Have you ever felt unseen?
Have you ever felt unseen?
Unheard?
Unnoticed?
Unimportant?
Let the story of Hagar encourage you.
Genesis tells the story of Abraham and his beloved wife, Sarah. God makes grand promises to them, and they believe Him. However, as time proceeds and the promise is still lingering, Sarah takes matters into her own hands, much like many of us have possibly done at some point.
Unfortunately, Sarah rushing God’s timing also affects another, Hagar. Hagar is a foreign female servant who is seen as property. Sarah decides she is the one whom they can use to fulfill God’s promise. Even more unfortunate for Hagar is that when she does conceive Abraham’s child, she hates Sarah for it. Why should she have to carry a child that would not even be considered her own? That would fulfill a promise for her masters, not herself? I can imagine the longing to consider the child in her womb as her fulfillment, not Sarah’s. So Sarah returns hate for hate. She mistreats Hagar to the point of her running away. Even death in the wilderness is preferable to being mistreated and hated for carrying a child she would never know as her own.
But in the wilderness, there was no one there. No one to rescue her. No one to hate her. No one to see her.
“But the angel of the Lord found her… ‘You are now with child and you will have a son. You shall name him Ishmael, for the Lord has heard of your misery.’”
Can you imagine? After everything she’s been through, after feeling like a pawn in someone else’s path to promises, after being treated as property, to hear her son would be hers, to hear the words, “the Lord has heard you.” The words are enough to give her the courage to return to her mistress.
I’m sure Hagar’s hopes were renewed, and her joy was overwhelming when she welcomed Ishmael into her world. All was well until Sarah’s own son was born. Once again, Hagar finds herself in the wilderness. But this time, she is not alone. Her son is with her. And he is dying. They are in the desert without water, without hope. Helpless.
“God heard the boy crying… ‘Lift the boy up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.’ Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water.”
Hagar then names God Beer Lahai Roi, the well of the God who sees me.
To be heard again. To be rescued again. To have her son saved. To have a great promise for her son’s future. All of her desires are fulfilled, and her gratitude is uttered as, “You see me.” I matter. The God of the universe has looked upon me, He has heard and seen of my misery, and He has provided for me. Being seen by God was the greatest gift she could hope for.
But as God promises, He went above and beyond what she even thought to hope for, to pray for. Not only did God see her, He opened her eyes.
So the next time you find yourself in the wilderness, feeling alone, unseen, unheard, remember the story of Hagar. Take hope that you are never alone. Ask God to open your eyes.
And when He does, I am confident you will find a God who hears you, who sees you, and who already has your provision waiting for you.
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