Desperate for Breakthrough

Do you ever feel like you’re looking but not really seeing?

Like you’re listening but you can’t really hear?

It happens to me sometimes. Everything will be going along just fine when all of a sudden – bam – I hit a wall.

And no matter how hard I try, I can’t get past it. The things I used to get excited about now barely move me. Apathy stains me. Complacency plagues me. And people simply amaze me.

There is a woman in Genesis 16 who understood exactly how this feels. Her name is Hagar, and she desperately needed a breakthrough. My circumstances may not be as tragic as Hagar’s, but I believe there are 4 seasons in my life when I desperately need God to breakthrough.

1. When I am stuck. We meet Hagar twice in Genesis 16 and later on in chapter 21, and both times we find her stuck in the wilderness. This is not a wilderness of her choosing, but it is a place of isolation and confusion. Hagar has become a wanderer, without a clue where to go. Just when it seems Hagar’s over and done for, God brings about a breakthrough. Are you stuck in the wilderness today? Take heart. A breakthrough may be on the way.

2. When I am hurt. It wasn’t Hagar’s idea to get together with Abraham and have a baby. It was Sarah’s and it ended up hurting Hagar, the maid. What’s so fair about this story? It was Sarah’s dumb idea to begin with, and then Sarah who threw Hagar out for executing the plan perfectly. But breakthrough was right around the corner. In Genesis 16:9, the angel of the Lord gives Hagar the keys to freedom: return, and submit. Wow. Talk about breakthrough truth. God’s breakthroughs aren’t always easy, but they do bring freedom.

3. When I am wrong. Hagar thought she was forgotten. She thought she was dead. She felt hopeless and desperate. Until God showed up. Suddenly her perspective was changed, her vision was sharpened, and she ends up naming a well after God who sees, and says these words in vs. 13: “You are a God of seeing, for truly here I have seen him who looks after me.” Don’t get stuck down the path of wrongly accusing God of not caring about you. He sees you. He knows you. He loves you, and He is about to breakthrough in your life.

4. When I am dry. In Genesis 21 Hagar is sent off to the wilderness with a bottle of water that soon becomes empty. The wilderness is not a good place to run out of water. It’s over for Hagar, and she knows it. Have you given up on your life? Are you having a hard time seeing a solution to your problem? Is there no well in your wilderness? Perhaps you need a breakthrough. In vs. 19 God opens Hagar’s eyes and she sees the well of water and drinks. If your bottle has run dry I pray a breakthrough is on the way for you.

I don’t want to live in the wilderness of pain. I don’t want to become apathetic and dry.

I desperately want God to breakthrough in my life – no matter the cost.

How about you?

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