"And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of water, and gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her away: and she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beer-sheba.
And the water was spent in the bottle, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs.
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 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.
Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in thine hand; for I will make him a great nation.
And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went, and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad drink."

                            -Genesis 21:14-19 

I know this passage is somewhat lengthy, but I have something I really want to share with you out of it that has been on my heart the past two or three days. First, though, let's take a quick look at what has just taken place:

Earlier in this same chapter, Abraham had hosted a feast for his new son, Isaac. Whether it was out of jealousy, or just plain hatred, Ishmael (Abraham's other son by Hagar) began to mock and make fun (v. 9). Of course this offended Isaac's mother, Sarah, and she requested that Abraham send them away. So he did. The next morning he gave Hagar some food and water and sent them out, "...and she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beer-sheba." (v. 14) After wandering about for quite some time, their water supply ran dry and Hagar placed Ishmael under a shrub and went to cry, afraid that her son was going to die of dehydration. The angel of God then appeared to her and promised that Ishmael would not only survive, but that he would become the father of a great nation (the Ishmaelites). The Bible says that after these things, "...God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water..." (V.19), and she and Ishmael were thus saved from death.

What I find so intriguing about this story is that the Bible doesn't say God miraculously created a well; He simply showed her one that was already there. It's quite possible that this well was only a short distance - perhaps even within eyesight - from where she was crying, certain that they would both die. She just didn't see it.

How often do we do the same thing? We go through difficult situations in life, and we feel as if all hope is lost and that we aren't going to make it through, while all the time the answer is right there in front of our faces; we just aren't seeing it.

If you are going through a hard time, and you don't feel like you have the strength to keep going, remember Jesus' words in John 4:14: "...whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." The well of salvation never runs dry.

"And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to Me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on Me shall never thirst."

                            -John 6:35