The Powerful Influence of Relationship with God

And God heard the voice of the lad; and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar? fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is (Genesis 21:17, KJV)

Hagar and her son Ishmael have kicked out Abraham’s house after Isaac was born because of Ishmael’s mockery ( Gen. 21:8-10). They left Abraham’s home, wandered in the desert and ran out of water. Death was certain, and Hagar left her son at a distance from her, lifted up her voice and wept( verse 16). In an astonishing twist, verse 17 says “God heard the voice of the lad”. Well, it was Hagar the mother who was weeping in verse 16 as recorded. What happened? The power of relationship!

Ishmael was Abraham’s son, even though born out of the will of God. By virtue of his Father Abraham, God was connected to him because of His promise to his Father. When Ishmael wept, God heard. Hagar, however, had no direct relationship with God, and was connected to Abraham as a concubine. Her weeping had little to no spiritual impact, not because God did not “hear”, but because there was no covenant relationship with Him. She cried, but God heard the voice of her son! This is how powerful relationships are.

Not everyone can cry and make heaven move. There are many people crying all the time, but not all cries are the same. As a believer in Christ, your cry is better than the cry of Ishmael and even Isaac. You are a child of God. An unbeliever can cry about the distress they are going through or even the state of their nation but it will have no spiritual impact because there is no relationship with heaven. However, when you lift up your voice and cry, heaven responds!