Genesis 16:3 And Sarai Abram's wife took Hagar her maid the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife.
[Patriarchs & Prophets pp 145] Flattered with the honor of her new position as Abraham’s wife, and hoping to be the mother of the great nation to descend from him, Hagar became proud and boastful, and treated her mistress with contempt. Forced to listen to the complaints of both, Abraham vainly endeavored to restore harmony. Though it was at Sarah’s earnest entreaty that he had married Hagar, she now reproached him as the one at fault.
Hagar’s haughty spirit would not brook the harshness which her insolence had provoked. “When Sarai dealt hardly with her, she fled from her face.”… Genesis 16:4 And he went in unto Hagar, and she conceived: and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes…. Even the apostle Paul struggled with the same issue, for the abundance of knowledge and deep spiritual insights given to him by God, was an ongoing threat to his humility, in so much that God could not even answer his prayers for his own good, when he asked for healing.
The reason for God denying his request is directly pointed out, so that we who live in the 21st century, where pride stalks the land unrebuked, might take heed, lest like Paul, God has to refrain from blessing or healing us, lest we too become puffed up…. 2nd Corinthians 12:7 And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.
2nd Corinthians 12:8 For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.
May God add His blessing to the study of His word. “Good night” and God bless!