Bible Besties | Hagar

Today’s Bible Besties devotion is about Hagar.

The Lord talked to Hagar. She began to use a new name for God. She said to him, “You are ‘God Who Sees Me.’” She said this because she thought, “I see that even in this place God sees me and cares for me!”

Genesis 16:13

Devotion for Today

Hagar was Sarai’s Egyptian servant. That was her lot in life. When Sarai gave Hagar to her husband Abram for him to take as a wife and bear his children, Hagar really didn’t have a choice in the matter.

Hagar tried to make the best of it, and maybe she got a touch carried away and started looking down on her mistress, Sarai. She wasn’t perfect, none of us are.

And Sarai didn’t handle it much better than Hagar did. She became cruel and dealt harshly with Hagar.

So Hagar fled.

She just wanted to get away. To get out of the situation she was in.

Have you ever been there?

Have you ever been in a situation that was just awful?

Once Hagar left, she stopped by a spring of water in the desert and that’s where she was met by an angel. The Bible says, “The angel of the Lord found her…” She wasn’t looking for God, but God met her there anyway. And he asked her, “Hagar, Sarai’s slave girl, why are you here? Where are you going?”

God asked, but He already knew the answer. She was running away from Sarai.

And this next part, it must have crushed Hagar’s spirit. The angel said to her, “Sarai is your owner. Go home to her and obey her.”

That was the last thing Hagar wanted to hear. To go back to the awful situation she was in—the situation she thought was unbearable—but that’s what God asked her to do. And I wonder how often we find ourselves there.

Do you ever just want out of a situation, but find yourself called by God to stay? In a culture that says God wants us to be happy, healthy, and wealthy, God’s will for Hagar feels foreign.

But maybe for you it hits home.

You may be in the middle of a struggle with cancer or chronic pain. You might have found yourself in a loveless marriage or abandoned by all those who were supposed to care for you. Maybe you’re struggling financially, I don’t know what your struggle is, but I know God can meet you there—just like He met Hagar at the spring in the desert.

I don’t know what His will for you is, but His will for Hagar was to stay. He gave her some encouragement that He would bless her and her offspring and sent her back in to her unpleasant situation. But it was enough for her; just to know God saw her. That somebody saw her. That somebody cared.

God talked to Hagar and she gave Him the name, “God Who Sees Me.”

I don’t know what you’re going through, but I know God sees you.

Hagar is a great friend to have if you’re stuck in a situation that’s not ideal. She stayed with Sarai for several years before Isaac was born and she was sent away. But even this time when she was told to leave, God provided for her. He didn’t leave her to fend for herself, but once again met her in the desert.

So whether you stay or go, remember the same God that loved Hagar, loves you, too. And even when we aren’t looking for Him, He can meet us in the midst of our circumstances.

* You can read Hagar’s story in Genesis 16 and Genesis 21:8-21. Other people in the Bible who were called to stay were John when he was on the island of Patmos (Revelation), and the man who was demon possessed (Mark 5).