Today I am starting a new series called, Women in the Bible. These will be quick snapshots into the life and times of women in the Bible, with the objective of seeing truths that we can apply to our lives. We are starting with Hagar.
It was common for Jewish men to thank God they were not a gentile, a woman or a slave. Hagar was Sarah’s Egyptian maidservant. Hagar couldn’t have had things much worse as she was a Gentile a woman and a slave.
Hagar runs away from Abraham’s family and finds herself in the desert. She is pregnant with Abraham’s child. She meets the angel of the Lord who tells her to go back to Sarah. The angel of the Lord also tells her that she will have a son who she is to name Ishmael which means God hears. Then God allows Hagar to name him.
She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me [El Roi],” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.” Genesis 16:13
Everyone else in Hagar’s life looked through her or looked down on her, God truly saw her and validated her as a person. God knows all about whatever situation we may find ourselves in. Hagar created some of her own problems and some were inflicted on her. Either way God sees, hears and understands.
Hagar teaches us that we have a God who sees and hears even the cries of the neglected, the forgotten, the overlooked.
