Scripture Reading: Genesis 16:1-16, Genesis 21:8-21
I try to avoid being someone that gives a quick, simple answer to a hard, nuanced situation. It’s led me to an accidental catchphrase that I often find myself saying instead: “You don’t have to put a bow on it for me.”
It’s the same reason I have been writing this for, let’s just say, far too long. I didn’t want to break my own rule, quickly wrapping up Hagar’s story with a neat and tidy bow embroidered with the words “but God saw her.” It just didn’t feel like enough to hold it all together. Is being seen by God actually enough to make up for all of the other parts of her story? Hagar’s life doesn’t look at all like what I would think someone who has been seen by God would.
Would someone who’s been seen by God conceive and carry a son they would have no legal right to? Would someone who’s been seen by God be deliberately mistreated and sinned against? Would someone who’s been seen by God be sent back to their place of slavery? In Hagar’s story, the answers are a resounding “yes.”
It was alone in the wilderness, amid these very circumstances, that Hagar had an encounter with God. And where I expected to find a list of despairing requests and justifiably bitter complaints, I instead found her caught up in something else entirely: God had seen Hagar, and she had seen Him. Calling Hagar “the woman seen by God” is not something we project onto her story; it’s a truth she named herself when she gave God a new name (El-Roi), identifying Him as the God who sees.
But it wasn’t just that Hagar was told this by Abraham or one of the other Israelites. An angel of the Lord came to her directly in the wilderness, leaving her with just one question: “In this place, have I actually seen the one who sees me?” (Genesis 16:13). Hagar had seen God.
While I can’t speak for Hagar, her words echo my own experience. When the Lord has shown up in my life in an undeniable way, it hasn’t been the answer to a prayer or the clear act of grace that has brought me the most comfort—it’s been knowing that God even heard the prayer in the first place. It means He heard me. He saw me. He remembered me. Those hard-to-describe moments have filled me with more awe, wonder, and meek astonishment than anything else I’ve ever experienced.
Being seen by God wasn’t intended to be the bow that adorned Hagar’s story with a happy ending or beautifully tied up all of the loose ends. Her story was full of tragedy, and it remained that way after both of her recorded encounters with God. Like Hagar, being seen by God hasn’t always resulted in the circumstances of my life being held together the way I want them to be. But it has resulted in me being held together. And I’ve learned, slowly but surely, that’s far better every single time.
Written by Hannah Little
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17 thoughts on "Hagar"
The God Who Sees Me
(A Prayer Poem)
In desert winds and silent cries,
When hope is lost beneath the skies,
You found me there, unseen, unknown—
A wandering heart, a soul alone.
You whispered gently, called my name,
No shame too deep, no fear, no blame.
You saw the tears I tried to hide,
And sat with me there, by my side.
You are the well in barren land,
The gentle voice, the guiding hand.
You promise life where death has crept,
You hold the prayers I’ve barely wept.
So here I am, still seen, still heard—
A broken soul, a budding word.
And like Hagar, I lift my eyes,
To El Roi, where mercy lies.
G-d made the same promises to her that He made to Abraham. G-d would make her son a great nation.Genesis 16:10:The angel of the Lord said to her,” I will greatly multiply your offspring, they will be too many to count.”
She was a slave, a woman, a foreigner. A gentile. This reminds me of Jesus moving among the Gentiles especially the Syro Phonecian woman and the healing of her child. Is this foreshadowing that gentiles would one day be part of the covenant?
Point of wonder: The water in the story. The angel of the Lord found her by the spring. She ran out of water. God opened her eyes and showed her living water when she thought Ishamel was going to die. Water was life in this region. Is this a foreshadowing of the Living Water ;Christ and the woman at the well?
God promises would one day include the gentile; people who were not of the benei Israel (people of Israel)
Hagars life was a tragedy. But she still saw God and God saw her.
“But truly God has listened; he has attended to the voice of my prayer. Blessed be God, because he has not rejected my prayer or removed his steadfast love from me!” ~ Psalm 66:19-20
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“For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer.” ~ 1 Peter 3:12a
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Praise God that He not only sees, but He hears our prayers, just as He saw and heard Hagar.
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Blessings to each of you today. ❤️
God help me to know it is enough that You see me. In Jesus name, Amen
Being seen in general … I don’t have the words to fully describe the value of that to me. And being seen by God (!!) is the most awesome feeling of value and worth – that I matter to God regardless of whether I matter to anyone else. Thank you, Lord.
