«You are a God who sees me.» 1. Genesis 16:13
(Subtitle: How? God notices me? Am I important to him?)
Text: Fritz Block, reformed pastor A.D., Finland
An incredible story, but one that can definitely be explained in the historical context. The wonderful interventions of God are “unbelievable”.
Hagar, a rather inconspicuous woman, a slave of Sarai and Abrams (at that time they were not yet called Sarai and Abraham), a dependent, an Egyptian foreigner, not a Jew, unpaid housekeeper, only full-time worker for room and board. By the standards of the time, she was property! Sarai couldn't have children - she was barren, foreign word: she suffered from infertility - she persuaded her husband to father a child with Hagar, the slave. She then wanted to adopt that as her child! Hagar was their slave; so her child also belonged to her. – It was customary back then if the master's wife did not have children, that she had a child through a slave! - Everything went according to plan, even if it wasn't actually God's plan. Abram, it is said, obeyed his wife, disobeyed God in the sense that he did not trust God to perform a medical and geriatric miracle despite his and Sarai's infertility. – Sarai wanted to help based on purely human considerations! She did not believe God's inexhaustible possibilities in this particular case! – And so it happened that Hagar became pregnant by Abram, who was probably 85 years old at the time and still fertile.
But then, as is usual with people, envy and pride arose over time. Hagar realized that she now had more value and dignity and was almost equal to Sarai. If there was a son, he would inherit everything. She then mocked and humiliated Sarai, which Sarai couldn't bear and complained angrily to her husband. What's interesting is that Sarai, who had hatched the whole plan, now blames Abram instead of recognizing that she was wrong. Abram replied to her regarding Hagar: "Do whatever you want with her!" Sarai took advantage of her position as mistress and wanted to humiliate Hagar. In the Hebrew context this also means: She wanted to chastise Hagar. Hagar then fled into the desert (by the way, Hagar comes from the word that means “flee, flight, stranger, asylum seeker). Now the desert is the most unsuitable place for a pregnant woman. People actually died there from heat and thirst! So you stay where there is water. Hagar sits down at a spring of water. Then the first miracle happens: The angel of the Lord - it must be Gabriel - appears and speaks to her: She should turn back and submit! When God meets us, the result is often that we have to repent. We cannot continue as before! We should submit to ourselves!
By the way, the angel asks an interesting question: Where are you from and where do you want to go? - God asks us that too? Where are you from – what have you done so far? Which paths have you taken so far? And then: What are you up to - what are your plans? Where are you going? - These are questions about the meaning of life and our responsibility! What do you live for? What do you spend your time and energy on? Can I answer for all of this before God?
Ultimately: Who are you? By the way, what do you do? Are you in what God intended for you? - The word sin means “hamartia” in Greek: the word was used when someone didn’t hit the target while archery – missing the target! Are there any failures in your life? - We should strive not to miss the goal of life, but to strive for it: Seek first God's kingdom and his righteousness, and everything else will fall to you, it says in Matthew 6.33
Back to the angel's call to Hagar, ultimately God's call to us: Repent! What a humiliation: to turn around and say I'm wrong! Man's pride is humbled. I'm wrong! What I said was wrong. What I did was wrong. I shouldn't have said that, I shouldn't have done that...
Do you know that? And yet, how many people are ready to humiliate themselves, to degrade themselves, to admit that they were wrong. The Bible says: “He who humbles himself will be exalted!” The reward is that God hears us. He knows who I am; he sees where I stand. God encourages me by giving me big promises. God doesn't just say big things. He always keeps his promises because he is God! It is no problem for him to bless us abundantly! Same with Hagar! Of course she has to go back to her mistress, back to the hard day's work, back to the daily toil. But she has God's great promises for her future: Your descendants will be so numerous that they cannot be counted. What mother wouldn't want that? Successful offspring! If we are willing to repent, we will also have incredible prospects for the future, even if everyday life is not always easy.
In any case, Hagar breaks through to a living faith. The angel, the questions, the promises of God! Suddenly Hagar realizes: There is a personal God for everyone! He knows me and also sees my needs and weaknesses! – He knows who I am and where I stand! Then Hagar says: You are a God who sees me! God is no longer a religious figure, far away, but a “you”, a counterpart!
What is interesting is that Hagar says: I have looked behind him who looked at me! – In the Bible, many centuries later, there is only one other person who was able to experience this: Moses! God says to him:You may look behind me, for my face cannot be seen! (Exodus 33). So this honor was given to Hagar. However, in Christ everyone could see God! When the disciple Philip asks him, “Show us the Father!”, Jesus answers: “He who sees me sees the Father.”
How are we? - Isn't it incredible, powerful when we realize that God sees us? - I pray and our faithful God sees the situation and hears! - He sees us, not just every now and then, constantly, he always has us in view! This knowledge should encourage me, I am not alone! This is a fountain of life. So the well where Hagar meets the angel was called the well of the Living One who sees me! It doesn't say he who has seen me, but he who sees me! Not an experienced past, but a constant present!
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