“You are the God who sees me,” for [Hagar] said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.” Genesis 16:13
“Get down!” my friend said firmly to her son after he climbed onto the church pew and waved his hands. “I want the pastor to see me,” he innocently replied. “If I don’t stand up, he won’t see me.”
While standing on the pews is probably not encouraged in most churches, my friend’s son had a good point. Standing and waving his hands was certainly one way to be seen and to capture the pastor’s attention.
When we’re trying to get God’s attention, we don’t have to worry about being seen by Him. God sees each of us all the time. He’s the same one who revealed Himself to Hagar when she was probably at the lowest, loneliest, and most frustrating time in her life. She’d been used as a pawn and given to Abram by his wife, Sarai, to produce a son (Genesis 16:3). And when she did get pregnant, Abram allowed his wife to mistreat Hagar: “Sarai mistreated Hagar; so she fled from her” (v. 6).
The runaway slave found herself alone, pregnant, and miserable. Yet in the midst of her desperation in the wilderness, God compassionately sent an angel to speak to her. The angel told her that God had “heard of [her] misery” (v. 11). She responded by saying, “You are the God who sees me” (v. 13).
What a realization—especially in the midst of the wilderness. God saw Hagar and had compassion. And no matter how tough things are, He sees you.
Genesis 16:9-16
9 Then the angel of the Lord told her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her.” 10 The angel added, “I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count.”
11 The angel of the Lord also said to her:
“You are now pregnant and you will give birth to a son.You shall name him Ishmael,[a] for the Lord has heard of your misery.12 He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone’s hand against him,and he will live in hostility toward[b] all his brothers.”
13 She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen[c] the One who sees me.” 14 That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi[d]; it is still there, between Kadesh and Bered.
15 So Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son she had borne. 16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael.
INSIGHT
1. What wilderness situations are you facing?
2. How does knowing that God sees you help you to keep going?
God sees and remembers us, which is an encouragement displayed repeatedly in the Scriptures. When tormented and desperate for a child of her own, Hannah prayed that God would remember her (1 Samuel 1:11), and He did (vv. 19-20). He gave her a son, Samuel, the last of the judges and the first of the prophets. Samuel would anoint Israel’s first two kings. As blind Samson stood between the pillars of a pagan temple, he too prayed for God to remember him and restore his strength (Judges 16:28). God restored that strength and Samson’s final victory proved to be his greatest. From a cross, a dying thief prayed, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom” (Luke 23:42). Christ assured him that He’d remember him (v. 43). One of God’s most encouraging attributes is that He’s the God who remembers us.
PRAYER
Dear God, thank You for seeing me. I know You’re with me even during my toughest times. In Jesus name I pray and believe. Amen.
Read: Genesis 16:9-16 | Bible in a Year: Jeremiah 48-49; Hebrews 7
