Genesis 16:13-14 NKJV
[13] Then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, You-Are-the-God-Who-Sees; for she said, “Have I also here seen Him who sees me?” [14] Therefore the well was called Beer Lahai Roi; observe, it is between Kadesh and Bered.
I was gifted a devotional book, last Mother’s Day, i.e., May 2023, titled “Daughters of Grace: The Women of the Bible and The God of Grace,” by Kristin Schmucker.
Last week, I finally got to start on the six week devotional, and the first 5 women I’ve read about are, Eve (the first woman), Sarah (Abraham’s wife), Hagar (Sarah’s slave from Egypt, who mothers Abraham’s son, Ishmael), Rebekah (Isaac’s wife), and Rachel (Jacob’s wife).
Each of their stories are unique and beautiful: they all experienced God’s grace 🙏. Please take time to go and read about each of these daughters of grace in the Bible.
Hagar’s story, however, is the one that stood out for me the past week – and honestly speaking, I’ve never looked at her story in a positive way until this devotional, and having to read it all over again.
As a slave, Hagar had no choice in any decisions that impacted her life, including sleeping with her mistress, Sarai’s husband, Abram, so she could bear a heir for the couple. Sarai was not able to conceive until much, much later in life as God had promised. Note Sarai and Abram’s names later become Sarah and Abraham – you can read about them in the book of Genesis.
Back to Hagar, when she fell pregnant, according to the scriptures, we read that Sarai mistreated her: she (Sarai) felt that Hagar despised her because she was unable to conceive. So Hagar fled into the wilderness, away from her mistress. And whilst there she experienced the grace of God.
An angel of the Lord appeared to her and told her to go back. That she was to name her son, Ishmael, as God had heard her cries. Hagar then calls God, El Roi, meaning the God who sees. She recognized that the God of Abraham and Sarah did see her, and He cared for her enough to come to her.
She recognised God and gave Him a unique name. Did Hagar know at that time that she was part of God’s ultimate plan for Abraham? I don’t believe she did, except for what the angel tells her in Genesis chapter 16.
Hagar’s story is another example of a Gentile recognising God for who He is – an amazing and gracious God who cares for everyone. Hagar, as we read from Genesis chapters 16 and 21, is the mother of Ishmael, the firstborn of Abraham.
God made a covenant with Abraham that his descendants would be like the stars in the sky – too many to count.
Genesis 15:5 NKJV
[5] Then He brought him outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.”
And although life didn’t go as planned for Hagar, we know that she and her son were part of the covenant that God made with Abraham.
Eventually, they were sent away after Sarah’s own son, Isaac, was born. Sarah was not keen for her slave’s son to share in the family inheritance. We read again in Genesis 21 of God’s protection and blessing upon Hagar and her son Ishmael.
Genesis 21:13 NKJV
[13] Yet I will also make a nation of the son of the bondwoman, because he is your seed.”
When life throws its lemons at you, and you feel desperate and alone, remember Hagar and how God’s grace saved her. If God is able to hear the cries of a slave woman and her son, He is out there waiting for you and I, our cries or prayers.
Genesis 21:17-20 NKJV
[17] And God heard the voice of the lad. Then the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said to her, “What ails you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the lad where he is. [18] Arise, lift up the lad and hold him with your hand, for I will make him a great nation.” [19] Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. And she went and filled the skin with water, and gave the lad a drink. [20] So God was with the lad; and he grew and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer.
Will you be able to recognise God as the One who sees, who hears, and who is there for, you, every step of the way? If you’re not, my friends, it’s time to rethink where you’re at in terms of a relationship with El Roi – the God who sees.
To God be the glory always 🙏❤️
Idau Hahine 