06/21/2026
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HxTKLSkdCI
Sermon | God Sees the Lost | Rev. Ann Mann | Barnesville First UMC | June 21, 2026
One of the greatest gifts a father can give a child is being present. Most of us can remember when someone showed up for us, a father, grandfather, mentor, coach, teacher, or friend. They may not have had all the answers, or solved every problem. But they were there.
They cheered from the sidelines, sat beside a hospital bed, offered encouragement, or simply listened. On Father's Day, we celebrate those who have reflected God's love through their care and faithfulness.
We also acknowledge that Father's Day can be complicated. Some celebrate with gratitude, others with grief, and some with memories of relationships that were difficult or absent. Yet wherever we find ourselves, scripture points us to the One whose presence never fails. Again and again, the Bible tells the story of a God who sees, who hears, and who comes near.
When people feel forgotten, God remembers. When we feel abandoned, God draws close. When we find ourselves in the wilderness, God is already there waiting for us.
Today we will hear the story of Hagar and Ishmael, a story that reminds us that no one is beyond God's sight, beyond God's care, or beyond God's love.
Scripture Lesson: Genesis 21: 8-21 (please read on your own)
Our passage today begins with a celebration. Isaac, the child of promise, has been born. The miracle Sarah laughed about has come to pass. The long-awaited son has arrived, and Abraham's household is rejoicing.
But not everyone is celebrating. Years earlier, when Abraham and Sarah grew impatient waiting for God's promise, they tried to help God along. Sarah gave her servant Hagar to Abraham, and Ishmael was born. What began as an attempt to solve a problem created a lifetime of heartache.
Now Sarah sees Ishmael as a threat to her son Isaac's future. She demands that Abraham send Hagar and Ishmael away.
Abraham loves his son Ishmael. He is distressed. Yet Hagar and her son are sent into the wilderness with only a little food and water.
In the desert, the water runs out. The wilderness in scripture is never simply geography. The wilderness is every place where we feel vulnerable. It is the doctor's office when the diagnosis arrives, the empty chair at the dinner table, the broken relationship, the uncertainty of what comes next, the moment when we realize our own strength is no longer enough.
Hagar places Ishmael beneath a bush because she cannot bear to watch him die. She sits down at a distance and begins to weep.
This is one of the most heartbreaking scenes in all of scripture. A mother who has nothing left. A child who appears to have no future. A wilderness that seems empty of hope.
Then something remarkable happens. The text says, "God heard the voice of the boy." God heard. God saw. God responded.
An angel calls to Hagar and says, "Do not be afraid." Then God opens her eyes to see a well of water that had been there all along.
The wilderness had not changed. God's presence had simply become visible.
So church, how often is that true in our own lives? Sometimes we pray for God to remove the wilderness. Instead, God reveals a well. Sometimes we pray for a different road. Instead, God gives us strength for the road we are already walking. Sometimes we ask, "Where are you, Lord?" And God gently answers, "I have been here the entire time."
What strikes me about this story is that Ishmael is not the child through whom the covenant will come. Isaac is the child of promise. Yet God's love is not limited to Isaac.
Human beings are experts at drawing boundaries. We decide who belongs and who does not. Who matters and who does not. Who deserves grace and who does not. But God continually breaks through our boundaries.
God sees people we overlook. God hears voices we ignore. God cares for people we might never expect to matter. The beauty of the story in this morning’s scripture is that when human relationships fail, God's care does not.
Our wilderness experiences are never the whole story. The cross looked like abandonment. The tomb looked like defeat. Yet God was already preparing resurrection.
The places we feel lost today are not the places where our story ends. Because Christ lives, hope remains, new life is possible, no wilderness is beyond redemption.
The God who heard Ishmael in the wilderness knows every detail of our life. God sees us. God hears us. God knows our name. God has not abandoned us.
There may be a well we cannot yet see. There may be a future we cannot yet imagine. There may be a promise still unfolding.
The God who found Hagar and Ishmael in the desert is the same God who walks beside us today.
Sermon | God Sees the Lost | Rev. Ann Mann | Barnesville First UMC ...
