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HAGAR: A Video Podcast Inspired by Heroes, Villains, and the In Between · Biblical Lessons from Lives

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to Heroes, Villains, and the In-Between, the podcast inspired by the book from author Sebastian Lucito.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_01: Each episode explores the lives of real people from scripture, not just the heroes and villains, but everyone in between.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_01: If you enjoy this episode, be sure to follow us.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks for listening to Heroes, Villains, and the In-Between.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_02: The sun had no mercy that day.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_02: It pressed down on the land like a weight, as if determined to squeeze every drop of life from the dust.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_02: The horizon blurred until sky and earth melted together in a wavering line.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_02: Every step kicked up powder so fine it clung to the skin.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_02: And in the middle of that endless wilderness, a woman made her way forward.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_02: There had been a time when her life was contained by walls, stone wall, household wall, social wall.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_02: She belonged to someone else's household then.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_02: Her name spoken only when work was needed, or blame aside.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_02: She had learned early the rules of survival.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_02: Do not speak unless spoken to.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_02: Do not ask questions.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_02: Do not ask why.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_02: Just endure quietly.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_02: Then one day, everything changed.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_02: It began with a command disguised as opportunity, a solution to someone else's longing.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_02: Her body offered to solve a problem she did not create.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_02: For a brief moment, she was noticed, not as a person, but as a means, a solution without her consent.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_02: An action that she would bear the consequences of.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_02: And when the evidence of that consequence began to show, when her condition could no longer be hidden, everything changed.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_02: Glances hardened, words sharpened, tasks multiplied.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_02: The same people who had used her now resented her.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_02: And eventually, the walls closed in too tightly.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_02: So she ran.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_02: Sometimes escape feels like the only prayer left.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_02: And the wilderness received her.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_02: Each step away from the household felt like rebellion and relief.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_02: But running has limits.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_02: Her strength failed before the sunset.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_02: She collapsed beside a spring, barely more than a trickle pushing up through the stone.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_02: She drank like someone rescued from drowning.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_02: Then the tears came.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_02: Unstoppable.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_02: Fear poured out of her.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_02: Fear of hunger.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_02: Fear of death.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_02: Fear of the life growing inside her.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_02: What kind of world awaited that child?
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_02: What kind of future did a discarded woman have to offer?
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_02: She was alone, forgotten, and disposable, or so should have thought.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_02: Then a voice spoke.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_02: Where have you come from?
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_02: And where are you going?
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_02: No one had asked her that before.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_02: People had told her where to go, what to do, who to serve.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_02: This question assumed something radical that she had a story, a past, and a future.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_02: She answered honestly.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_02: She spoke of her master, of running, of not knowing what weighted beyond the wilderness.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_02: Then came something she never expected: a promise.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_02: The voice spoke of life, of descendants beyond counting, a child who would not be erased the way she had been.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_02: And then something even stranger.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_02: She was told to go back to the household she fled, to the place of her pain.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_02: The promise came wrapped in assurance that the one who spoke would go with her into spaces that felt unfair, unsafe, and unbearable.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_02: In the wilderness that day, she discovered something the powerful rarely understand.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_02: Deliverance does not always mean escape.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_02: Sometimes, deliverance means being seen where you are.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_02: So she gave the voice a name, The God Who Sees Me.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_02: She returned to the household carrying more than a child.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_02: She carried a quiet strength that only comes when heaven notices you.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_02: Years passed and the child was born, and laughter returned to the house she went back to.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_02: But it wasn't her laughter that people celebrated.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_02: Old tensions resurfaced.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_02: This time, more dangerous.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_02: The same household that once needed her again saw her as a threat.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_02: And this time she didn't run away.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_02: They expelled her back into the wilderness.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_02: Except now, she wasn't alone.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_02: She went with her child.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_02: The water ran out faster than she'd expected.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_02: Hope ran out not long after that.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_02: So she placed the boy beneath a shrub and walked away.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_02: She could not bear to watch the death that was coming.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_02: Then a voice spoke.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_02: Another question that assumed her pain mattered.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_02: That her story was seen.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_02: She was told not to fear, that the child would live, and the promise from many years ago still stood.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_02: Her cry had been heard because suffering is never invisible to the one who sees.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_02: When her eyes opened, she saw a well.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_02: It had been there all along, simply revealed.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_02: Water filled the skin, her hands, and the child's mouth.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_02: As she drank, her faith was strengthened, and the wilderness became something new.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_02: Not a grave, but an encounter.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_02: She survived and the boy grew strong.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_02: He learned the language of the desert.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_02: He became exactly what had been spoken over him.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_02: You may feel forgotten, you may feel discarded, you may feel unseen.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_02: But there is a God who finds people in deserts, who hears cries no one else listens to, and reveals wells where we thought only death existed.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_02: The God who sees saw Hagar, and he still does the same today.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: Hello, welcome to Biblical Lessons from Lives.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: Today we're going to study Hagar.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: You just watched an animated video on her life.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: In all of Scripture, I think it really teaches us that God sees everything.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, Hagar gives God a name in her walk here on earth.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: And it's it's it's it's an interesting story.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: First of all, who is she?
