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)

Beer Lahai Roi, an unusual sounding name for a well, is a well mentioned in Genesis 16, the story of Hagar and Ishmael. It’s the first well mentioned in the Bible, and as with many cases reminds us of the desperate need for water, but also shows us that God-encounters can take place in the most unexpected of places.

Hagar was Sarai’s slave and her involvement in the story of the people of God is a salutary warning that it’s always dangerous to take the pragmatic, practical route when it comes to God’s promises. God had promised Abram and Sarai a son, a son who would be Abram’s heir and through whom all the nations of the earth would be blessed. (Gen 12:1-3, Gen 15:3-5) However, God was taking a long time to fulfil this promise and so Sarai’s plan was to have a surrogate family through Hagar (Gen 16:2), only to then discover that this plan was not without consequences or problems. She and Abram effectively made Hagar’s life so difficult that Hagar fled.

Life is not always easy. Sometimes we make it more complicated than it need be by our own actions; sometimes, other people’s actions make life difficult for us. Joseph is perhaps the best example we have in the Old Testament of someone who in many senses of the word could be considered a victim of circumstances: beaten up and sold into slavery by his own brothers, thrown into prison because of a scheming, rejected woman and left to languish there because of the forgetfulness of a fellow inmate he had helped. So often, we may find ourselves in circumstances that leave a lot to be desired: we feel like Hagar, alone in a desert, destined to die.

However alone, abandoned and forsaken we may feel, however, we are never beyond the reach of God. The Bible tells us, ‘The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert.’ (Gen 16:7) The words spoken to her by God reassured, comforted and challenged her, but she was never the same again.She realised that God cared about her, not just about Abram and Sarai. She realised that God saw her: ‘You are the God who sees me’, she said. (Gen 16:13) In effect, the desert place became a holy place, and the spring of water there received a new name. She called the well Beer Lahai Roi, which means ‘well of the Living One who sees me.’ (Gen 16:14)

God sees us, knows us, loves us and provides for us. There, in the desert, she found water and also found a God who knew her intimately and cared about her. When we encounter God, we too are changed.

As Valentine’s Day approaches this week, Stephen spoke this morning at Cherry Tree Court about the love we have for our God. Earthly love is celebrated on Valentine’s Day, and we all have different ways of expressing our love, but God calls us to love Him with all our heart, soul and strength (Deut 6:5).

The heart is our life source, beating all the time and enabling us to exist. This reminds us that our love for God needs to be shown all the time; it is not something for special occasions only. Our soul is the ‘real’ person inside our physical bodies. We may only be able to see the outside, but God sees all of us and we are called to love Him with all that we are. Often, we may feel that our physical shortcomings and lack of strength prevent us from loving God fully, but God wants us to love Him with all our strength. Our love for God needs to be committed and whole-hearted; we need to love Him to the max!

We love ultimately because God loves us. His love is constant, faithful, unchanging. We are called to love Him in the same way, not just on Valentine’s Day, but every day!

Thinking about these many characters in the book of Acts makes me realise that there are so many ‘Goldthorpe Giants’ who may never be recorded elsewhere but who matter enormously to the people of God in Goldthorpe.

Thanks to all who volunteer so faithfully at GPCC each week: to Mark and Diane, Stephen and Karen, Ray and Pat who help each week with the youth club (and to Jamie and Emily who help out there as well.) Thanks to our faithful coffee morning volunteers: to Alan and Janet, Stephen and Karen, James and Jade, Pat, Karen and Gill who serve drinks faithfully and to Dave, Joan and Eileen for attending each week and chatting with so many people. Thanks to Ray and Pat, Dave and Joan and Diane for their help with the Parent & Toddler group, to J-P and Herlen for their faithfulness in helping teach our children each Sunday at church, to Herlen for her sterling behind-the-scenes work with accounts, keeping our income and expenditure all accounted for! Thanks to Garry and Stephen, Tony and Gary for all their help with musical things at church (not forgetting Stephen, Gill, James and Roger who help to work the not-so-Easy Worship program and keep us on track with the right lyrics!) Thanks to all who help out at Fun Days and who help with cleaning and maintaining the building on a regular basis. Thanks to Dave, Stephen, Garry, John, Pat and Roger who help with leading meetings and preaching. Without your faithfulness and service, so much would not get done!

