Care

“So she called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, ‘You are a God of seeing,’ for she said, ‘Truly here I have seen him who looks after me.’” (Genesis 16:13)

Hagar’s story wasn’t a pretty one. She was the maidservant of Sarah, the woman who was promised to be the mother of a great people, of God’s people. Because Sarah and Abraham were advancing in years, Sarah came up with the not-so-trusting, less-than-brilliant idea that Abraham should have a child with Hagar instead of Sarah, his wife. God had made the promise to Abraham with his wife in mind, but Sarah and Abraham tried to make things happen on their own time and with their own plan as if God was not going to keep his promise.

Sure enough, Hagar became pregnant with Abraham’s son, but this was not the son that God was talking about when he made his promise to Abraham, and God told him as much.

Even so, and though God’s promise to Abraham and Sarah remained intact, Sarah grew bitter towards Hagar and sent her and her unborn child away. It was following this exile that Hagar felt she had no option but to wait in the wilderness until she and her unborn child died. But God had not abandoned Hagar. Even though she was not the one chosen to be the mother of this nation, she was still precious in his sight. He promised that he had heard her and cared for her and would make her offspring into a great nation too. In that moment, Hagar saw God for who he is. She saw and believed that he is a God who hears and cares and she was right!

No matter how bright, shiny and pretty, or dull, painful and messy our situation is, God cares for us. He is the God who sees, hears and cares. Let us remember that he will not forsake us but will keep his promise to hear us and care for us.