HE sees you

Chapters Covered: Genesis 16:1 – 18:33

Genesis 16-18 covered a lot of events in Abram’s life: Sarai let Hagar, her Egyptian slave, to sleep with him so he can have a son. Hagar conceived. Hagar hated Sarai, and Sarai mistreated Hagar. Hagar fled, but was instructed to go back. Ishmael was born. Abram became Abraham, for God had made him a father of many nations. The covenant of circumcision was established. Sarai became Sarah, and was blessed to be the mother of nations. The Lord promised Abraham and Sarah a son, and Sarah laughed in unbelief. The Lord rebuked her by saying “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” And then when Abraham heard about God’s plan of destroying Sodom, he bargained until the Lord said “For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it.”

But among these events, the one that made an impression to me was Hagar’s moment with the Lord.

“You shall name him Ishmael, for the Lord has heard of your misery.” – Genesis 16:11

“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

After serving her purpose and conceiving a son for Abram, Hagar was mistreated by her master, Sarai, and Abram was indifferent to her suffering. Maybe this is because they both think lowly of her since she was just their slave. But it is amazing to know that although God seemed too focused on Abram and his wife, Hagar was never out of his sight. When she ran away from Sarai, the Lord followed her and gave her comfort and promised to increase her number. This was a life-changing moment for Hagar, for then she worshiped “the God who sees,” and by faith, followed His instruction and returned to Abram and Sarai.

There are moments like this when we feel so insignificant, that we think nothing we do or say would matter to anyone. Most of us have been rejected in one way or another, and have tried and failed to escape pain and misery.

The good new is, our God sees each and every one of those moments. When it comes to Him, there’s no main character, master, or slave. No one’s insignificant in His eyes. I matter to Him as much as you do. So why don’t we just stop running away and let Him reach us?