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 the One who sees me.” Genesis 16:13
Hagar isn’t someone who usually gets pointed out as a heroic figure. An Egyptian, she worked as a slave for Abraham’s family. Her job description included waiting on his wife Sarah, performing household tasks, and standing in as a substitute when Sarah failed to conceive and become pregnant.
Hagar was the mother of Ishmael, Abraham’s oldest child. But he wasn’t the heir of the covenant God had made with Abraham. These promises were reserved for Isaac (Genesis 17:21).
At the time when God appears to Hagar, she is the one woman of the household expecting a child. Sarah mistreated her which caused her to leave Abraham’s home.
This is where God catches up with her. In the desert. Alone. Abandoned. Hurting. He has a conversation with Hagar in which she recognizes him for who he really is.
“You are the God who sees me.”
With that statement, Hagar’s direction changed. She was no longer the outcast and betrayed slave wanted by no one and disposed of.
God had seen her. He’d seen her long before this conversation in the desert. He knew of her actions and the choices she’d made, the good ones as well as the bad ones. His presence had come to that wilderness and descended over Hagar. She’d heard him speak and received a vision of the work he wanted to do in her life.
He will increase her descendants (verse 9). The promise he gave Hagar sounded very similar to the one given to Abraham. “I will make the son of your slave into a nation also.” God said to Abraham, “because he is your offspring.”
God’s generous blessing overflowed into Hagar’s live. She had to look beyond the conflict with Sarah and see the value that God placed on her. He gave her a place in his divine plan that stood independent of Abraham’s or Sarah’s treatment of her.
That day in the desert became for Hagar a time of renewal. She became fully aware of the nature of God. Like with Moses, he assured Hagar of his guidance and his protection.
Since she was an Egyptian, a foreigner with no connection to Abraham and his family, and also a woman viewed as second class and therefore insignificant, I wonder if God revealed his presence to her in a way that proved his commitment to her. Abraham was married to Sarah, not Hagar. Where then, could she go in this foreign land with no male provider to care for her and her child?
Her renewal in the desert assured her that she belonged to God.
In this season of Lent, followers of Christ take the time to reflect on his sufferings. We confess sin, repent, and ask for forgiveness. This regular cleansing frees us from the tyranny of sin. It creates space in us to encounter God in the wilderness of our own feelings of abandonment and betrayal. His presence fills the new space and restores in us our awareness of him. We belong to him. There is a sense in Hagar’s story of lingering. She stayed in that place with God feeling all the heartache of her experiences with Abraham and Sarah while also soaking up God’s word to her and his vision for her.
We can do the same. During this season of Lent, stay with God, in that place of sharing heartache with him, of listening to his vision for you, and of soaking up the message he intends especially for your life.
The God who sees, Lahai Roi, has always seen. He is the same and unchanging, attentive and available.
