The God Who Sees Me

Thereafter, Hagar used another name to refer to the LORD, who had spoken to her. She said, “You are the God who sees me.”

Genesis 16:13 (NLT)

          Hagar was frightened. She was hurting. She was confused. Alone, in the hot, dry desert, without help, without hope, without answers to her dire circumstances, Hagar faced a very bleak future.

          I can’t even begin to imagine what she felt, what she endured, and all because she obeyed her mistress who then turned on her. It wasn’t her fault Sarai couldn’t get pregnant. It wasn’t her choice to sleep with Abram. It wasn’t her plan to carry a child for someone else.

Yet, it became her problem when Abram refused to deal with the conflict between his wife and his wife’s servant. It became her dilemma when she was mistreated by her mistress because she was able to conceive. It turned into her crisis when she had to flee into the desert. You have to be pretty desperate to take such drastic measures.

Alone and afraid, Hagar plopped her weary body down beside a well to rest. That’s when God showed up. In the midst of her sorrow, without anything to her name but the clothes on her back, without any resources to pull her through, God comes and offers words of comfort. Not only will she be a mother, but she will have more descendants than she can count. How’s that for a complete turnaround?

Problem turns into promise. Woe becomes wonder. In one fell swoop, her future goes from bleak to blessed. Because God heard. Because He saw. Because He cared.

Hagar, the one whom Sarai scorned and mistreated, was touched by the Almighty God. In her joy, she calls Him, “The God who sees me.” Through that personal encounter with God during the darkest time of her life, her insight into God’s character is radically changed.

God is not an indifferent God. On the contrary, God is a very personal God. He calls Himself our Heavenly Father, our Abba, the One who hears our cries, who feels our pain, sees our tears, the One who deeply cares about each and every struggle-filled day.

Are you wandering through the desert right now? Physically, emotionally, or spiritually? Don't give up hope. God sees you. The same God who saw Hagar sees you. He hears your prayers, He sees your tears.

He will never abandon you because He loves you far too much to let you wander through the desert alone.