Genesis 16:6-16 (NLT2)
6 Abram replied, “Look, she is your servant, so deal with her as you see fit.” Then Sarai treated Hagar so harshly that she finally ran away.
7 The angel of the LORD found Hagar beside a spring of water in the wilderness, along the road to Shur.
8 The angel said to her, “Hagar, Sarai’s servant, where have you come from, and where are you going?” “I’m running away from my mistress, Sarai,” she replied.
9 The angel of the LORD said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit to her authority.”
10 Then he added, “I will give you more descendants than you can count.”
11 And the angel also said, “You are now pregnant and will give birth to a son. You are to name him Ishmael (which means ‘God hears’), for the LORD has heard your cry of distress.
12 This son of yours will be a wild man, as untamed as a wild donkey! He will raise his fist against everyone, and everyone will be against him. Yes, he will live in open hostility against all his relatives.”
13 Thereafter, Hagar used another name to refer to the LORD, who had spoken to her. She said, “You are the God who sees me.” She also said, “Have I truly seen the One who sees me?”
14 So that well was named Beer-lahai-roi (which means “well of the Living One who sees me”). It can still be found between Kadesh and Bered.
15 So Hagar gave Abram a son, and Abram named him Ishmael.
16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Ishmael was born.
Do you feel like you’re invisible sometimes as if no one sees you? Some of us live our lives like we are in a crowded room of sparkly celebrities who make it impossible for us to be seen.
If you are part of that percentage of invisible people, I’ve got good news for you, according to Proverbs 15:3, God sees everyone.
When life happens sometimes, and we become overwhelmed by the situation we find ourselves in, it might be easier to assume the reason things are the way they are is that God can’t see us, and if He can’t, that’ll explain why the situation lingers on with no help from God. Right?
Wrong! God does see you! His knowledge is unlimited, and his power infinite! According to Job 28:24, He sees everything under the heavens.
You may be battling circumstances beyond you, you feel like you’re swimming against the tide and no one sees, understands or cares about you, Isaiah 41:10 encourages you to not be afraid or dismayed because not only does God see you, but He also promises to strengthen and help you.
No matter how dark, how deep your despair, God sees you.
Your parents, friends and others may abandon, if not physically but by ignoring you, not seeing you, God says I see you! Most of us have felt that way at one time or another. Maybe things were going well and suddenly the bottom dropped out of your life. In the confusion of the events, you wondered, “Where is God in all this?”
Hager in Genesis 16:7-16 felt that way, with her mistress, Sarai breathing threats and an unplanned baby on the way, she was desperate, tired, and in despair, so she ran away-unfortunately we can’t run from our troubles, they are always on our heels.
Hager thought she was running to Shur, but the Lord intercepted her. Hagar knew about Abram’s God. She must have wondered if that God knew or cared about her situation. No doubt she was confused. Her future was uncertain, her past too painful to think about. She felt abandoned by everyone and forgotten by God in heaven. Except God saw her. He sees you too.
The God who sees you poured His divine compassion on a pregnant runaway slave and gave a prophetic hope to hold on to.
How deep the Father’s love for us, so wide without measure that He would even approach one so desperate with no idea of how to approach His throne.
Even if you’re reluctant to approach the Lord with that situation, God will search it out, according to Psalm 44:21, He already knows your heart, so, confidently appeal to the searcher of hearts, for the answer you need.
I see you!
You can’t hide from me, I see everything He says in Job 34:21, including how you live.
God sees our affliction as He saw Hagar’s affliction: The Lord went looking for her. God is seeking us! We may think we found Him, but He found us. We were lost and confused, wandering away from Him like Hagar and He came looking and found us!
As Luke 19:10 puts it, Christ did not just come to those who need help but to seek and save those who are lost. He sees you!
Shalom