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: She's an Egyptian slave in the household of Abraham.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: When you look at she had the lowest position in the home, her situation was Sarah couldn't have children, but God promised them children.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_00: God promised Abraham a son, an heir, and over a period of 19 or 20 years, uh Sarah brought this bright idea to Abraham and said, Why doesn't Hagar bring me a child that I could raise as a son?
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: And so Abraham goes into her, uh, she becomes pregnant, and um and during that time, um, you know, she got God really wasn't her God.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: She was a slave in the household of someone who knew God.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_00: And Hagar gave God a name, and it says, You are the God who sees me.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, it's interesting.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so let's get into the story.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: Uh let's we're gonna open after she's uh been pregnant.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_00: She's with Abraham's son, um, and so she's this is in Genesis 16, verse 6.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_00: So Sarah dwelt harshly with her, and she fled from her presence.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: Now the angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: And he said, Hagar, Sarah's maid, where have you come from and where are you going?
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: She said, I'm fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarah.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_00: The angel of the Lord said to her, Return to your mistress, submit to her under her hand.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: Then the angel Lord said to her, I will multiply your descendants exceedingly, so that they shall not be counted for a multitude.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_00: And the angel Lord said to her, Behold, you are with child, you shall bear a son, you shall call his name Ishmael, because the Lord has heard your affliction.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_00: Then she said the name of the Lord who spoke to her, You are the God who sees.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: For she said, I have also seen him who sees me.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: So when we look at this, Hagar ran from the harshness of Sarah.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: This caused division.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, Sarah knew she made a mistake, and she regretted it.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you can imagine Abraham.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_00: You told me to go into her, and now you're, you know, you're telling me that you that you don't like this, that this is not a good idea.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: You know, the the woman's pregnant, you know.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: And so, you know, God God called her, Hagar, in the wilderness.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_00: He knew exactly who she was, exactly what was going on, exactly what she had suffered.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_00: And the name Ishmael means God who hears.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: The Lord had heard her affliction even when no one else did.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: Hagar gave God that name there.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_00: He's you are the God who sees.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sure she's seen uh Abraham uh you know doing altars and making sacrifices in his devotions, but she was she was just a servant.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_00: She had no voice, she had no position, she was just a servant.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: You know, so now she she goes back and we we jump down to Genesis 21 and verse 9.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_00: It says, and Sarah saw the son of Hagar, the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, scoffing.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_00: For the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, namely Isaac.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_00: So Abraham rose early in the morning, took bread and a skin of water, put it in her sh on her shoulder, gave it to her and the boy, and he sent them away, sent her away.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_00: Then she departed and wandered in the wilderness of Bathsheba, and the water in the skin was used up, and she placed the boy under a shrub, then she went and sat across from him at a distance about a bowshot, and she said to herself, Let me not see the death of the boy.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_00: So she sat opposite him, lifted up her voice, and wept.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_00: So Hagar was sent away with only a bread.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I I I picture a loaf of bread, and you know, uh uh, you know, today we call it a canteen, or they had a skin of water, you know, and and she went out, and there she's in the wilderness.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's it's a wilderness because it's a wilderness.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, God called out her to her a second time.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_00: You know, Hagar, son of uh, you know, Sarah's maid.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_00: Hagar, Sarah's maid, he knew exactly who she was, and God called her, and he gave her son Ishmael a name, and Ishmael ends up becoming having you know twelve sons, and his twelve sons uh rival the twelve sons of Abraham.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_00: So in the in the story, Abraham is the father of the Middle East, you know, he's the father of Judaism and the Jews, which had 12 sons, and he's the father of you know the Arabs and their twelve sons and nations.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_00: And so we see that they had a common father.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_00: Now, this was clearly uh Abraham's mistake.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, he he could have told his wife, no, he didn't.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_00: He went in, he slept with her.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_00: Then she's with child, and Sarah takes a burn to it, sends her out.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_00: God calls her to come back.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_00: You know, she comes back, and now she bears a son.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_00: God comes through on his promise, right?
