Then she called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, “You are a God who sees”; for she said, “Have I even remained alive here after seeing Him?” Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi… (Genesis 16:13)

Elohim in its short form El combines with other terms to expand on the understanding of God. We have already seen that Elohim is Yahweh, the God who is active in the lives of people. Here we are presented with God as all-seeing. The story is familiar to us, but was a unique experience for Hagar, the outcast woman and one-time amour of the patriarch Abraham.

Hagar’s story portrays a sad life that found hope in God. When Sarah, because of advancing age, lost hope of giving Abraham the child promised him by God, she devised a “next-best-plan” to give her servant-girl to Abraham to have sex with, in hopes of pregnancy through her. The resulting pregnancy only created resentment toward Sarah by Hagar, seemingly the natural outcome of human relationships and jealousy. So Sarah campaigns to have Hagar cast out.

Driven out on her own with her child, Ishmael, Hagar had no way to provide for her child, no protection from any unprincipled man who would come upon her. There were no women’s shelters nor policing by a centralized government. It must have been a horrifying experience.

Your doctor calls and says, “Please come in to discuss the results of the MRI; it doesn’t look good.” Your employer calls you in with a glum look, pink slip in hand. Your spouse serves you with divorce papers. The police phone to tell you your son or daughter has been in an accident. Your long-kept secret sin is about to be exposed. The dream you have worked for all your life comes crashing down in complete and utter failure. If you have experienced any of the above you understand Hagar’s experience. Horrifying. You wish you could become invisible and escape from everyone and everything. How can you ever go back to normal life again? But God intervened.

“The angel of the LORD found her by a spring of water in the wilderness…” The important thing to Hagar was not so much the promise of many descendants (Gen 16:10, which we note is a similar promise to Abraham about his other son, Isaac). Rather, what was most noteworthy was that this individual before her was no mere messenger of God. She had been in the very presence of El Roi, literally translated “the God who sees.” And she lived to tell about it! That is a promise to us as well. When we feel left out, outcast, marginalized or otherwise completely unnoticed, God sees, and He still has a purpose for us in this world and promises for us that give us hope.

Lord, You are the One who sees and knows me, and You do not reject me.