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Seeing the God who sees you

A devotion on being understood

Sometimes we may wonder if anyone sees or understands what we are facing. I have good news for you today – I see you and I hear you. But more importantly, God sees you, he hears you, and he is acutely aware of your life, your hopes, your dreams, your aspirations, and your family life.


Imagine living as a pregnant slave who has run away through the desert. You have been treated harshly by your master through humiliating circumstances to the point that your only hope for a better life is to run away from your situation. You are from Egypt, but you are living as a slave in the land of Israel. So where do you run to? The only other place you know is Egypt. 


Hagar is the maidservant of Sarai, the wife of Abram in their story in Genesis. Abram was promised descendants that would be numbered greater than the stars in the sky. However, 10 years after this promise, Sarai is still barren. According to her custom, she offered Hagar, her handmaiden to Abram to produce a child. Sarai was old and barren while Hagar was young and fertile. She conceived a child but then was mistreated severely by Sarai. 


Hagar ran away toward the Egyptian border and stopped at a well to refresh herself and reflect. She was at Kadesh-Barnea in the desert of Zin, southwest of the Dead Sea, where she was met with an angel of the Lord. 
 


“The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. And he said, ‘Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?’ ‘I’m running away from my mistress Sarai,’ she answered.” - Genesis 16:7-8

The angel instructed her to return to Sarai and submit to her. He said God would give her descendants too numerous to count. Hagar repented, obeyed and returned to Sarai, to the Camp of Abram and bore a son named Ishmael which means, “God has heard my misery.” 


Hagar gave God a name, “The One who sees me,” and she named the well, Beer-Lahai-Roi, “the well of the One who sees me.” 


"She said, ‘I have now seen the One who sees me.’” - Genesis 16:13

There is hope for you, even now, because God sees you and he hears you. You are not alone. Whatever challenges you face today, know that God sees you and he hears you. He has a plan for you, a purpose for your life, a future and a hope for you and your family. 


My prayer today is that you see the God who sees you!

Written by Dr. Albert L. Reyes, president and CEO of Buckner International.

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