Today’s blog post is not a Bible study or teaching. It is more or less an exhortation.
One of humanity’s deepest cravings is to be recognized. This longing fuels movements for equality across gender and race. We want our voices heard and our presence acknowledged—and when that finally happens, we realize how beautiful it is to be truly seen.
Hagar understood this well. She was a slave living in a foreign land, speaking a foreign language, serving a foreign God. Everything she had known, she had to abandon to serve this new master. But her masters treated her unfairly, and she fled. (Gen 16:1-8)
In her exhaustion, at the point when she thought it was all over, this foreign God she didn’t know revealed Himself to her. He gave her a blessing that eased her burdens and then sent her on her way. She didn’t receive the kind of deliverance she had hoped for, but she received the blessing she didn’t know she needed. It was then she recognized this foreign God as The Lord and called Him the name “El Roi”. “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.”(Gen. 16:13 NIV)
So, the name El Roi is more than just a name for God; it was a revelation to a woman who was overlooked, maltreated, and pushed into a corner. It was a revelation to someone who was considered less than a minority (since slaves were seen as nothing more than just property). In a world of people who looked at her, and yet didn’t see her, God saw her and saw through her.
Bible scholars help us understand that the “Angel” of God being referred to there was actually preincarnate Jesus. The capitalization used was a hint, and since the writers then didn’t have Jesus revealed to them, it is natural for them to have used the closest thing they could fathom to describe who was present. This overlooked woman became the first person recorded to have seen the preincarnate Jesus. The child she gave birth to was also the first to have been named by God (Gen 16:11).
Sometimes, we feel like Hagar—very overwhelmed by our circumstances, and when you look around to check who you can run to, you realize no one is even noticing you. Today’s message tells us that God sees. He sees your tears and hears your silent cries, and He wants you to know that He is nearer than ever. The problem may not go away, as it didn’t in Hagar’s case, but God does reveal His hand of salvation in due time—like He did for the Israelites.
In many cases, this intense feeling of loneliness and being abandoned can drive a person to the point of despair or depression. But the encouragement you have in the Lord is that you are seen, you are loved, you are cared for, and you are not alone. The God who knows the very number of hairs on your head—a number so insignificant that we just tag as too numerous to count, God knows by heart (Matt. 10.30). Now, how much more significant do you think your entire person is to Him? Therefore, before you conclude that no one cares, remember that God does.
This is the pattern we see with God (and Jesus) throughout the Bible. He takes those ignored and overlooked people and blesses them. He meets them at the points of their need. He cares for them and lets them know they are loved. Look at David, the woman at the well, blind Bartimaeus, and Nazareth. These are all people (and a place) the world didn’t consider significant, but all it took was for God to notice them. (1 Sam. 16:1-13, Jn. 4:7-26, Mk. 10:46-52, Jn. 1:45-46)
We are not told in the Bible that Hagar called on God. Instead, God saw her first. I noticed this pattern in God; He always initiates. We love, because He loved us first (1 Jn. 4:19). We can serve Him, because He served us first (Mk. 10:45). We can give ourselves to Him, because He gave Himself first (Eph. 5:2). We can look up to Him, because He looked upon us first (Gen. 16:13).
The latter part of verse 13 says Hagar then said, “for she said, ‘I have now seen the One who sees me.’” She could now see the God who had seen her all along. I think this teaches us that until we are conscious that God sees us, we may not truly see Him. The hymn writer said count your blessings, and it will surprise you what the Lord has done. Sometimes, it’s in recounting the times God has shown up, that our eyes open to see His faithfulness.
We have no records of Hagar being a follower of God before her encounter. The woman by the well wasn’t a follower of Jesus either. That is, God sees unbelievers too. And because He sees them, He sent salvation to them. Romans 5:6-8 tells us that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. While we were hidden deep under layers of sin, destined for perdition, Jesus Christ saw, swooped in, and saved us. He saw through our fainting hearts that promised to do one thing but went through with another. He saw the desperate cries of our souls and did all it took to rescue us.
So you’re reading this, and you’re yet to surrender to the One who sees you, I urge you to do so today. Here’s a prayer for you:
Dear Jesus, I thank you for you because you always see me. I thank you for your faithfulness, despite my faithlessness. I thank you for seeing my need for salvation and sending it to me. Today, I confess you as my Lord and Saviour and believe in my heart that you are Lord. From now on, I look up to you, even as you continue to look upon me. Amen.
For further reading, check Psalm 139.
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