Opening Scripture: 2 Cor 3:16,17

1. Background

a. The Hebrew verb to encounter is paga‘ (פָּגַע).
· 1 Sam 10:5 (ESV) After that you shall come to Gibeath-elohim, where there is a garrison of the Philistines. And there, as soon as you come to the city, you will meet a group of prophets coming down from the high place with harp, tambourine, flute, and lyre before them, prophesying

b. It can also mean to intercede.
· Jer 27:18 (ESV) If they are prophets, and if the word of the LORD is with them, then let them intercede with the LORD of hosts, that the vessels that are left in the house of the LORD, in the house of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem may not go to Babylon.

c. Isaiah loves to use this verb (in its causative form) to describe God’s redemptive plan of salvation.
· Isa 53:6 (ESV) All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned — every one — to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
· Isa 53:12 (ESV) Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.

d. Isaiah also uses it to describe an encounter with God.
· Isa 64:5 (ESV) You meet him who joyfully works righteousness, those who remember you in your ways. Behold, you were angry, and we sinned; in our sins we have been a long time, and shall we be saved?

2. There is a noun derived from this verb: pega‘ (פֶּגַע). The problem is, it is only used twice in the Bible – and neither time is it devotionally helpful.

a. It is used for an evil encounter.
· 1 Kin 5:4 (ESV) But now the LORD my God has given me rest on every side. There is neither adversary nor misfortune [lit. evil encounter].

b. It is also used for an unintended encounter.
· Ecc 9:11 (ESV) Again I saw that under the sun the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to those with knowledge, but time and chance happen to them all.

3. Yet, there is a man in the Bible whose name incorporates the noun pega‘.
· Num 10:26 (ESV) And over the company of the tribe of the people of Asher was Pagiel the son of Ochran

a. Pagiel’s name is translated by Strong’s Concordance as accident of God.

b. The question is, why would parents name their child accident of God? (Perhaps a laatlammetjie?) What if we understand his name to mean encounter with God?

4. The accidental encounter with God.

a. By His providence, God sets up divine ‘coincidences’ that result in a testimony of His goodness.

b. Ruth coming into Boaz’s field.
· Rth 2:3 (ESV) So she set out and went and gleaned in the field after the reapers, and she happened to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the clan of Elimelech.

c. Hagar, wandering in the desert, is saved by finding a well dug by the very person who sent her away, Abraham.
· Gen 21:14 (ESV) So Abraham rose early in the morning and took bread and a skin of water and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, along with the child, and sent her away. And she departed and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba.
· Gen 21:19 (ESV) Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. And she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink.
· Gen 21:30-31 (ESV) 30 He said, “These seven ewe lambs you will take from my hand, that this may be a witness for me that I dug this well.” 31 Therefore that place was called Beersheba, because there both of them swore an oath.

d. In Esther, Haman, who wants to kill Mordecai, is used by God to honour him.
· Est 6:1-4 (ESV) 1 On that night the king could not sleep. And he gave orders to bring the book of memorable deeds, the chronicles, and they were read before the king. 2 And it was found written how Mordecai had told about Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs, who guarded the threshold, and who had sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus. 3 And the king said, “What honour or distinction has been bestowed on Mordecai for this?” The king’s young men who attended him said, “Nothing has been done for him.” 4 And the king said, “Who is in the court?” Now Haman had just entered the outer court of the king’s palace to speak to the king about having Mordecai hanged on the gallows that he had prepared for him.
· Est 7:7-9 (ESV) 7 And the king arose in his wrath from the wine-drinking and went into the palace garden, but Haman stayed to beg for his life from Queen Esther, for he saw that harm was determined against him by the king. 8 And the king returned from the palace garden to the place where they were drinking wine, as Haman was falling on the couch where Esther was. And the king said, “Will he even assault the queen in my presence, in my own house?” As the word left the mouth of the king, they covered Haman’s face. 9 Then Harbona, one of the eunuchs in attendance on the king, said, “Moreover, the gallows that Haman has prepared for Mordecai, whose word saved the king, is standing at Haman’s house, fifty cubits high.” And the king said, “Hang him on that.”

5. Remembering an encounter with God.

a. God’s deliverance and goodness can be commemorated in a name.
· 2 Chr 20:26 (ESV) On the fourth day they assembled in the Valley of Beracah, for there they blessed the LORD. Therefore the name of that place has been called the Valley of Beracah to this day.

b. A place can be named to remember God’s goodness.
· 1 Sam 7:12 (ESV) Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen and called its name Ebenezer [stone of help]; for he said, “Till now the LORD has helped us.”

c. Hagar’s encounter with God results in a name given to her for her son, yet to be born.
· Gen 16:11 (ESV) And the angel of the LORD said to her, “Behold, you are pregnant and shall bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael, because the LORD has listened to your affliction.

d. Solomon has two names, each commemorating something God had done with David and Bathsheba.
· 2 Sam 12:24-25 (ESV) 24 Then David comforted his wife, Bathsheba, and went in to her and lay with her, and she bore a son, and he called his name Solomon [His peace]. And the LORD loved him 25 and sent a message by Nathan the prophet. So he called his name Jedidiah [beloved of the Lord], because of the LORD.

1. Desperation for an encounter with God.

a. Pagiel’s name may be the result of a desperate mother praying for God to give her a child.

b. Such was Hannah.
· 1 Sam 1:10-11 (ESV) 10 She was deeply distressed and prayed to the LORD and wept bitterly. 11 And she vowed a vow and said, “O LORD of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your servant and remember me and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a son, then I will give him to the LORD all the days of his life, and no razor shall touch his head.”
· 1 Sam 1:20 (ESV) And in due time Hannah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Samuel, for she said, “I have asked for him from the LORD.”

c. A desperate, sick woman got an encounter with Jesus.
· Luk 8:43-46 (ESV) 43 And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, and though she had spent all her living on physicians, she could not be healed by anyone. 44 She came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment, and immediately her discharge of blood ceased. 45 And Jesus said, “Who was it that touched me?” When all denied it, Peter said, “Master, the crowds surround you and are pressing in on you!” 46 But Jesus said, “Someone touched me, for I perceive that power has gone out from me.”

d. The word got around, and others followed her example.
· Mar 6:56 (ESV) And wherever he came, in villages, cities, or countryside, they laid the sick in the marketplaces and implored him that they might touch even the fringe of his garment. And as many as touched it was made well.

e. Let us seek an encounter with God.

Offering Scripture: 2 Cor. 8:12