Beer Lahai Roi was not the only well of significance in Hagar’s life. In Genesis 21, we read of another well at Beersheba, of another encounter with God during desperate times.
Some fourteen years after Ishmael’s birth, the promised son, Isaac, was born to Abraham and Sarah. (Gen 21:1-4) Ishmael did not find it easy to cope with this change of events and Sarah was once again zealous in her protection of her beloved son, once again demanding that Abraham dealt with the problem. Hagar found herself banished to the desert with ‘some food and a skin of water’ (Gen 21:14) along with her son.
Despite God’s earlier provision and reassurance, Hagar is left desolate and in despair, unable to watch her son die from lack of water. (Gen 21:15-16) Present pain and suffering drive from us the memory of God’s help in times past and leave us feeling abandoned and without hope. Nonetheless, Hagar encounters God in this most unlikely of places. Once again, she discovers that God has not forgotten her, that He is still capable of seeing her, even if she is in the desert. Once again, God’s word reminds her of His promises to her son. And once again, there is a well of water, there is provision, for her and for her son. (Gen 21:17-19)
It appears that the well was actually there all along; the Bible tells us ‘God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water.’ (Gen 21:19) So often, God’s answers are close at hand, but the difficulties of our circumstances and the pain in our heart mean we cannot see them. Nonetheless, Hagar once again discovered key truths about God at Beersheba and both she and Ishmael saw God’s provision and help in very practical ways, for our God is able to do immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine. (Eph 3:18-20)