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KELLY (NEO) ❤️ labeled Hagar’s situation as gut wrenching, so true. The impatience, the sins, the lies, the attitudes, the taking matters into their own hands – between Abraham, Sarah and Hagar, there is quite a list. Yet, in all of this, God spoke to her and provided for her. And her name for him, El Roi, continues to be true and comforting today.
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DARBY BYRD – praying for Pat, for wisdom for his medical team, for comfort for him and his family
ADRIENNE – praying for God’s guidance in getting answers to these confusing symptoms
KENDALL ZEIGLER – praying as you wait
MARI V – how wonderful and encouraging!
WENDY B – yesterday’s comment ❤️
LAURA ❤️
CEE GEE ❤️ love that song, Trust in God
I feel like every sermon I have ever heard on this topic quickly brushes over Hagar. I don’t know if it’s the discomfort of the sex outside his marriage or the fact that they wanted to cast all the blame on Hagar? Whatever it was, I was never taught to look at her with compassion. I appreciate the author of the devotion not trying to pretty this story up for us. Hagar is a life of tragedy, but she still saw God and God saw her.
Amen❤️
“… that’s far better, every single time.”
This was beautiful and soul-clenching, I definitely needed this today! Thank you Lord, thank you Hannah, thank you SRT Team!
The whole situation with Hagar, Sarah, and Abraham was ugly and gut wrenching, especially to our modern sensibilities. Yet this is what God worked with to move His promises forward.
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There must have been some sort of reconciliation as Ishmael and Isaac were at Abraham’s death and buried him (Gen. 25:9).
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“Like Hagar, being seen by God hasn’t always resulted in the circumstances of my life being held together the way I want them to be. But it has resulted in me being held together. And I’ve learned, slowly but surely, that’s far better every single time.”
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Amen and amen.
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Praying for requests. Be a blessing today.
Thank you, Kelly, for putting words to my thoughts about their situation. As I’m writing, it comes to mind that none of it surprised God … something I need to remember daily.
Praying for your young mama, job, finances, housing and transportation.
God sees us!
Beautifully written, Hannah Little! And what truth!
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God sees us, ALWAYS, TRUTH.
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God hears us, ALWAYS, TRUTH.
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God knows us, for SURE, TRUTH.
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God ALWAYS, ALWAYS, remembers us. TRUTH.
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BUT GOD..
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He never said life would be easy! Or simple. Or safe. Or without trouble, worries or woes.
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There have been many, many times in my life, I have felt and known for sure, without a shadow of doubt, that God was near and totally and absolutely ‘sees/saw me..
It is so easy to believe the lies.
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When my exes father was told he had an inoperable brain tumour and that he had roughly 6 months.. I was sad for my son, his wife, his family and myself!
For as long as I had known him, twenty plus years, I had never measured up, I had never been worthy, I had never quite fitted in, I was never on the same educated level..
I had Thursdays off, so I would take my younger son to visit papa, and I would cook a couple of days worth of meals for them, whilst there, so grandma would have the time to spend with him.. On one of those occasions, papa came and sat with me in the kitchen, he started chatting, asking what I was doing, and why I added that and how delicious that was going to be..
I had been seen by papa,and he was talking my language after all those years! And in the following weeks I enjoyed his visits to the kitchen for chats..
Towards the end, in his last days, against grandma’s wishes, because papa had not spoken for days and he just looked out of the window, I felt it important my son say goodbye to his papa, and to be a source of comfort to grandma, so I bypassed her request and arrived anyway.. We were given 30 minutes and then we had to go!
I sat in the kitchen, and waited for my son.
Grandma came in and asked if I’d like to say goodbye to papa. She led the way, and told him I was there .. He turned his head and said Hello.. And took my hand.. Tears roll as I remember.
A moment, I pray, I remember when I’m old and recounting my life story..
I was seen! I was noticed! I was heard.
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All praise to God, without a doubt. Father God needed me to poohoo the lies I had believed for so long.. I HAD been accepted, appreciated, and loved..
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God sees us, every day, it’s for us to believe, trust and place our ‘stuff’ in His hands, knowing that no matter what El Roi, absolutely sees, and there will be moments of realising, and there will be moments when we cannot see..
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It’s okay.
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It is well..
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He is always near.
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BUT GOD.
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AMEN..
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Happy Thursday! Covered in much love, hugs, and wrapped in prayers..❤❤
What a gift for your soul! Thanks for sharing ❤️
Yes, Tina, all praise to our Almighty God!❤️
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