The Lord hears the cry of the poor (Responsorial Psalm). The story of Sarah’s treatment of Hagar and her son Ishmael, without any doubt, falls within the category of sad stories that we find in the Bible. Hagar had become Abraham’s mistress and bore him a son at Sarah’s request (cf. Genesis 16:1ff). However, after the birth of Isaac, Sarah, with Abraham’s tacit blessing, started to mistreat Hagar with the intention of driving her out of their matrimonial home. And while all these took place for the good of Isaac, Sarah’s son, one can argue nonetheless that the two would have been accorded a better, more humane treatment. But has it has always been said, we can never fathom the intentions of the Lord God. Hagar and Ishmael’s story ultimately had a good and happy ending. The Lord rescued Ishmael, clutching him from the jaws of death, and blessed him.
The Lord’s ways are not our ways. While it might still be difficult for us to come around the fact of Hagar’s ill treatment at the hands of Sarah, one thing is certain though: the Lord does indeed hear the cry of the poor. Hagar had suddenly found herself in an impossible situation. She found herself, with her young son strapped on her back, stranded in the desert without any food or water. For her, it was not a matter of if, but when her death would come. Not knowing what else to do, she did the only thing that she could afford: cry. While we are not told that her cry was directed to the Lord, we are told that the Lord came to her aid. Her cry was that of somebody in distress, somebody who had come to her wits end. Her’s was a cry of a poor person, someone who had no one on whom to turn for help. The Lord came to Hagar’s aid because the Lord heard her cry. Even if the cry was not directed to the Lord, the Lord never turns a deaf ear to the cry of the poor, for the Lord is the God of the poor, the anawim.
In our struggles through life, we should never be afraid to cry out. Sometimes it will appear as if we are stranded in a desert, a place where no one would hear us even if we cry, and we will be tempted not to cry out. Hagar found herself in a similar situation but she cried out, and the Lord who hears the cry of the abandoned heard her cry. In addition, even as we cry, we should always keep our eyes and ears open for what God might be doing or saying to us. And when the Lord comes to us, we should be ready to trust in what he tells us.