We can’t thank church members enough for their input into so much of what the church does: whether that’s translating Julie’s wacky craft ideas into manageable projects (Gemma, Janet, Sue and Pat do so much here!) or taking photographs (Stacey and Alan!) or simply being there to wash up (Brenda and Jeanette always turn out in force here, amongst many others!) We are always grateful to people for their financial support of Bedline, Amshika and Innocent and for their commitment to the local food bank as well as to the church’s general funds. None of the projects we support would be successful without the support of individual members, who give faithfully, regularly and joyfully.

A very big THANK YOU to you all. God sees your hearts and knows all the unseen things which perhaps haven’t got mentioned here because only He knows about them. May you be encouraged in faith, hope and love and know that your labour for the Lord is not in vain. Many apologies if I’ve forgotten anyone – God never forgets your acts of service and devotion to Him and values each one of His people more than we can ever begin to comprehend.

One of the longings of the hearts of believers is that their family members come to know and share in their faith. The journey to faith is an individual one; as the children’s song reminds us ‘you need to find Him just for you’: ‘A mum or a dad or a sister who loves Jesus won’t get you there, it’s true.’ (Doug Horley, ‘One Way’) Jesus knew what it was like to live among a family who did not believe in Him (John 7:5), and this is never easy, for we know that eternal life is not just for now, but stretches beyond the grave. When we come to taste and see that God is good, it’s only natural that we want others to share in this life.

We are called to live holy lives before all, and Peter gives advice to wives whose husbands are not believers in 1 Pet 3:1-6 (see also 1 Cor 7:12-16). Most of all, we are called to pray for our families and to seek God for their salvation.

The book of Acts lifts the curtain a little on what happened to Jesus’s earthly family after His death and resurrection. James, the brother of Jesus (also known as ‘James the Just’), may not have been a believer during Jesus’s lifetime, but we are told that Jesus appeared to him after the resurrection (1 Cor 15:7) and Jesus’s brothers are seen with the other disciples in prayer after Jesus’s ascension to heaven (Acts 1:14) By Acts 12, James appears to have been one of the leaders of the church in Jerusalem (see Acts 12:17) and he features again prominently in Acts 15:13-21, when the Council of Jerusalem meets to give their comments on Gentile conversions. Paul refers to him in Gal 2:9 as a ‘pillar’ of the church and he clearly was considered an apostle by Paul (Gal 1:19).

In the middle of all that went on in historical terms with the explosion of the gospel, it is reassuring to know that God cares about individual family members and that we see in the midst of the global impact of the church the story of God at work in these family members. We can trust God with those we love. Our part is to pray and to witness, to live integrated lives of holiness and grace before everyone. God is the One who saves, and we can trust Him to work all things together for good. If you’re still waiting to see a beloved family member come to faith, don’t give up. James is proof that God cares for parents, siblings and children. He cares for families.

Stephen is another character in the book of Acts who does not feature in the gospels. We read of him first in Acts 6, a man ‘full of faith and of the Holy Spirit’ (Acts 6:5) who was chosen to help serve the widows of the Greek-speaking Christians. Later in that chapter he is described as ‘a man full of God’s grace and power’ who ‘performed great wonders and signs among the people’ (Acts 6:8); unsurprisingly, this led to opposition and persecution, with the members of the Synagogue of the Freedmen accusing him of blasphemy. (Acts 6:11)

Acts 7 is devoted to Stephen’s response to this charge of blasphemy and is another example of the speeches in Acts. It is perhaps the most detailed and concise history of Israel and their relationship to God of any in Scripture, ‘an indictment against Israel and their failure as the chosen people of God who had been given the law, the holy things, and the promise of the Messiah.’[1]

Stephen shows us that a holy and godly life does not necessarily lead to earthly prosperity and blessing, for the Jews were angered by his speech even further and decided to carry out the death sentence reserved for blasphemy, stoning to death. Stephen was the first Christian martyr, a man who died with as much faith as he had lived: “But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. ‘Look,’ he said, ‘I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.’” (Acts 7:55-56) He may only feature in two chapters in the whole book of Acts, but his example remains a shining one to all of us: he had knowledge of the Scriptures, wisdom from the Holy Spirit, lived a life of grace and was totally committed to God’s plans and purposes for his life. He was faithful to preach the gospel boldly at all times and was committed to the Lord even in the face of death, praying for the Lord not to hold their sin against them as he died. (Acts 7:60) His life and death are testimony to what the Spirit of God can do with a fully surrendered heart and mind. One person truly can make a tremendous difference!

[1] https://www.gotquestions.org/life-Stephen.html