The God Who Sees Me
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Margaret Rizz Chants for Prayer “Come Be With Me”
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Genesis 6:13
13 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 15:1-7
Genesis 16
Genesis 17:1-8, 15-27
Genesis 12:1-21
Oasis in the Wasteland
My body is tired, my soul is tired. I can look at the year I’ve had and it all makes sense. I have found myself in a wasteland of sorts battling a body that is hard to figure out and relational pain that has touched many I love. All of us are familiar with wastelands. Life is full of them.
When we read the story of Hagar making her way in the dry and dangerous wasteland, she is in physical danger, lacking provision and in the throes of fleeing from mistreatment. The wilderness was more pleasant to her than being at the mercy of Abraham’s wife, Sarah.
In Genesis 16:13-14, we witness something beautiful that altogether changes her story. 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.”
God had seen her before she even noticed him. She thought she was alone battling the internal and external wasteland but she had been seen all long.
Perhaps she had seen Him as Sarah and Abraham’s God and she felt like an afterthought. She knew God was with them, but with her? And if they were close to God and treated her badly, maybe it’s how He saw her too? Perhaps in Hagar’s mind, the character of God was mixed up with the sin of Abraham and Sarah. This is not only an ancient problem.
What if the wilderness was a place for Hagar to find God cared for HER? Here she stood, far away from Abraham and Sarah’s blessed household. In this seemingly God-forsaken place she found God already looking at and caring for her. He wasn’t confined to the house he had blessed, but came to the wilderness to bless her too. And because he was with HER she had the courage to go back. She was no longer going back to Abraham, Sarah and their God, but God was hers as well. He was with her and for her.
This always present God blesses us in our wastelands too.
The wasteland is never just full of what is broken, desolate and forsaken, but is also full of the God who is continually restoring and making all things new. He is always present no matter what wilderness we may find ourselves in. The question is not if God notices us, but if we will notice Him. When we find he truly sees us, we have the courage for the story we find ourselves in.
by Wendy Gerdes
www.wendygerdes.com
