Faith Over Perfectionنموونە

Read: Genesis 16:7–15

SOAP: Genesis 16:13

So Hagar named the LORD who spoke to her, “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “Here I have seen one who sees me!”

When Abram and Sarai could not see another way for God’s promises to be fulfilled, they used Hagar as a means for Abram to have a son. When Hagar became pregnant, Sarai despised Hagar and treated her harshly. 

Hagar was in great need of help and hope. She ran away and God met her in the wilderness. When Hagar fled from mistreatment, God saw her. Hagar believed God was who He said He was and would do what He said He would do. Hagar’s faith in her moment of desperation was the kind of faith God desires from His people. 

Hagar displayed her faith in the way she spoke to God. Hagar named God El Roi, meaning, “You are the God who sees me.” She believed God saw her and would continue to see her in any circumstance, no matter what. Hagar is the first person recorded in Scripture to name God. Her name for God communicated her hope and trust in God’s character and provision for her, a foreigner. God’s care and provision for Hagar in the desert shows His care and love for the foreigner, a theme we will see continue to show up in Genesis. 

God gave Abram a great promise, and the promise was to come through Sarai. She would be the mother of the promised heir. Here, when God met Hagar in the desert, God also gave Hagar a promise as another bearer of Abram’s seed. God promised to multiply Hagar’s descendants and to care for her in the midst of a difficult circumstance. 

Hagar is an unlikely example of faith, especially in the same story as Abram and Sarai. While Sarai sought to do things by her own strength, Hagar cried out to God. We are reminded that God does see our distress and our affliction and He answers our cries. While Sarai and Abram, in this instance, were not good examples of crying out to God in distress, Hagar, a foreigner, and a servant, gives us an example of how to lay our needs before the Lord with an expectant heart. 

Prayer

You are the God who sees me. I believe You will care for me in my distress. Lord, today I lay my burdens before You. I cry out to You, as Hagar did in the wilderness, and ask You to meet my need the way only You can. I trust You with my circumstance. Amen.