Hearable Cries

And she went, and sat her down over against him a good way off, as it were a bowshot: for she said, Let me not see the death of the child. And she sat over against him, and lift up her voice, and wept. 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: 16, 17)

I want us to look at an interesting spiritual dynamic in these verses.

How come Hagar is weeping yet God is hearing Ishmael’s voice.

How does that happen?

Let me give us another scenario.

And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and, behold, the Egyptians marched after them; and they were sore afraid: and the children of Israel cried out unto the LORD. And the LORD said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me? speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward: (Exodus 14: 10, 14)

Again we see Israel crying out and God hearing the cry coming from Moses. Yet in the intervening verses we see Moses confident of God’s deliverance and trying to convince Israel of the same.

In both of these instances, it is clear that the cry of one person is being heard through another person. Or in another way the cry is irrelevant if it does not go through this other person. You might as well have kept quiet.

Let us look at it differently.

Hagar was the slave Sarah used to get Abraham an heir when the promise appeared impossible to her.

Remember when Sarah dealt harshly (mistreated her?) when she started despising her barrenness and she fled. Look at what God says to her.

And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hands. (Genesis 16:9)

Basically speaking she was nothing outside Abraham’s promise. And the link to the same was Ishmael. She was literally disconnected from the promise apart from Ishmael.

And it was the same with Israel. Moses was their only link to God. And of course we know a few instances when he was the only reason they were not destroyed for their rebellion.

We know that through Christ’s atoning death the curtain was torn opening the way for us to be able to connect to God at the personal level.

But do you think the same nullified the structures God had established since creation. Is the New Testament the nullification of the Old?

Of course not.

There still are structures God uses to connect His creation to His redemptive agenda. And they are as valid as they were when they were established. And that is why some verses in the Bible do not seem to make sense so that some think they should be removed from the New Testament.

Yet they are there because God’s structures were not demolished by the cross.

Let me give one example.

Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. (Ephesians 5:24)

How can this make sense to the modern woman?

We get to understand when we go to the Old Testament.

Numbers 30 explains a woman with respect to her authority, especially in things touching on her spirituality or relationship to God.

Remember when Sarah was taken as the king’s concubine. Do you realize that it is Abraham who was rebuked and compensated when God intervened?

Let us get another verse difficult to understand unless we understand this dynamic.

Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives; While they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear. (1Peter 3: 1, 2)

Imagine this is talking about a believer married to an unbelieving husband!

Recognize his authority and worship God under it if he is ever going to understand the Gospel.

Is that how the Gospel has been taught, especially to our generation?

The Bible teaches that a woman’s voice is heard through her husband. That a woman’s prayer is most effective when it is heard through her husband as she totally submits to him, however godless he could be. I think that is the reason that wherever you go to the world a woman takes her husband’s name, even in places where the girl’s parents are the ones paying the dowry.

But I think it is important to note that this is a double edged sword. That authority assumes all the responsibility and accountability over its subordinate, if we may call it thus.

In simple terms, when the channel through which someone’s voice is heard becomes blocked or clogged, it is the channel that is dealt with. And of course we know that God can even remove it since He equally loves that subordinate.

Let us get back to Numbers 30.

A woman’s vows to God depend on their being validated or annulled by her authority; her father when unmarried, and her husband if she is married (not her modern ‘spiritual authority’, mark you). And that authority had to make a decision when he hears the vow and not later.

But if he shall any ways make them void after that he hath heard them; then he shall bear her iniquity. (Numbers 30:15)

That is why in the Bible the man was held responsible for his wife’s sins.

Or do you not remember Ahab being confronted for killing Naboth yet it is probable he had no idea about Jezebel’s schemes?

Of course we know that though Moses literally stopped death and destruction from visiting Israel he was unable to escape judgment for a very slight infraction since he had no human authority over him?

Again do you remember that though Mary was highly favored, God stopped speaking to her when Joseph took her in and started speaking to Joseph even on things concerning her?

These are difficult spiritual realities we are dealing with.

But please do not transpose them to a pastor, bishop, apostle, prophet etc. And it is because there has been so much abuse on such authority.

I am sure there is a place for that, and God may allow me to share about it later.

This is dealing with the spiritual authority in the home.

It also explains some very difficult commands like

And if the latter husband hate her, and write her a bill of divorcement, and giveth it in her hand, and sendeth her out of his house; or if the latter husband die, which took her to be his wife; Her former husband, which sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after that she is defiled; for that is abomination before the LORD: and thou shalt not cause the land to sin, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance. (Deuteronomy 24: 3, 4)

Why is it an abomination for a man to reunite with the former flame he divorced if she got married?

We can only understand it if we looked at it through this prism.

God was connecting to her through the first husband. Then the channel discontinued it and she reestablished another channel.

Would it not be like a dog returning to his vomit before God?

Look at another verse.

Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered. (1Peter 3:7)

Again it can be understood in this context as blocking a wife’s voice from being heard or modifying the voice by the way you treat her. Then even your prayer loses power because half of it has been tampered with.

And that is why getting married to someone of a different faith is so destructive because one becomes the channel to a different god even as they are trying to establish a relationship to their familiar one.

Muslims understand this dynamic very well. That is why they do not allow their girls to get married outside Islam yet do not mind their men doing it.

And of course the verse most modern women resist with their all.

Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law. And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church. (1Corinthians 14: 34, 35)

Does this now make sense?

You can throw those stones. But I must share what God is teaching me.

Korah challenged Moses’ authority and his whole team, including their families, livestock and homesteads were swallowed by the earth. Miriam thought her small bro was conceited and became leprous. David’s brothers who were accusing him of pride eventually needed his protection.

What am I saying?

It is very important to know the channels God is using to reach out to you, especially those clearly spelt out in scripture.

Why is it that when a man gets saved his whole family quickly follows suit yet when a woman does the same the man especially may almost never follow her there, especially when the said wife becomes ‘too spiritual’ or gets some other spiritual authority or cover and starts (in her heart at least) thinking of him as lost?

And have you realized that it is easier for children to lead their father to Christ than his wife?

You see, for the most part, the wife thinks she has become more spiritual than her channel of reaching God. Her voice despises the channel God is listening to. It is akin to Hagar despising Ishmael or what she had been attempting to do when she was running away from Sarah. All those cries become inaudible because they are abusing the channel through which they are heard.

Again why are independent women (call them single mothers) bitter against men?

And why do sons who rebel against the tyranny of their fathers not amount to much?

And why does honoring parents result in a long life?

And I am not absolving men as their judgment is worse, especially when they abuse or run away from the authority entrusted to them. In short they become the blocks to those feeble voices they should amplify being heard.

Remember David’s whole posterity was judged for his sin? Remember like I have mentioned earlier that Moses was disqualified from the Promised Land for a slight infraction when Aaron got away with worse than murder (the golden calf)?

I want you to realize that I am not just talking about submission to authority. I am principally dealing with each knowing and walking in their position.

As a man, please take authority over the people God has placed under your wing and as a wife, child, please do not think that that illiterate or unspiritual moron is useless as you will be in for a rude shock.

But men, you must become more spiritual. There is no shortcut.

Read the Bible. Pray. Know God more.

And like I say, ask me for a Bible Reading Plan is you need one. We can even work out on how you can get an Audio Bible so that you can listen to God’s word wherever you are instead of being immersed in news which are the megaphone of the destroyer of souls.