God Hears Our Cries

Do not fear, for God has heard …

then God opened her eyes

and she saw a well of water.

Genesis 21:17, 19

Hagar and Ishmael, who is now around the age of seventeen, have been sent away by Abraham. He sent them with food and water, but they used up their provisions before they found a new home. Hagar is now fearing for the life of her child. She leaves him under a bush and goes off to cry, for she cannot bear the sight of watching her son die of dehydration.

Hagar’s cries do not go unheard. The angel of God calls out to Hagar from heaven and says, “What is the matter with you, Hagar?” (Genesis 21:17). The angel tells her not to fear, and then he tells her that God is going to make a great nation out of Ishmael.

Another promise is given. Ishmael cannot die in the wilderness if God has promised to make a great nation from him. I think that Hagar believed this promise to be true and then God opened her eyes and she finally saw the well of water.

Once again we see in Scripture how God hears our cries. What peace we can have in knowing that we have a God who sees and a God who hears. He hears our cries, our laughter, our fears, and our praise. In Psalm 107, one of the key repeated phrases is “Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble; He delivered them out of their distresses.”

A closer look at this psalm reveals to us that those in Psalm 107:1–9 called out for salvation because they were lost.

They wandered in the wilderness in a desert region;
They did not find a way to an inhabited city.
They were hungry and thirsty;
Their soul fainted within them.
Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble;
He delivered them out of their distresses.
He led them also by a straight way,
To go to an inhabited city.
Psalm 107:4-7

In Psalm 107:10–22, those who call out are calling out because they have found themselves in prison, in chains, at the very gates of death because of their own rebellious ways.

There were those who dwelt in darkness

and in the shadow of death,
Prisoners in misery and chains,
Because they had rebelled against the words of God
And spurned the counsel of the Most High.
Therefore He humbled their heart with labor;
They stumbled and there was none to help.
Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble;
He saved them out of their distresses.
He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death
And broke their bands apart.
Psalm 107:10-14

In Psalm 107:23–32, those who call out are calling out because they are overwhelmed by outward circumstances beyond their control.

Those who go down to the sea in ships,
Who do business on great waters;
They have seen the works of the LORD,
And His wonders in the deep.
For He spoke and raised up a stormy wind,
Which lifted up the waves of the sea.
They rose up to the heavens, they went down to the depths;
Their soul melted away in their misery.
They reeled and staggered like a drunken man,
And were at their wits’ end.
Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble,
And He brought them out of their distresses.
He caused the storm to be still,
So that the waves of the sea were hushed.

Psalm 107:23-29

In all three cries, God delivers them. Whether they were lost sinners crying out for salvation, whether they had lived in open rebellion and spurned the counsel of God, or whether they were in a mess due to no reason of their own, God heard their cries.

God alone can open our eyes. When we cry out, He opens our eyes to the way out, the way to redemption, the way to hope. He opens our eyes to His mercy, His grace, to the light at the end of the tunnel. As God opened Hagar’s eyes to see the well of water in the wilderness, so He opens our eyes to the Living Water, His Son, Jesus Christ.

Oh Father,

That I might drink continually from Your well. That You would keep my eyes open to Your will and to Your ways. . Oh Father, how thankful I am that when I cry You hear me. How humbled I am to know that I do not have to fear in any situation, for Your loving-kindness is great. Even when I have found myself in the bottom of a pit that I dug with my own hands, when I cry out to You in true repentance, You will hear me.

Oh Father, may You be glorified in me. Help me, my Jesus, to walk in Your light, for I have died, and it is not I who live, but You who live in me.

My Jesus, it is in Your name I pray,

Amen.