Women In Distress

Feature 3 –May 2019 – Grace & Truth Magazine

Women In Distress

This world trains us to become resourceful people. When faced with obstacles and challenges, we generally rely on that training and look for a way out. This is not a bad thing in our work lives and responsibilities, for to be persistent and determined is a positive trait. However, there are many occasions in life when persistence and determination can turn into willfulness and stubbornness. If we come to believe that our own abilities will be enough for every problem, we will not learn how to call on God and depend on His help in our challenges.

Among the women of the Bible it is meaningful to focus on some who faced great distress and called on the Lord for help. Although these women lived many centuries ago in cultures that are foreign to a good number of readers, we all understand what it is like to feel sorrowful, overlooked and mistreated. Therefore the experiences of these women are instructive for our times too.

Hagar
Hagar, an Egyptian servant of Abraham and Sarah, is one of the most tragic figures of the Bible. The biblical record implies that Hagar and other people were simply given to Abraham by the ruler of Egypt – treated as if they were only creatures to be ranked along with other gifts of sheep, oxen and donkeys (Gen. 12:16). Later, Hagar evidently became Sarah’s personal servant (16:1). When Sarah accused God of not fulfilling His promise to give her a child, she gave Hagar to her husband as another wife. “Perhaps I shall obtain children by her,” said Sarah (v.2 NKJV).

This is precisely what happened, but it led to unceasing friction. When Hagar was pregnant, Sarah dealt so harshly with her that Hagar fled into the desert. There in her trouble the Angel of the Lord found her. He told her to return to her mistress, which she did. But this moment took on sudden significance. Before her return, Hagar made an announcement about God’s character that has since established the faith of women and men alike. She called Him “The-God-Who-Sees” and declared, “Have I also here seen Him who sees me?” (v.13).

This was only a fleeting scene in the life of Hagar, but it uncovers an important truth. Hagar had not looked for God, yet God had found her. He knew precisely where she was in her distress and what she had contributed to the trials of her situation. True, there was pride in her heart against Sarah (v.4), but Hagar had repeatedly been treated as nothing more than an object by those who had power over her. Those powerful figures had sinned against her. Hagar had been demeaned, humiliated and abandoned by those who ought to have cared for her welfare – even while she was carrying the child Sarah had wanted her to have! It is a great lesson when we understand that the God of the universe also sees us, even when we have no thought of Him.

Hagar was forced into the desert again, this time with her now-teenaged son, Ishmael. Spiritually speaking, this was a significant moment because it clarified God’s promises to bless Abraham’s family through Isaac, the son of promise, rather than through Ishmael, the son of the servant woman. This point is emphasized not only in Genesis 21:12 but also in the New Testament allegory of law versus grace in Galatians 4. However, this moment was filled with emotion. Hagar laid her dehydrated son under a bush, walked away and sat alone, crying to herself, “Let me not see the death of the boy” (Gen. 21:16). To God this personal cry of anguish was really a prayer for help, and again He made Himself known to Hagar. He showed her a well of water to supply the immediate need; then He remained with her and her son for all the years that followed. Although the people who descended from Ishmael caused great conflict for the descendants of Abraham later, from the standpoint of human need God would not allow injustice to triumph.

Today there are also those who are used and abused, treated by the powerful merely as objects for obtaining their own goals. Hagar was hardly a model of dependence on the Lord, and perhaps many suffering today might also barely remember His existence in their pain. But God is there. He is the Preserver of Life not only of faithful people but of all mankind (1 Tim. 4:10).

Hannah
Family troubles were also the context for Hannah’s distress. Her husband, Elkanah, was evidently a godly man, for the first detail we are given of him is his faithfulness to worship the Lord during the annual feasts (1 Sam. 1:3). He loved Hannah and showed kindness to her (v.5). But Elkanah had another wife, Peninnah, and she had borne at least four children while Hannah had none. Peninnah used this fact as a weapon against Hannah, and the Bible actually calls her Hannah’s adversary, or “rival” (v.6).

Driven to bitterness of soul, Hannah prayed fervently. Both her husband and Eli the priest misunderstood her (vv.8,14), but she poured out her soul to the LORD and said, “Look on the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me” (v.11). She prayed for a son, promising to give him back to the LORD for His service. After Eli understood that Hannah was praying, he encouraged her. It is very nice to observe that after prayer and encouragement Hannah’s soul was refreshed.

