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Context No. 3855 of 4322 · Genesis

Context · Reflection

Genesis 16:6-16: in context

6But Abram said to Sarai, “Behold, your maid is in your hand. Do to her whatever is good in your eyes.” Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she fled from her face. 7The LORD’s angel found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain on the way to Shur. 8He said, “Hagar, Sarai’s servant, where did you come from? Where are you going?” She said, “I am fleeing from the face of my mistress Sarai.” 9The LORD’s angel said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit yourself under her hands.” 10The LORD’s angel said to her, “I will greatly multiply your offspring, that they will not be counted for multitude.” 11The LORD’s angel said to her, “Behold, you are with child, and will bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael, because the LORD has heard your affliction. 12He will be like a wild donkey among men. His hand will be against every man, and every man’s hand against him. He will live opposed to all of his brothers.” 13She called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, “You are a God who sees,” for she said, “Have I even stayed alive after seeing him?” 14Therefore the well was called Beer Lahai Roi. Behold, it is between Kadesh and Bered. 15Hagar bore a son for Abram. Abram called the name of his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael. 16Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.

Mistreated by Sarai and fleeing into the wilderness alone and pregnant, Hagar, an Egyptian servant with no standing and no advocate, is found by the angel of the LORD by a spring in the desert. God had not lost sight of this lowly, suffering woman; he sought her out, spoke to her by name, and gave her a promise for her son.

Overwhelmed, Hagar gives God a name of her own: you are a God who sees me. She had thought herself alone and forgotten, and discovered that God had seen her all along. There is deep comfort in this for anyone who feels overlooked, mistreated, or invisible. Hagar was a foreigner, a servant, a runaway, the kind of person the world passes by, and yet God saw her, came to her, and cared for her. He is a God who sees. No one is beneath his notice; no affliction escapes his eye. When we feel unseen in our suffering, forgotten and alone, the truth is that the God who found Hagar in the desert sees us too, and knows us by name.

When I feel overlooked, mistreated, or invisible in my suffering, do I hold to the truth that God is one who sees me, as he saw Hagar in the desert, knowing me by name and never passing me by?

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