Genesis 16:7-15, The Living Bible
The Angel of the Lord found her beside a desert spring along the road to Shur.
The Angel: “Hagar, Sarai’s maid, where have you come from, and where are you going?”
Hagar: “I am running away from my mistress.”
The Angel: “Return to your mistress and act as you should, for I will make you into a great nation. Yes, you are pregnant and your baby will be a son, and you are to name him Ishmael (‘God hears’), because God has heard your woes. This son of yours will be a wild one—free and untamed as a wild ass! He will be against everyone, and everyone will feel the same toward him. But he will live near the rest of his kin.”
Thereafter Hagar spoke of Jehovah—for it was he who appeared to her—as “the God who looked upon me,” for she thought, “I saw God and lived to tell it.”
Later that well was named “The Well of the Living One Who Sees Me.” It lies between Kadesh and Bered.
So Hagar gave Abram a son, and Abram named him Ishmael.
‘Beside a desert spring.’
In more ways than one,
I’ll wager.
It is never an easy job
to be anyone’s servant.
Never.
But back then?
I cannot even imagine.
But this feisty girl knew her limits,
and she got outta there.
Fast.
She was alone, however.
In the desert.
Pregnant.
And then something
strange and wonderful
happens:
She is seen.
She is heard.
Is there any gift on earth
better than that one?
Even when the word is
‘return,’
even when that is the
very last thing
she wants.
Still.
The gift was being seen.
To be seen by God and acknowledged by our loving God . . . Priceless!
Blessings!
Amen, amen.
(Adding on to Martha’s comment) …And, to be seen and heard by God gave her the strength to return. She knew this attentive God would be with her. Thank you, Diana, for a sweet reminder in bitter times.
Exactly right, Nancy. Thank you.
I can remember the day I realized I was seen by God 😌
I’m not sure I can remember a day when I didn’t know that I was seen by God — interesting contrast. Both truths are real and unique!
How powerful it is to know God hears you, the created….heard by God and then God tells you what to do for your good…..even if it doesn’t seem like it at first. But hindsight….wow.
Oh, yeah! Hindsight! Best vision ever. Sigh!