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_00: Great.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, she bears Isaac, and now that there's two boys, and Abraham loved the two boys.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_00: The Bible tells us he loved the two sons.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_00: You know, and one was older, and Sarah could not live with Abraham and uh Hagar's son.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_00: She couldn't do it.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, I mean, when you look at this, you say, you know, how frugal was Abraham.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_00: He sent her away with a child that was his.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_00: It was his responsibility.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_00: And he sent her away with essentially a loaf of bread and you know, some water, you know, and said, good luck.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_00: You know, and we don't see any contact other than Ishmael comes back for the burial of uh of Abraham.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_00: And there was some interaction, but really he came back respecting Abraham and the burial.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_00: So let's let's uh go to the um the closing scripture for today, Genesis 21 and verse 17.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and God heard the voice of the lad.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_00: Now they're in the wilderness, and you know, um they're you know, there's nothing left.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_00: She's hit bottom.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_00: You know, uh God doesn't abandon her, and God heard the voice of the lad.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_00: I think this is interesting, and I've never really heard a teaching on it.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_00: He really, he really didn't hear at this point Hagar's prayer or weeping or calling.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_00: God heard the voice of the lad, heard Urshmael's voice.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_00: Then the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven and said to her, What ails you, Hagar?
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_00: Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the lad where he is.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_00: Arise, lift up the lad, hold him with your hand, and I will make him a great nation.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_00: Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_00: She went and filled the skin with water, gave the lad to drink, and God was with the lad.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_00: He grew and dwelt in the wilderness and became an archer.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_00: Once again, God heard and responded to the cry of despair.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_00: You know, Hagar, he said, Fear not.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_00: You know, he didn't he didn't shame her, he didn't, you know, come down on her, he didn't say, What did you do?
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_00: He comforted her with a promise.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_00: God opened her eyes and brought her to provision that brought life into them and brought a future into them.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_00: And the lesson here is God is present with us in our wilderness.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_00: He hears our cries, he hears and provides for us.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_00: He often shows up in our need so that we can see his hand.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_00: You know, the key takeaway here is God found her in her flight.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_00: He sought her out when she ran, she wasn't seeking him.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_00: God met her in her lowest place, he didn't abandon her in the wilderness.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_00: God provides when hope is gone.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_00: He heard and spoke, and he opened her eyes.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_00: You know, what does this mean for us?
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_00: Remember that God sees you.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, especially if you're a born-again, you know, spirit-filled Christian.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_00: God sees us.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_00: The Bible tells us that the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, the eyes of God are on us.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_00: You know, there's no hardship, no rejection, no hidden pain that escapes his notice.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_00: You never will be invisible to him.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_00: The cry, even at the end of your strength, God hears the voice of the desperate and brings him your his provision into your life, his deliverance into your life.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_00: You know, uh trust in him to provide.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we have this tremendous revelation that God's our provider.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, we live in the New Testament, we live in a new privilege.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_00: You know, the Bible says that God meets our needs according to his riches and glory in Christ Jesus.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_00: God tells us that he will provide for us.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_00: In in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew, we see Jesus say, Don't seek the things of the world.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_00: Don't seek what you eat, what you drink, what you wear, where you'll go, but seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these provisions would be added unto you.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's a prioritization.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_00: Don't measure your worth by what others how others treat you, guys.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you know, uh many, many, many men and women in scripture have been treated shamefully by humanity, even the church.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_00: But Hagar was cast aside by the father of faith.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_00: He was given, really, uh gave her a death sentence, if you want to speak about it.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_00: But God in God's eyes she had value.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_00: And and you know, the end of the story is not written yet.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_00: Because there's still conflict between these two sons in the Middle East.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_00: There's still strife between them.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_00: There's still a division over the land.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_00: You know, and so Hagar teaches us truth we need to carry into our everyday trial.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_00: God who sees, God who hears, God who provides, God who never forgets.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_00: You know, when you feel most alone, will you turn to God who is already there?
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, ask yourself that question.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_00: You know, so Hagar teaches us a lot.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and I I hopefully you learn from it today.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_00: You know, these messages from the 66 people in uh the book, Heroes, Villains, and the In-Been.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_00: You should buy the book, by the way.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, are stories about people who never wrote scripture, but whose life has a story and whose story can teach us a lesson.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_00: Certainly, we can learn from Hagar.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, hopefully you did today.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_00: Well, God bless you and have a great day.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for watching.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks for listening to Heroes, Villains, and the In-Between.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_01: If today's episode challenged or encouraged you, we'd love for you to help others discover it.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_01: Follow the podcast, leave a five-star review, and share this episode with someone who you think might enjoy it.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_01: Every episode is based on Sebastian Lucido's book, Heroes, Villains, and the In-Between.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_01: The book features 66 biblical character studies that reveal the victories, failures, and life-changing lessons found in Scripture's most unforgettable people.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_01: You can order the book on Amazon or at Barnes Noble, or at Biblical Lessons From Lives.org.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_01: That's Biblical Lessons from Lives.org.