The God Who Sees: Lessons from Hagar's Story
Most Christians grow up learning to see Hagar as a villain. After all, Paul tells us that Sarah's son is blessed and Hagar's son is cursed... or is he?
So she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, “You are a God of seeing,” for she said, “Truly here I have seen him who looks after me.” (ESV)
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.” (NIV)
Most Christians grow up learning to see Hagar as a villain. After all, Paul tells us that Sarah's son is blessed and Hagar's son is cursed... or is he?
Both Hagar and Sarah are very complicated women living at a time when having children was the most important task both men and women could accomplish in their lifetime. Men, such as Abraham, needed a son to pass on his estate to and who would, in turn, care for him in his old age. Women needed sons to care for them in a society in which men earned most of the money.
Sarah was Abraham's beloved first wife. Hagar was just Sarah's servant who was given to Abraham, without any choice, to bear children. Now, I don't imply that this was rape. This was a very honorable move up the social ladder. Sarah and Hagar must have had a good relationship for Sarah to choose another woman to lie with her husband, even in a society in which this was common among the rich. If Hagar and Sarah had been friends, it wouldn't have lasted past Hagar's pregnancy.
The most important details in this verse are whether Hagar was right or wrong in her conflict with Sarah, and whether God appeared to Hagar, an Egyptian slave. Egyptians had many gods to choose from, but Hagar recognized and worshipped the same God as Abraham and Sarah. This God, though, didn't just love her rich master and mistress; He loved the penniless, friendless outcast and her son.
God saw Hagar.
That is really powerful, the more you think about it. World empires are rising and falling. The rich are getting richer, and the oppressed die in obscurity... or so it seems.
The scriptures say that God sees... and cares!
This verse and message have meant a lot to me this year in 2021. It seems like the foundations of the world have been shaken in every way. People are rushing about in crisis mode, yet the rich can still take luxury flights to space, and wealthy politicians can debate whether the poor are just lazy. I have approached tons of special needs organizations for help, respite care, or resources, but often felt like the world and even the church's reply has been "Let them eat cake!" In all of this, I hear the whisper of scripture saying, "God sees me."
Little me.
Somehow, all of us little people with little problems (compared to national problems) are still part of God's plan. The Bible says that he sees the sparrow fall (Mathew 10:29-31), but the implications of the verse are not that He sees without caring. He cares for a tiny common sparrow, and He cares for us.
He sees...
To me, that means more than He notices and passes by like the Priest and the Levite did to the injured man in the parable of the good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37). No, God is the good Samaritan who not only helps the injured man, but also lavishly pays all the bills for him to be cared for.
You may say, "That is all nice church talk. I am still hurting. No one is helping me!"
The Church (including even us who are hurting) indeed needs to be the hands and feet of God, pouring out the generosity we have received on those against us. Sometimes that just doesn't happen. God still sees. He still has a purpose. It doesn't make sense now, but perhaps it is to equip you with experience to help lots of others in the future.
Hagar's troubles did not end when God saw her, but it did preserve her and her son so that they would be the source of a new nation. All of those throughout history read of Hagar when they read the Bible. God saw her and her pain, then used her struggles to minister to thousands of others. She became a blessed mother of the Ishmaelites.
Hold on, you! God is the God who sees!