“So she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her ‘You are a God of seeing’, for she said, ‘Truly here I have seen him who looks after me.'”
-Genesis 16:13
This is a really powerful picture in Genesis 16:13. It’s Hagar, who has been forced to flee from her home, and she is all alone, and God comes to her and speaks to her, says, “Hagar, servant of Sarai …” It’s interesting, my devotional when I was reading through this passage, talked about how in all of ancient near eastern literature, Hagar is the only woman who is directly addressed by name by deity. And it’s interesting, so the woman here, it’s not one of the great matriarchs of the Old Testament, it’s not Sarah or Rachel or Rebekah, instead it’s a slave woman who is resenting her mistress and is running, and God comes to her, speaks her name, and she says, “You’re a God who sees me.” “You look after me.” Verse 13 says.
Even in great sorrow and pain, God’s Word tells us He is with us and for us.
This Verse Reminds Us That God Is Always With Us
I read Genesis 16:13, I can just imagine that there are people listening to this right now who may feel alone in all kinds of different ways for a variety of reasons. If that’s you, in any way, I mean, it’s not that you might actually physically be alone, you might be surrounded by a crowd of people, but you feel alone, you might have all kinds of relationships around you, but you think, “Oh, nobody really sees what’s going on in my life.” If that’s the case, I want to encourage you, there is a God who sees. He knows you. I would even go so far as to say he calls your name. He loves you. God loves you. There is not one detail in your life right now that he is not aware of, that he is not more aware of than you are aware of. He sees things that even you don’t see in your life right now. And he loves you. So he wants to provide for you, to look after you.
Genesis 16:13 Praises God For Always Looking After Us
So I want to encourage you to look to him. I want to pray for you specifically right now, knowing that all of us have times like this. God, we praise you for always seeing us. We praise you for your awareness of every single thing that’s going on in our lives. God, I just imagine that some people who are listening to this right now, like, there’s some real hurt, there’s some real pain, some real loneliness, and the sense that it just seems like nobody else understands.
God, we praise you. You’re the one who always understands. We praise you that we are never ultimately alone, that you are with us. God, I just pray then, that people who are in this kind of position right now, they would know your presence with them. That they would know your strength in their weakness, God, that they would know your love for them. God, I pray they would know that you are looking after them. That you have not left them alone. That you never abandon your people. Because nothing can separate us from you, as your children, as those who are trusting in you and looking to you.
So, God, I just pray for grace amidst the loneliness, amidst the hurt, amidst pain, amidst challenges, amidst trials, to know that you are there. That you call their name, you look after them. So may those truths just sink deeply and wonderfully into hearts right now, I pray, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
