The One Who Sees Me

“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.” Genesis 16:13

In Genesis, we have this wonderful encounter between Hagar and the LORD during her moment of intense heartache. Hagar is Abraham and Sarai’s maidservant who has fled from their home. She had fled into the desert after becoming impregnated with Abraham’s baby at the manipulative hands of Sarai. It is her private moment when she encounters and embraces God as her very own. It is no doubt that she grew up in a culture that worshipped many gods so this was a very defining moment for her.

Hagar was a chess piece used by Sarai as a means to have a baby since Sarai seemed to be barren. Once Hagar became pregnant, Sarai’s bitterness overcame her and eventually caused Hagar to flee. Hagar did nothing to deserve this but was being obedient to her masters ending up being a victim of circumstance. As she was brokenhearted, scared and feeling all alone in the desert, an angel of God appeared to her and gave her direction and a clear picture of the one and only God.

There are “God encounters” for which we can only experience in the sacred aloneness with God in our deserts. Yesterday, I learned that one of my long time friends lost her brother unexpectantly on Thanksgiving Day. That dear family has just journeyed into the desert as they are experiencing the suffocating heat of grief. It is a heat that prevents us from thinking clearly and can only be relieved through seeing the One who sees us. God knows what it is like to lose someone in our heart whatever their departure involves as He had to separate Himself from His Son in order that we may experience eternal life. He had to choose between His son and mankind as His heirs resulting in sacrificing one to save the other. But then there is the good news! He gave up the temporary life on earth of His Son to provide the eternal life in Heaven for all of His sons and daughters!

It is inevitable that we experience intense seasons of heartbreak but we can be assured that God sees us and will act on our behalf in the desert with such an amazing experience that we will know that “we have seen the One who sees us!”