Genesis 16: 1 - 16

¹Now Sarai Abram's wife bare him no children: and she had an handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar.  ²And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, the LORD hath restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai.
 ³And Sarai Abram's wife took Hagar her maid the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife.
 ⁴And he went in unto Hagar, and she conceived: and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes.
 ⁵And Sarai said unto Abram, My wrong be upon thee: I have given my maid into thy bosom; and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes: the LORD judge between me and thee.
 ⁶But Abram said unto Sarai, Behold, thy maid is in thine hand; do to her as it pleaseth thee. And when Sarai dealt hardly with her, she fled from her face.
 ⁷And the angel of the LORD found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur.
 ⁸And he said, Hagar, Sarai's maid, whence camest thou? and whither wilt thou go? And she said, I flee from the face of my mistress Sarai.
 ⁹And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hands.
 ¹⁰And the angel of the LORD said unto her, I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude.
 ¹¹And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Behold, thou art with child and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the LORD hath heard thy affliction.
 ¹²And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.
 ¹³And she called the name of the LORD that spake unto her, Thou God seest me: for she said, Have I also here looked after him that seeth me?
 ¹⁴Wherefore the well was called Beerlahairoi; behold, it is between Kadesh and Bered.
 ¹⁵And Hagar bare Abram a son: and Abram called his son's name, which Hagar bare, Ishmael.
 ¹⁶And Abram was fourscore and six years old, when Hagar bare Ishmael to Abram.

This is sort of a sad story. Sometimes life seems so unfair and yet, we never know how things will turn out.  It starts with Sarai being unable to have children. Sarai decided that if she gives her maid to her husband then they can have a child and she can take the child as her own. It doesn't seem that she really cares about Hagar. Now it is possible that Sarai did this to make sure that her husband had children; but, it is not quite what it says. In either case, it says that Abram listened to his wife and slept with Hagar who was not of his lineage, she was an Egyptian. They had a child and the child was Ishmael.

Once Hagar knew she was pregnant she looked down upon Sarai. To go from being a maid to being to being the mother of the masters son. Sarai goes to Abram and says that she made a mistake and she asks that God judge between the two women. Abram says that it is not necessary, he says that Sarai can do whatever she wants to her servant. Now, that is pretty unfair and mean. Sarai decides to treat the woman very harshly and the woman runs away.

An angel of God's finds Hagar by a fountain in the wilderness and he asks her where she came from and where she was going. Now I am guessing the angel already knew; but, that makes one wonder why he asked the question. He instructs Hagar to return to Sarai and allow Sarai to continue to abuse her. That makes me think that his questions were intended to show Hagar that she had no place else to go. She is promised that her child shall be the beginning of a multitude, it is generally assumed that this is the arab nations; but, it does not say that. In fact for all we know it could be the Europeans.

Hagar does return and has the child and names him Ishmael because the Lord has heard of her pain. The promise for Ishmael sounds a little rough, it says that he will be a wild man who attacks everyone and all will attack him. It also says that he will live amongst all his relatives.

God's blessing can be very tricky and patience is often required, lots of patience. We should be patient in our lives, it has been a problem mine I admit. I like to results and sometimes it has taken decades to see them. Yet, the best way to see results is to persist in achieving them. Be well.