God Sees You

Maybe you need to read this today. Or you know someone who does. God sees your situation … He’s working.

Hagar was pregnant and alone — at least, emotionally. Although one of Abram’s wives, she wasn’t as favored as Sarai, who emotionally abused her, possibly because of jealousy. Hagar returned fire by flaunting her pregnancy. Distraught and weary, and with few resources, she fled to the desert and called on God. He heard her cries and answered: “You will bear a son; and you shall call his name Ishmael, because the Lord has given heed to your affliction” (Genesis 16:11).

Hagar responded with a spot-on observation: “You are a God who sees” (Genesis 16:13).

Stupidity says God doesn’t see. God’s Word says He does.

Many of us can relate to being in a “desert” season. We crave an escape from our present affliction. Although surrounded by dozens of people, we feel alone, helpless, and desperate. Does God see? He sees.

He knows the number of hairs on our head and every tear we shed. He sees our pain and our exclusion. He knows our isolation, loss, and emptiness. He sees it all.

Before becoming Abram’s second wife, Hagar had been a slave and in a position of weakness. In her current situation, she revisited her weakness — defenseless and without hope. Yet God saw Hagar in the desert, and His faithfulness to her was like a stream of water in a dry place.

Sixteen years later and again in a hopeless state, Hagar and her son were forced to return to the desert. With impending death at the forefront of her mind, she called out to God. Again, God heard her cries. While Hagar and her son lay dying of thirst, God opened her eyes to see a nearby well (Genesis 21:15–21).

May God open our eyes, allowing us to draw from the well that sustains us in our dry places. We may desire to escape our situation but we can never escape God’s gaze. He sees us. He sees you.

Adapted from, “Shining Through the Psalms,” by Deborah Presnell, 2018. Available on Amazon