Genesis 16
Genesis 16:1-16 (NLT)
1 Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had not been able to bear children for him. But she had an Egyptian servant named Hagar.
2 So Sarai said to Abram, “The LORD has prevented me from having children. Go and sleep with my servant. Perhaps I can have children through her.” And Abram agreed with Sarai’s proposal.
3 So Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian servant and gave her to Abram as a wife. (This happened ten years after Abram had settled in the land of Canaan.)
4 So Abram had sexual relations with Hagar, and she became pregnant. But when Hagar knew she was pregnant, she began to treat her mistress, Sarai, with contempt.
5 Then Sarai said to Abram, “This is all your fault! I put my servant into your arms, but now that she’s pregnant she treats me with contempt. The LORD will show who’s wrong—you or me!”
6 Abram replied, “Look, she is your servant, so deal with her as you see fit.” Then Sarai treated Hagar so harshly that she finally ran away.
7 The angel of the LORD found Hagar beside a spring of water in the wilderness, along the road to Shur.
8 The angel said to her, “Hagar, Sarai’s servant, where have you come from, and where are you going?” “I’m running away from my mistress, Sarai,” she replied.
9 The angel of the LORD said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit to her authority.”
10 Then he added, “I will give you more descendants than you can count.”
11 And the angel also said, “You are now pregnant and will give birth to a son. You are to name him Ishmael (which means ‘God hears’), for the LORD has heard your cry of distress.
12 This son of yours will be a wild man, as untamed as a wild donkey! He will raise his fist against everyone, and everyone will be against him. Yes, he will live in open hostility against all his relatives.”
13 Thereafter, Hagar used another name to refer to the LORD, who had spoken to her. She said, “You are the God who sees me.” She also said, “Have I truly seen the One who sees me?”
14 So that well was named Beer-lahai-roi (which means “well of the Living One who sees me”). It can still be found between Kadesh and Bered.
15 So Hagar gave Abram a son, and Abram named him Ishmael.
16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Ishmael was born.
So what was God seeing when He saw Hagar? She was the apparently willing victim of Abram and Sarai’s straying from fully trusting God’s promise. Though she bore in her body the seed of their failed attempt to make God’s promise come to pass, and though she was partially responsible for how roughly Sarai treated her, causing her to run away, God was not having any part of bringing judgment down on her. Even in the fallacy of her situation, she was yet a precious young woman in need of care and support as she was now directly a part of fulfilling God’s promise to Abram. Through her would come countless descendants that would also be from Abram’s seed. Though not the promise itself as Isaac would be, God still saw her as one to be embraced and cared for. Because of His perception of her, Hagar was assured that He not only saw her but heard her cries as well. He was told to name her son “Ishmael,” a reminder that God heard and responded to her every time his name was spoken.
As we seek to discover God, His plan, and His fulfilled purpose for our lives, it’s so encouraging that He doesn’t stop seeing or hearing us when we try to take matters into our own hands. Instead of being condemned and disqualified for failed attempts at independence, He remains faithful to His promises for us and especially for those precious ones whom our faulty choices may have impacted. As long as we seek His face and cry out to Him for help, He not only sees and hears but responds in love and mercy. It is important throughout the fallout, from errant decisions, to keep running boldly to His presence and calling out for help at His throne of grace in time of need. He will always be found faithful to see and hear even those living in the consequences of a departure from trust.