I've been reading a Lenten devotional put out by a mission organization called CRM. I read this and it really struck me.
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, servant of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?"
"I'm running away from my mistress Sarai," she answered. Then the angel of the Lord told her, "Go back to your mistress and submit to her."
...She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: "You are the God who sees me," for she said, "I have now seen the One who sees me."
El Roi means "the God who sees." Recently I read this passage, understanding that God sees, but I was plagued with the question of whether he cares. "How can you be the God who sees and cares when you sent Hagar back into the situation she just ran away from?" I challenged the Lord: "If you cared, wouldn't you change it?"
God's answer came in waves. The first was conviction from the story of Jesus calming the storm in Mark chapter 4. What was the disciples' accusation? "Teacher, don't you care..." And Jesus' response? "Do you still have no faith?"
Next was the better understanding of Hagar's situation. She was a servant. Given to Abram by Sarai "as his wife," Hagar obviously didn't have the rights of a wife. Sarai claimed Hagar's child before he was even conceived, and Hagar continued to serve as Sarai's maid, without the protection of the baby's father. She was unloved, invisible, a means to an end, unseen. But God saw Hagar, and he cared enough to seek her out.
God didn't change Hagar's situation. He didn't remove her struggles, but she was a nobody who knew she was somebody in God's eyes. She who was unseen had been found by the One who sees.
God the Father didn't change the situation as Jesus faced the cross and prayed, "Father, if possible, remove this cup from me. Yet not my will, but your will be done." He saw my helplessness and cared enough to let Jesus step into history and suffer in my place.
1 comment:
AND He didn't keep the three Hebrew children from going into the fiery furnance, which He could have easily done, but instead He was there with them and they came out of it unharmed!
That is the story that struck me with a similar principle you were struck with in the story of Hagar.
With the three Hebrew children, the deal wasn't that they were nobody, it was they had to go against what everybody else was doing to do what was right. How hard is that for us sometimes!
I know you don't know me Cassie, but I am enjoying reading your blog. We raised four kids in the country and I relate to many of the experiences you talk about. It was always Heaven on earth to me.
God bless you,
Melanie Keffer
Olive Branch, MS
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