Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life.

In the time it takes to get to work.

I'm Tanya Wilmuth.

In the Bible, we encounter a lot of people who are desperate.

In the Old Testament, we meet Hagar.

And in Genesis 21, Abraham sends Hagar away into the desert with her

young son, where she runs completely out of water. Hagar is so desperate that she leaves Ishmael

under a bush and walks away, thinking to herself that she cannot watch him die. Then she sits and

begins to sob, knowing there is nowhere to get water to save herself and her son.

But when she has no hope left, God hears her crying and the angel of God calls down to her,

telling her not to be afraid. He is going to make that son that she thinks is about to die

into a great nation. What must she have thought? That sounds great, but what about water,

Lord? But then her eyes are opened, and she sees a well of water, and she goes to it,

filling her skin with water for herself and her son. Okay, what about First King 17? There's another

mother. She's a widow living in the middle of a famine, and she is about to prepare a final meal for herself and her son before they starve to death.

She's using the very last of the flour and the oil. And while she's out gathering sticks to build the little cooking fire, Elijah approaches her house, and he tells her to make a small loaf for him and another for herself and her son.

Can you imagine how she must have skimmed for each meal, knowing the last would eventually come?

And now she's asked to divide this with a stranger? Even though Elijah promised she would not run out

of flour and oil, how would she know for sure? She makes a small look for

Elijah and another for her little family. And as promised, the flour is not used up and the jar of

oil does not go dry. And it's not just moms. King David knew desperation well. He spent years

running for his life. He was hunted by Saul, later betrayed by his own son,

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