God Seest Me

The story of Hagar in Genesis is a challenging one to understand but ultimately shows I believe that the Lord is watching over for all of His children. After Sarah gave Hagar, her Egyptian handmaid, to Abraham for a wife, Hagar conceived a son by Abraham. Sarah seems to have been jealous at that point, perhaps regretting her choice, and she “dealt hardly with her” so that Hagar “fled from her face.” But the Lord had His eye on Hagar, and “the angel of the Lord found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness.” The angel gave her this difficult command: “Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hands.” But at the same time he also promised this: “I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude. Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the Lord hath heard thy affliction.” I love Hagar’s response to these words from the angel: “Thou God seest me.” She learned that God saw her and was watching over her. The place of that well “was called Beer-lahai-roi” which means “the well of Him who liveth and seeth me” (Genesis 16:6-13). The story of Hagar shows that even in our difficulties the Lord does see us, and He will send the angel of His presence to help us.

             Ishmael was born soon thereafter when Abraham was 86 years old. Fourteen years later when “Abraham was an hundred years old… his son Isaac was born unto him.” After Isaac “grew, and was weaned,” his mother saw that “the son of Hagar the Egyptian” was “mocking” her son. Ishmael was an older brother by fourteen years and was somehow mistreating Isaac. This led Sarah to say to Abraham, “Cast out this bondwoman and her son: for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac.” This caused great sorrow for Abraham who surely loved Ishmael and Hagar just as he loved Isaac and Sarah: “The thing was very grievous in Abraham’s sight because of his son.” He sought the Lord’s guidance and received this difficult instruction: “Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman; in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called. And also of the son of the bondwoman will I make a nation, because he is thy seed.” He was to cast out Hagar and Ishmael from his family, a heart-wrenching requirement not unlike the later command to offer up Isaac on the altar. But he had the Lord’s promise that Ishmael would live and surely He clung to that as “Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of water, and gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her away” (Genesis 21:5-14). He gave up his son.  

We don’t understand the reasons why God had Abraham send out Hagar and Ishmael from his family. It is possible that Ishmael was a threat to the very life of Isaac. Whatever the reason, what is clear is that God still cared for Hagar and Ishmael, and for a second time He sent His angel to her. After she was cast out “she went, and sat her down over against him a good way off, as it were a bowshot: for she said, Let me not see the death of the child. And she sat over against him, and lift up her voice, and wept.” She was ready to give up on life itself there in the desert with no water, but “God heard the voice of the lad; and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar? fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is. Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in thine hand; for I will make him a great nation.” Then the Lord “opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went, and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad drink. And God was with the lad; and he grew” (Genesis 21:16-20). The lives of Hagar and Ishmael were preserved, and the Lord had great things in store for him who would have 12 sons and live 137 years (Genesis 25:16-27). The story of Hagar and Ishmael is a witness that God remembers all of His children, even if they must pass through very difficult experiences in this life. When we feel cast out or rejected by those around us, we can know like Hagar: "God seest me."