Ep. 134 | God Sees | Genesis

Listen in as Pastor Eddie Blalock shares today’s daily devotional featuring Genesis 16:7-16. Let’s be Formed by The Word together!

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Transcript

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SPEAKER_00 0:01

Every one of us eventually reaches a place where we have to decide. Will I trust God even when I can't see where He's leading? That's not a new question. It's one of the oldest questions in the Bible. No one illustrates that journey better than Abraham. Welcome to Forms by the Word, where we open God's Word not just to study it, but to let it shape our hearts and transform our lives. Sometimes our journey of faith leads through familiar places. Other times it leads into the unknown. There are seasons of joy and seasons of waiting, moments of great faith and moments of painful failure. Genesis 11 through 25 tells the story of an ordinary man called to an extraordinary walk of faith, and in the process helps us discover that God still leads ordinary people, like us, into an extraordinary walk of faith. So whether you're driving, working, exercising, or simply enjoying a quiet moment with the Lord, I invite you to open your heart and let's learn to trust the God who always keeps his promises one step of faith at a time.

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Have you ever wanted to just run away? Maybe not literally pack a suitcase, get in a car, and disappear. But haven't we all had moments when we thought, I just want out. I don't want to deal with this anymore. When the pressure gets too great, the relationship gets too painful, or maybe the conflict becomes too difficult, or life simply becomes overwhelming, something inside us whispers, run. Get away from the problem. Get away from the person. Get away from the pressure. Now to be clear, sometimes leaving a dangerous or abusive situation is absolutely necessary. But there is a difference between getting to safety and running from what God wants us to face. In our next section, Genesis 16, verses 6 through 17, Hagar is running. Last episode we learned of the tense conflict between Sarai, Abram's wife, and Hagar. The paragraph ended with five simple words, you remember? So Hagar fled from her. Hagar ran. But what Hagar doesn't know is that while she's running away from Sarai, she's running straight into an encounter with God. Hagar may have left Abram's house, but she had not left God's sight. God knows where to find his hurting people. So let's jump into the text and see what we learn. The first thing we notice is that God found Hagar. Verse 7. The angel of the Lord found her by a spring in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shore. Now, Hagar isn't looking for God, but God is looking for Hagar. That's especially powerful considering who Hagar is. Think about it. She's an Egyptian, which makes her an outsider. She's a servant. She's pregnant. She's mistreated. She's alone in the wilderness. And from a human perspective, she's caught in the mess Abram and Sarai have created. Yet God sees her. You may lose sight of God, my friend, but God never loses sight of you. God knows where to find his hurting people. Well, then comes God's question. Here's how it was put in the scriptures. Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going? Now God finds us when we're running. Obviously, God doesn't need GPS coordinates. The question is for Hagar, not God. And I think there's something significant about her answer. She says, I'm running away. She knows where she's come from, but she doesn't answer where she's going. I think that's worth noting. You see, running usually has a from, but it doesn't always have a to. We know what we're trying to run from, trying to escape, but we haven't thought very carefully about where the road we're taking will eventually lead. So we first notice that God found her. Second, we notice that God heard her. Listen to verse 9. It says, Then the angel of the Lord said to her, Go back to your mistress and submit to her authority. The angel of the Lord said to her, I will greatly multiply your offspring, and they will be too many to count. The angel of the Lord said to her, You have conceived and will have a son. You will name him Ishmael, for the Lord has heard your cry of affliction. No. God meets us where we are, but he doesn't always leave us there. God saw her, but then God spoke to Hagar and starts off with a difficult command. He says, Go back. That's always hard for a citizen. Go back. Now again, we said this is not speaking of situations that present a clear danger to us. This call to go back is not to be applied to abusive or dangerous situations. Hagar's situation is unique, and God's command comes with his presence and a specific promise. So perhaps God's answer to Hagar wasn't simply escape, it was obedience. Sometimes the road of faith leads us back to something we'd rather avoid. Sometimes running from what God has called us to face will never produce what only obedience can provide. Notice also that God doesn't merely say go back. He gives her a promise. Her descendants will be multiplied, he says. Her child has a future. Her story isn't over. Sometimes when we're running, we feel like our story's over, don't we? Verse 11 says, For the Lord has heard your cry of affliction. Now there's an interesting wordplay here worth mentioning briefly. Ishmael means God hears. So Hagar receives two enormous truths in this encounter. God sees me, and God hears me. Third, we notice God saw her. Listen to verse 13 through 16. So she named the Lord who spoke to her, you are El Roy. For she said, In this place have I actually seen the one who sees me. That is why the well is called Berlahiroi. It is between Kadesh and Bared. So Hagar gave birth to Abram's son, and Abram named his son, whom Hagar bore Ishmael. Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to him. There's so much here. Let's just cover a couple of things quickly. God sees us even when we are invisible. Notice that. Hagar gives God a name. She calls him El Roy. Now it doesn't mean we're not thinking of Elroy as we think about it here. It's El-R-O-I, El Roy. In Hebrew, it's the God who sees me. Think about Hagar's experience. Sarai sees a servant. Abram sees a solution to a problem. Perhaps Hagar feels like nobody really sees her for who she is, but God does. Perhaps you feel overlooked, forgotten, taken for granted, used, dismissed, or maybe invisible. Your spouse may not see what you're carrying. Your children may not appreciate the load that you're doing. Your employer may not notice your faithfulness to the job. Your friends may not understand your pain. Just nobody sees, right? But El Roy sees you. God doesn't just see where you are. He sees what you're going through. He sees the tears that nobody else sees. He sees the burdens that you haven't told anyone about. He sees the injustice. He sees the loneliness, the fear, the questions, and he hears. Wow. What a thought. He sees and he hears. Wow. What a God. Well, let me get to the application. I'm just thinking about that a little bit in my mind and maybe too long. So let me move on. How do we apply this text? Three thoughts. One, stop running. Ask yourself God's question. Where have I come from and where am I going? Particularly that second part. Stop running. Number two, get honest. Hagar said to the Lord, I'm running away. When he asks where she is, I'm running away. Healing often begins when we stop pretending and tell God the truth about where we are. And then third, trust the God who sees you. You are not forgotten. Your prayers aren't disappearing into the ceiling. Your pain isn't unnoticed. God sees, God hears, and God knows. And when he tells you the next faithful step, take it. So our takeaway for today is this. God finds us in our running, hears us in our hurting, and sees us in our suffering. See, Hagar went into the wilderness believing she was alone, but she came out knowing she had been seen. Maybe that's exactly what somebody listening today needs to hear. You're not alone. You're not forgotten. You are seen by the God who sees. Abram and Sarai remind us that the question isn't simply which road will get me there faster. The question is which road requires me to trust God. When God's road seems slow, don't take the nearest exit. Stay on the road. Very, very important. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, I am so glad that when we come to forks in the road of life or the pathway of your faith journey, you offer us direction. But Lord, when we run, when we choose our own way and just try to run, Lord, teach us to trust you. Thank you for having patience with us. Teach us to trust you and not our own understanding. Amen and amen.

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Thanks for joining us today on Formed by the Word. As we journey through the life of Abraham, we're learning together what it means to walk by faith and trust God one step at a time. Wherever you are on your own journey today, remember, the same God who called Abraham is still calling, leading, and faithfully keeping his promises to his people. Pastor Eddie would love to hear how God is using these devotions in your life. Your thoughts and comments are always welcome. Until next time, remember, God rarely shows us the whole journey.