hundreds of years ago, but now you shall be told about some little children who lived only some few years since, and who had been taught by their kind Christian parents to look up to God and trust in His dear Son. Oh, it is a happy thing to know that God loves us and hears us when we cry to Him, to know in our hearts that Christ Jesus, the Lord, is our own Saviour, that His blood was shed on purpose to wash away our sins, and that He has gone to Heaven to prepare a place for us.
One day two boys and their tiny sister were out, near the seashore, when a sudden storm came on. The wind rose and the rain poured down. It was not often that these children went out alone; their kind grannie nearly always went with them. They were very frightened, and hardly knew what to do, as the rain was making them very wet, and they were almost blown down by the wind.
There was a large tunnel close by with an archway at each end. Little Bobbie, who was the eldest of the three, said “Let us go into the tunnel;” so they ran there as fast as they could. At the entrance it was very wet, but when they got further in, nearer to the middle, the ground was dry. Then Bobbie said, “Let us kneel down and ask God to take care of us.” So the two boys and their little sister knelt on the ground in the tunnel and prayed to God. They knew that God would hear, and when they had left off praying and looked towards the arch through which they had come, they were very pleased to see their dear grannie standing there! She had come to look for them and had heard Bobbie’s voice as he prayed. It is not likely that he will ever forget that tunnel, nor the quick answer that he got to his prayer. Perhaps it will make him go at once to God and pray to Him when he is in any trouble.
It is so sweet to know that the same God who heard Hagar and Ishmael never changes, but is the same who looks down into our hearts now. If you turn to the thirteenth chapter of Hebrews and look at the eighth verse, you can read these words: “Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever,” for God the Father, and God the Son are one, “For I know the thoughts that I think towards you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil. . . . Then shall ye call upon Me, and ye shall go and pray unto Me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek Me, and find Me, when ye shall search for Me with all your heart!” (Jer. 29:1212Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. (Jeremiah 29:12) and 13.)
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We very much regret that a rather serious misprint occurred in our first article on “The Story of Ishmael.” The kind contributor who sent these interesting papers is in no way responsible for the error: but by a regrettable oversight, line eight, second column, page fifteen, was rendered, “Ishmael means ‘asked of God.’” This ought to have been, “Samuel means ‘asked of God,’” the reference being to 1 Samuel 1:2020Wherefore it came to pass, when the time was come about after Hannah had conceived, that she bare a son, and called his name Samuel, saying, Because I have asked him of the Lord. (1 Samuel 1:20), where in the marginal note the meaning of the name Samuel is given as “asked of God.” Will our young readers bear this correction in mind? We hope to have from our friend a few more words on the subject of these two papers, viz., Ishmael, for our next issue, and shall also then give, as promised, a series of questions, with the hope of encouraging Scripture search and study. We shall be pleased to give one or two prizes to those who answer the questions most correctly, and who send the most careful papers referring to the teaching of God’s Word concerning Ishmael. We will, please God, give further directions in the March number.