“I have now seen the One who sees me.”

                 The story of Abram and Sarai not being able to conceive a child 10 years after God promised they would reveals the classic male and female ways of dealing with infertility and damaged relationships.  The tale begins in Genesis 12 with the call of Abram “to leave your father’s household and go to the land [God] would show you” (v. 1).  The next verse indicated that God would make Abram “into a great nation,” requiring, of course, a descendent or offspring to kick-start the process.  It was confirmed in verse seven, 13:15 and 15:4-6.  Sarai, of course, was not oblivious to the promise.  Lack of an heir was a shameful thing in that culture.  But strangely, her name never came up in the promise.  Would it be her child too?

This line of thinking, along with impatience, probably gave birth — sorry, I couldn’t resist! — to the idea of a fertility test in Genesis 16.  Why not?  Either Abram or Sarai had the problem.  So she sent him off to her handmaid Hagar’s tent.  I mean, God did say Abram and never mentioned her, right?  Sounds somewhat reasonable. Besides, “everybody else was doing it, too.”  Outsource the mating when the spouse can’t reproduce.  So said the culture of the times.  But it wasn’t of God.

Well, after a one-night visit, Hagar turns up pregnant.  So the problem had been with Sarai, and now Abram has an heir.  And everyone’s happy, right?  Wrong!  Very wrong.  Man’s ways never fulfill the promises of God.  They can’t.  So Sarai despised Hagar (16:4) for her fertility and her own lack thereof.  Then in classic female fashion, Sarai turns on Abram: “You are responsible for the wrong I am now suffering.”  Excuse me?  “I put my servant in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me.  May the Lord judge between you and me”  (v. 5). Well, whose idea was this anyway?

Then in similar classic fashion, Abram replies, “Your servant is in your hands…Do with her whatever you think best” (v. 6).  That’s the man’s way of saying to his dog, “C’mon, Red, let’s go huntin’!” and heads out to the woods.  You came up with this idea, Sarai, so you deal with it.

Left on her own, Sarai takes it out on Hagar, who then flees after the mistreatment.  It is at this point that we don’t know exactly what happened next.  Did Moses skip over a few somewhat minor points?  I mean, what if Hagar called out to her god?  In all likelihood it would have been an Egyptian deity from her home country.  That only would have added to the silence of being alone in the wilderness.  That didn’t work; now what?  What about Abram’s God?  He offers sacrifices to him.  He says he hears from him from time to time.  Could I…should I pray to him?  The Scriptures never say that she did.

Either way, God heard the musings of her heart: “The Angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert…and said, ‘Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?’” (vs. 7-8).  The dialog that follows is notable because this is the first time we see the Almighty speaking to a woman…an Egyptian woman at that.  We don’t know if she called out to him — the text doesn’t say so — but in the conversation, he says her son will be called Ishmael, or “God hears.”

For a few moments, at least, Hagar sits there stunned at the prophecies spoken about her son (vs. 10-12).  Then it hits her: this God heard me…this God answered me…this God met me…this God knows my son…and this God didn’t kill me!   For thousands of years people commonly thought that an encounter with a deity meant certain death.  Not this time.  So she responds, “You are the God who sees me…I have now seen the One who sees me” (v. 13).  This is not a God that merely sees, and even hears, what’s going on; this is a God who moves and acts.  1 Chronicles 16:9 says, “For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.”  We don’t know Hagar’s heart at this time, but the history of mankind clearly demonstrates that no one is “fully committed” to him.  Jesus didn’t come to those clamoring for him: “But God demonstrated his love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). His observation is not abstract or apathetic.  God not only sees and hears, he also graciously cares enough to act on our behalf to bring about the best for his own glory.

Are you alone in a lonely place thinking that God doesn’t see or care?  Ready to think again?