So often we overlook great characters like Hagar and her son Ishmael in the Bible and, instead, concentrate on more prominent personalities like Abraham, Sarah and Isaac.
Yet perhaps there's no better era to chronicle events in the life of Hagar than our own. After all, we are the "social media kids" – a generation where prominence is given to individual voices.
Because the Bible contains so many heroic and fascinating stories, there are many voices which have been relegated, causing these to be forgotten or ignored.
I am convinced Hagar is one such voice.
Having little standing after being evicted from Pharaoh's palace and then thrown out of Abraham's home, Hagar had no influence, no power and for a period of time she was a forgotten woman; forgotten in Canaan and even in history.
Millennia later, however, the voice of Hagar speaks more profoundly than ever to our own troubled generation.
In this diverse world, where intolerance has led to much violence and despair, and where mixed messages have caused extreme confusion and consternation, Hagar's story and voice proclaim hope for all peoples and nations, especially if they will turn to the true and living God who sees them in their sorrow.
Hagar may not have been particularly important in the grand scheme of things – she wasn't even considered part of the covenant of Jesus Christ – but her life was important to God and her voice and message still resound today.
A slave, she represents many poor and abandoned souls in our modern world. People who have been abused, rejected and even murdered by their fellow man. People who have been 'left to die', so to speak, and who desperately require a voice of hope crying in their wilderness.
People of many different faiths fall into this category. Slaves, foreign immigrants and refugees do as well.
A question we might ask is: what does Hagar's voice have to say to these groups, and to our generation more widely?
I believe Hagar's story has two momentous messages to relay.
Firstly, following the mistakes made by Abraham and Sarah regarding the conception of Ishmael, not having the patience to wait for the promised son Isaac, God still brought good out of a bad situation. In his mercy, grace and faithfulness, not once did he ever abandon either Hagar or Ishmael, Abraham's first son. On the contrary, we are informed that: "God was with the boy as he grew up" (Genesis 21:20).
Secondly, God's love was demonstrated for Hagar when he supernaturally provided for her in her own wilderness after she was evicted, with little provision, from Abraham and Sarah's abode. Just when she assumed both she and Ishmael were going to die, bringing tears to her eyes and pain to her heart, God miraculously stepped in. "Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. So she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink" (Genesis 21:19).
When the cold winds of unemployment, rejection, homelessness, starvation and loss of status and power blow in like a hurricane, suddenly narratives like Hagar's take on a completely different meaning.
Her story teaches us that we more often find God in the valley than in the mountaintops; we feel his presence and experience his helping hand more in our pain than in our gain.
Visited not once, but twice, by an angel during her remarkable life, no wonder Hagar gleefully declared: "You are the God who sees".
Another translation personalises this statement even more, reading: "You are the God who sees me".
Hagar's voice and story, therefore, speak of the true, unconditional and phenomenal love of God which can reach us in the most isolated of places. Her voice is saying: God sees, God hears and God understands – and when there seems to be no way, God makes a way.
What an inspirational message of hope for the world we live in today.
John McCreedy is a former BBC broadcast journalist, missionary and pastor. His new book, Left to Die, But Loved By God (Malcolm Down Publishing) examines major humanitarian crises including racism, modern-day slavery, the plight of the homeless and refugees through the biblical story of Hagar. It is out now, priced £8.99 in paperback. Visit www.johnmccreedy.co.uk
