A few years ago, a friend of mine was struggling through a miscarriage. As she watched women around her get pregnant, she began to lose hope that she’d ever give birth to her own child. No amount of encouragement could bring her the hope she so desperately longed for. Frankly, she had grown tired of people pointing her towards Scripture. She knew in her heart that God could bless her with a miracle by allowing her to have a viable pregnancy, but she began to wonder if she had been forgotten and if God even saw her in her suffering and hurt. But then the Lord, in His loving kindness, reminded her of the story of Hagar in Genesis (Genesis 16; 21) and how God sees and is with us.
To quickly sum up the story, Hagar was the mistress of Abram (later to be renamed Abraham). She bore Abram a son after he and his wife Sarah had been unable to conceive. Hagar was essentially used to bear Abram a child out of Abram’s impatience with what God had promised him. After mistreatment by Sarah, Hagar felt like an outcast and completely forgotten by God. But then, in Genesis 16:7-14, an angel of the LORD appeared to Hagar. He told her that she would be blessed, and her descendents would be too many to count. Hagar then gave God the title of El Roi, or “The God who sees.”
God saw Hagar in her pain and stepped in to show her His love. In the book of Haggai, God sees His people in a different way, but His love, care, and grace remain the same. In Haggai 1:12, the prophet writes of this beautiful picture of God’s people respecting the Lord and giving him the honor He deserves. In verse 13 God declares to the Israelites that “I am with you.”
But we can’t forget Haggai 1:1-11. The Israelites were finally brought to safety after living in exile for 70 years. Instead of rebuilding the temple of the Lord, they first started to rebuild their homes. Their priorities were out of alignment. They thought that God didn’t see or care about their actions, which is why they missed the reason for the drought they were in. It’s easy to read the many stories in the Bible of the Israelites losing sight of God’s presence and think, “Again?!” If we’re honest, we do the exact same thing all the time.
We regularly put God on the backburner and get to Him when it’s convenient for us. Maybe it’s when we have good intentions to wake up early and spend time with the Lord in the morning but then snooze our alarms until it’s too late to spend that time with Him. Or, maybe it’s when you finally receive what you’ve been praying for, and in your joy you forget to thank God for His provision.
We are the Israelities, and the Israelites are us. But, there is grace. The Israelites failed at first to give God the honor He deserves, and He saw what they were doing. Instead of immediately rejecting them or walking away, God stepped in. He stirred their hearts and reminded them that He is with them. Just like with the Israelites, praise God that He doesn’t deal with us as our sins deserve (Psalm 103:10). He is a God who sees and cares.
The story of Hagar helped my friend be reminded that even in her prolonged suffering, God saw her. And similarly, I pray the story of God’s people being reminded for the nth time that He is with them lands softly on your heart today. No matter how far we stray from Him or how many days, months, or years we lose sight of all that He has done for us, He is still with us. He is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love (Exodus 34:6). He is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8).
I pray you are always reminded of how God sees you and is with you and that you turn to His Word to see the many others who have gone before you and had to be reminded of truth as well. I am so grateful for a patient and loving God.
