She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: ?You are the God who sees me,? for she said, ?I have now seen the One who sees me.
? Genesis 16:7 NIV
Hagar was property. Give that a moment to sink in. She wasn?t a kind servant who offered to be a surrogate for Sarai (Sarai wasn?t called Sarah yet). She was a slave sent to Abram (also not Abraham yet) to be a, kind of
but not quite, second wife and have sex with him in order to become pregnant and give birth to a son. A child considered not her own but Sarai?s. Hagar got uppity when she became pregnant and Sarai wasn?t having it. In her mistreatment, Hagar couldn?t simply leave. She had to run away. In the cultural pecking order, Hagar was at the bottom.
Slavery still exists in this world. In developed, progressive countries, we call it ?human trafficking?, but there are still places where one person openly owns another. Despite what some slave owners certainly thought of as benevolent acts, the history of slavery in America is despicable and there are those of our fellow citizens who still bear today the weight of damage from that abhorrent institution. Although more benign in appearance, we can bind ourselves to our possessions and the things we long to possess, to addictions, to emotional damage we have inflicted and has been inflicted upon us. We can be ?wage slaves?, enduring misery while we fight for our next dollar. And until the Holy Spirit gives us a choice in the matter, we are all slaves to sin.
It is speculative to assume that Hagar?s deepest felt need was to be seen as a person instead of property, but from the text, I?m assuming it. She reacts to Jesus telling her what to do and what will happen by recognizing him as God and as the God who saw her. God sees us in all our ways and knows us because of it. He sees us as we are and as we are to become. Whatever place we have in the social order, he sees us. The horror show in our minds and hearts doesn?t take God by surprise and He doesn?t turn away from us because of it. This was Jesus? character then, as it is now.
Jesus sees me, and he sees you. That is both frightening and reassuring. Jesus knew the worst about us as the Roman soldiers nailed Him to the cross and thought we were worth the pain. He still thinks we're worth it. Jesus knows the best about us and wants to make it better. He knows when we waste time on our phones instead of doing the good he has for us to do and when the good we do feels like it went straight into the garbage can. At our deepest level of who we really are, where our scary bits run loose among our fondest dreams, he sees and understands and loves us. Whether or not we?ve made peace with him and become one of his, he sees us. Find rest and freedom from slavery in his grace through his sacrifice. Find comfort in knowing that Jesus sees your every thought, your every joy, your every disappointment. Whether today is a punch in the face or a dream fulfilled, He sees you. Jesus is leading you towards greatness. He loves you.
Pray something like this- Lord Jesus, thank you for seeing me and knowing me. Forgive me for the awful that I?ve thought and done. Lead me towards the greatness of becoming the person you know I can become.
