Hagar and the God Who Sees

Observe the sequence. Ten years have passed since the promise, and Sarai is still childless. She gives her Egyptian servant Hagar to Abram as a wife, following a custom of the time, so that a child might come through her. Hagar conceives and begins to despise her mistress. Sarai blames Abram, Abram hands the matter back to Sarai, and Sarai mistreats Hagar until she flees into the wilderness. There, by a spring on the road to Shur, the angel of the Lord finds her. He tells her to return, promises her that her descendants will be too many to count, and names the child Ishmael, which means God hears. Hagar responds by naming God: the God who sees me.

Interpret it. Nobody in this chapter behaves well except God. The plan to help God along produces jealousy, cruelty and a broken household. Yet the Lord does not abandon the woman who was used and then discarded. He seeks her out, speaks to her by name, and makes promises to her directly. She is the first person in Scripture to give God a name.

Apply it. Human schemes to hurry God's promises tend to hurt the vulnerable. And God pays attention to the vulnerable, even those outside the main line of the story.

Where have you tried to help God along and hurt someone in the process? Who around you might feel unseen this week? What would it mean for you to know, today, that God sees you?