Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 1123
“God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad drink.” Genesis 21:19.
You know the story of Hagar—of her being sent out from Abraham’s tent with her son Ishmael. It was necessary that they should be sent away from the child of promise. God, nevertheless, had designs of good towards Ishmael and his mother. Still He tried them. Whether we are saints or sinners, we shall meet with tribulation. Whether it is Sarah or Hagar, no life shall be without its affliction. To Hagar the affliction came in a very painful manner, for the little water that she had brought with her in her bottle was spent. She must give her child drink, or it would die and then she, by-and-by, must follow. She laid the boy down, giving him up in despair and began to weep what she thought would be her last flood of tears.
Still there was no real cause for her distress. She need not have thirsted. She was close by a well! In her grief she had failed to see it. The distraction of her spirit had made her look everywhere except the one place where she would have found exactly what she needed. God therefore spoke to her by an angel, and after having done that He opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water, which, I suppose, had always been there. When she saw it, she went at once to it, filled her bottle, gave her child a drink and all her sorrows were over. It seemed a very simple remedy for a very sad case. It is but an illustration of what is often happening in human life.
Men and women come into sore trouble, and yet, if they could see all around them they need not be in trouble. They actually come to death’s door, in their own judgment, and yet there really is, if they understood all things, no cause for their distress. They will escape out of their present trial as soon as ever their eyes are opened, for they will see that God has made provision for their necessities, prepared comfort for their griefs and made such a way of escape from their fears that they need by no means give way to despair.
I desire to speak to persons who are in trouble. There are three things I shall bring before them. The first is that it often happens with seeking persons and troubled persons, that, as in Hagar’s case, the supply of their necessities is close at hand—the well is near. Secondly, it often happens that that supply is as much there as if it had been provided for them and for them only, as this well seemed to have been. And, thirdly, no great exertion is needed to procure from the supply already made by God all that we need. She filled her bottle with water—a joyful task to her—and she gave the lad drink.
I. It often happens that when we are in trouble and distress THE SUPPLY OF OUR NEED AND THE CONSOLATION FOR OUR SORROW ARE VERY NEAR AT HAND. There is a well close at our feet, if we could but see it. We miss it, perhaps, not because it is far away, but because our eyes are not open. There is no necessity for God to make a well—that has been done. What is necessary is that He should open our eyes that we may see what is already there. How true this often is in Providence with Christian people. We have known them to be in sore alarm at some approaching ill, or in the most fearful distress on account of some troublous circumstances which already surround them. They have said, “We don’t know what we shall do tomorrow.” They have inquired. “Who shall roll away the stone?”
They know not that God has already provided for tomorrow and has rolled the stone away. If they knew all, they would understand that their trial is purely imaginary. They are making it by their unbelief. It has no other existence than that which their distrust of God gives to it. While they are inquiring, “Where shall I find a friend? Who will come to the rescue?” the friend is already in the house, or, perhaps, will never be needed at all. While they are saying, “How can I get out of this dilemma?” God has already solved it. The riddle has been answered, the enigma has been explained. They are troubled about an enemy whose head is already struck off—they are repining about a difficulty which has already been disentangled by the Divine hand.
We have known persons to be utterly surprised when God has delivered them. This proves that their faith was small. With calm trust there is quiet waiting. They might well have expected that He would do it. Among the surprises such persons have expressed has been this—that, after all, He should have delivered them by a means so simple. “How could it have happened,” they ask, “that I could not have thought of this? That I should actually have the blessing I crave hard by me, and yet not perceive it? That I should be thirsty and crying out to God, in hope that perhaps He will rend the heavens and send a shower of rain, and all the while there is the well bubbling up with fresh water?” We have only to look to find, and having found it, we have only to stoop down to take and drink for our refreshment!