Day 8: God Sees You in the Wilderness
THE STORY OF HAGAR
Genesis 16:1-16
By Michelle Santora
By Michelle Santora
Hagar, Abram, and Sarai. These three could rival the drama and chaos of most reality tv shows today. Control grabs, blame shifting, surrogate moms, horrible bosses…. It’s a wild ride. Although she’s not blameless in the mess, in many ways Hagar is a victim of Sarai’s and Abram’s actions. And in Genesis 16, Hagar gets tired of it and runs.
Hagar ended up in an actual physical wilderness, but ironically, she was also running FROM her wilderness — the impossible and trying circumstances she was living in under Sarai and Abram’s authority. As Hagar runs, she is met by an angel of the LORD who speaks to her and he tells Hagar to return to her masters, along with a prophetic message about her unborn son. And something significant happens in this interaction.
Hagar is moved by the personal nature of the message she is given and she does something surprisingly intimate and incredible. Hagar calls God by a new name: El Roi. “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.’” (Genesis 16:13) It’s the first time in the Bible that we see someone give God a name. This woman — a servant girl, broken, alone, and running — declares who God is. And in faith that this God knows her and is worth listening to, Hagar obeys and returns to the wilderness that’s awaiting her.
I can’t tell you how many times in my life I’ve wanted to run away from problems or hard situations like Hagar tries to do. And honestly some days I do run. It looks different for me than it did for Hagar.
It might be sleeping, watching tv, or doom scrolling for the best memes. Those are often my ways of running from the problem in front of me, when the wilderness feels too much to face...again. I want to bury my head under my pillow until it’s over. Oftentimes navigating the wilderness means finding the way through it with the Lord, even when our flesh is screaming at us to run from it.
Our God is unchanging - He is still El Roi, the God who sees you. The same God who sought out Hagar as she ran in the wilderness sees you, your pain, your wrestling, and He loves you deeply. Sometimes wild faith is simply taking a step of obedience to stay present in the wilderness and ask the LORD to meet you there. And I know from experience that’s easier said than done. But El Roi is not absent or unaware. He is with you in the wilderness and He wants to walk with you. What wilderness are you trying to run from? Where is God asking you to stay and walk through the wilderness with Him?
PRAY:
God, thank you for being the God who sees me, who knows me fully, and who loves me deeply. Help me see you in my wilderness today. Help me see how you have shown up for me and walked with me in the past so that I can remember who you are. I need you. Please show me how to walk this path and what you are growing in me through this experience. Amen.
Hagar ended up in an actual physical wilderness, but ironically, she was also running FROM her wilderness — the impossible and trying circumstances she was living in under Sarai and Abram’s authority. As Hagar runs, she is met by an angel of the LORD who speaks to her and he tells Hagar to return to her masters, along with a prophetic message about her unborn son. And something significant happens in this interaction.
Hagar is moved by the personal nature of the message she is given and she does something surprisingly intimate and incredible. Hagar calls God by a new name: El Roi. “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.’” (Genesis 16:13) It’s the first time in the Bible that we see someone give God a name. This woman — a servant girl, broken, alone, and running — declares who God is. And in faith that this God knows her and is worth listening to, Hagar obeys and returns to the wilderness that’s awaiting her.
I can’t tell you how many times in my life I’ve wanted to run away from problems or hard situations like Hagar tries to do. And honestly some days I do run. It looks different for me than it did for Hagar.
It might be sleeping, watching tv, or doom scrolling for the best memes. Those are often my ways of running from the problem in front of me, when the wilderness feels too much to face...again. I want to bury my head under my pillow until it’s over. Oftentimes navigating the wilderness means finding the way through it with the Lord, even when our flesh is screaming at us to run from it.
Our God is unchanging - He is still El Roi, the God who sees you. The same God who sought out Hagar as she ran in the wilderness sees you, your pain, your wrestling, and He loves you deeply. Sometimes wild faith is simply taking a step of obedience to stay present in the wilderness and ask the LORD to meet you there. And I know from experience that’s easier said than done. But El Roi is not absent or unaware. He is with you in the wilderness and He wants to walk with you. What wilderness are you trying to run from? Where is God asking you to stay and walk through the wilderness with Him?
PRAY:
God, thank you for being the God who sees me, who knows me fully, and who loves me deeply. Help me see you in my wilderness today. Help me see how you have shown up for me and walked with me in the past so that I can remember who you are. I need you. Please show me how to walk this path and what you are growing in me through this experience. Amen.
Posted in 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting
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