When Life Doesn’t Match Your Dreams By Jill Eileen SmithSample

Day 3

No One Sees Me

Isaiah 43:1

Have you been in that dark place where you wondered if you were going to make it? Have you ever cried out, Does God even see me? Is He listening? Does He really love me? 

When we walk through this journey called life, we are going to face things that cause hurt and pain. And we may feel unloved and unaccepted. Perhaps we may not even like ourselves all that much. But God accepts us. He sees us. He calls each one of us personally—by name. When we come to Him, He wraps us in His everlasting love. And when He declares, “You are mine,” we know that nothing can ever separate us from His love. 

Abram’s slave Hagar understood this. Mistreated by his wife, Sarai, by a plan Sarai herself concocted, Hagar ran away. But God took notice of this frightened slave and cared for her. I can’t help but think that Hagar was changed when she realized the God of Abram saw her, called her by name, gave her instructions to go back to Abram and Sarai, and made her a promise. Hagar named her son The God Who Sees Me. 

We are all going to face times in our lives when we could run away from our circumstances like Hagar did and hold our hurts close to our hearts. We can avoid relationships that might wound us. Or we can go back, believe what God says about us—He sees us—wait on Him to do the work only He can do, and forgive the things that are ours to forgive.

Scripture and history tell us that Hagar’s life in Abraham’s camp didn’t last long. Less than twenty years later, she left again, this time with her son into a future she couldn’t fathom.

And God met her again. Hagar. A woman. An outcast. Not one among the lineage of the people God had chosen. But one among the lineage of people God wanted to save. God considered her life precious to Him. 

He sees us too, my friend. Unlike any other god the world has known, He loves us. We are precious in His eyes. And no amount of hurt in the world can ever take that knowledge from us.

God answers those who turn to Him for help. Ask Him to tell you what to do in this time when you feel invisible.