She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her,
You are the God who sees me, for she said,
I have now seen the One who sees me.
Genesis 16:13
This prayer, recorded in Genesis 16, is the prayer of Hagar, the Egyptian servant of Abraham and Sarah. Years after God had promised Abraham and Sarah children, and no children had come, they took it upon themselves to “build a family through” this servant girl. And so it was that Hagar bore Abraham a son named Ishmael. The day came, however, when Sarah gave birth to the son she had been promised, and she felt threatened by Ishmael. So she had Abraham send Hagar and Ishmael out into the desert. They were disowned, devalued, abandoned.
Left alone in the desert to die, Hagar cried out to God to save her son. In response to her cry, God showed Hagar two things. God showed her a well of water nearby. And God showed her that she was not alone. Others may have rejected and abandoned her. Others may not have seen her. But God saw her. God saw her and her son through eyes of love and compassion.
Hagar’s response to God’s loving care is to give God a new name. She calls God, the “God-who-sees-me.” Hagar says, “I have seen the One who sees me.”
Prayer is being seen by God. And, prayer is seeing the One who sees us. Prayer is knowing that we are seen by God.
To be seen through eyes of love is, perhaps, our most fundamental need. Healthy parents are able to do this for their children. They look at them and see them. They see their child’s needs, feelings, limits, strengths, uniqueness. They see their children’s preciousness. They see their children with delight, empathy and tender affection.
This is the soil in which healthy children grow. Children who know they are seen and loved. Children who are free to see and love others.
Unfortunately, many of us did not receive this gift of being seen through eyes of love in our biological families. We may not know what it is to feel seen. We may not know what is was for our needs and feelings, our limits and gifts, our uniqueness and value to be seen. We may feel invisible.
Some of us may prefer to remain invisible. Some of us want only to hide. Being seen in the past may have meant being hurt. But if this were the case, we were never truly seen. To be truly seen is to be seen for who we really are as God’s much loved children. To be truly seen is to be valued. It is to be loved.
God is the God-who-sees-us. God sees our needs, our deepest fears and longings, our limits, our strengths, our uniqueness, our value. God sees us through eyes of love. God gazes on us in love.
Prayer is being seen by the One-who-sees-us through eyes of love.
You see me.
I am not invisible to you.
I am not overlooked by you.
You see me.
And, just like you saw Hagar,
with love and compassion,
you see me,
through eyes of love.
You see me deeply.
You see my longings, my fears
my desires, my love, my spirit.
You see me
and I know more fully that I am.
I am because you gave me life.
I am because you sustain me with your love.
I am because you see me.
Prayer suggestion:
Sit quietly, breathing slowly, with your hands open on your lap in a receptive posture. Be aware of the Presence of kindness and compassion. Be aware that this is God with you, seeing you through eyes of love. Allow yourself to be seen by the One who sees you with compassion and delight.
from An Enduring Embrace: Experiencing the Love at the Heart of Prayer,
by Juanita Ryan, 2012
Dear Juanita, Here is some more information about why Sarah felt a need to protect her son.
You said,
“The day came, however, when Sarah gave birth to the son she had been promised, and she felt threatened by Ishmael. So she had Abraham send Hagar and Ishmael out into the desert. They were disowned, devalued, abandoned.”
Keep in mind that God confirmed Sarah’s, action.(Gen 21.12) It’s understandable when you know what it was that Ishmael was doing to Isaac. He was 13 years older than Isaac and was sexually interfering with him. The Scripture says…”
“Now Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, mocking.” (Gen 21.9) The word translated “mocking” is the same word translated “sporting with” in Gen 26.8 and 9. “Abimelech sees Isaac sporting (Hebrew “mitsahek”) with Rebekah and states that she must be Isaac’s wife rather than his sister.
Whatever it was that Ishmael was doing to Isaac, was along the lines of what Isaac was doing to Rebekah that caused Abimelech to realize they were married.
The discussion is at https://www.nehemiaswall.com/torah-pearls-vayeira#more-1594
Please have a heart for Sarah. Note that Sarah didn’t cast Hagar and Ishmael out until she witnessed what Ishmael was doing. What would you have done if the child who was being sexually molested by an older boy/man, was your child?
Thank you, Linda, for your commentary on this story. Your comments add greater understanding of the complexity of what was taking place. It is, like so many stories in Scripture, a story about human failings all around. I agree with you that we need to have a heart for Sarah. Thank you for that reminder. What I was attempting to focus on in this short meditation was on the God who sees us with compassion in the midst of it all and on the ways this reality can remind us that our prayers and our life with God are initiated and made possible by God’s great love for us.
Thank you for keeping the focus on Haggar. The point is she felt alone. Abandoned. God sowed up to comfort. I love that.
Yes, Leona, she was so alone at the time of this desperate situation. It must have been so powerful to have experienced being seen and loved by God in that place.