Hannah’s example extends beyond this scene to the following year when the LORD did indeed give Hannah a son. She responded with a song of praise, rejoicing that the LORD was a rock and a God of knowledge. She rebuked her proud adversaries for their arrogant words, and she described His power to exalt the humble. Hannah’s song even concluded with a prophetic look ahead to God’s coming Messiah. Her thoughts went beyond her own troubles to the day when the Lord’s own adversaries would be broken to pieces – when He would “give strength to His king, and exalt the horn of His anointed” (2:10). Remember that Hannah declared this in an era before Israel even had a king – a fact which makes her clear-eyed faith shine all the brighter.

One unique phrase of Hannah’s song declares that the LORD raises up the poor out of the dust and sets them among princes. This thought is quoted in its exact words as part of Psalm 113, which then concludes touchingly, “He grants the barren woman a home, like a joyful mother of children” (v.9). It is a beautiful acknowledgment by the psalmist that the LORD turned Hannah’s anguish into joy, just as He can do for us. Moreover, that psalm begins a section (Ps. 113-118) called the “Hallel” psalms. These came to be recited every year during Passover and several other occasions. No doubt they were recited by the Lord Jesus Himself when He celebrated the Passover with His disciples.

Consider the impact of Hannah’s faith! In her time of bitterness, she prayed; in her time of joy, she praised. Decades later, her song of joy probably encouraged the psalmist. Ultimately, for centuries beyond that psalm, praise has come from the lips of faithful men and women alike as they honor their praiseworthy God for His acts of power and goodness.1 If Hagar’s example reminds us that God is faithful even when we don’t look for Him, then Hannah’s example reminds us that our faith in God can encourage others for generations to come.

Hagar in her time was only slightly aware of God’s presence while Hannah was at the other end of the spectrum, modeling a strong sense of dependence on the LORD. Despite her faith it is significant to realize that Hannah also experienced deep distress. Remaining close to the Lord does not imply that there will be no sorrows; it only means that we will appreciate all the more that He is faithful.

Esther
With that backdrop, speed ahead in your mind to the time of Esther, probably about six centuries later. Esther, a Jewish woman, surely had every reason to cry to the Lord in her distress. Her people had been captives in the Babylonian empire, and now during the reign of the Persians, Esther had grown up as an orphan, raised by her cousin Mordecai (Est. 2:7). When the Persian emperor was determined to find a new queen, he took beautiful young women away from their families as possible candidates. Among these virgin women was Esther. She was expected to spend a night with the emperor to see if she would please him. Imagine being considered as merely a plaything for the ruler’s pleasure! Yet Esther accepted this, despite any shame it might have caused, and her character delighted the king more than her beauty.

However, none of this forms the main basis for Esther’s distress. Her time of anguish came later when the entire Jewish race was threatened with destruction throughout the empire. Esther intended to appeal to the emperor, but entering his presence without being invited could mean death. She prepared for her appeal by fasting for three days. It is notable that the book of Esther never mentions God or prayer, yet it is clearly implied that Esther was not only fasting but also praying. She requested that Mordecai and others would fast with her too, as a way to unite together in this period of prayer.

This passage reveals the value of an unselfish character. Esther’s prayers were not about the injustice of her own situation but about the welfare of her people. Although we should certainly bring our own needs and distresses to God in prayer, it is very beautiful to have a heart that is wide enough to take in all the people of God. To pray for God’s people generally, even for those we don’t know personally, is to value them simply because they are His.

Truth For Today
A common theme among these stories is that these troubles were not due to personal failure. These distresses simply came upon them. Further, the troubles arose not from natural disasters or diseases but from the willful mistreatment of influential people in their lives. As normal relationships dissolved, Hagar became an outcast, Hannah was mocked for her limitations, and Esther was treated first as a plaything and then as a pest to be exterminated.

We all make assessments about our identity, and often a woman’s identity is rooted in her relationships. When those relationships are difficult, fragile or troubled, what does that do to a woman’s view of herself? One Christian described her experience with this in the modern world: “The main thing I was putting my identity in was people. I believed whatever people said about me, good or bad.”2 No doubt the women of this article may have felt the same. But God’s view of us is greater than the definition of ourselves that comes from our relationships.

A final key is to notice that all of these women learned more of God’s faithfulness through their trials than they had known before the difficulties began. While God does not take delight in our sorrows, He delights to show us who He is as we go through those sorrows. Every moment of despair is an opportunity to discover that God has not forgotten us. Even when we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself (2 Tim. 2:13).

ENDNOTES
1. The song of Hannah is also connected with Mary’s song of praise in Luke 1, especially verses 46-53.
2. Capri Gandy, “Lies, Identity And Chasing Jesus.”

By Stephen Campbell