IIT UBF - University Bible Fellowship at IIT

Daily Bread

Hagar Had Seen God, Who Sees Her

Date: Mar. 4, 2025

Passage

Genesis 16:1-16 (ESV)

Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. She had a female Egyptian servant whose name was Hagar. And Sarai said to Abram, “Behold now, the LORD has prevented me from bearing children. Go in to my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. So, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her servant, and gave her to Abram her husband as a wife. And he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, she looked with contempt on her mistress. And Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done to me be on you! I gave my servant to your embrace, and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked on me with contempt. May the LORD judge between you and me!” But Abram said to Sarai, “Behold, your servant is in your power; do to her as you please.” Then Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she fled from her.

The angel of the LORD found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur. And he said, “Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?” She said, “I am fleeing from my mistress Sarai.” The angel of the LORD said to her, “Return to your mistress and submit to her.” 10 The angel of the LORD also said to her, “I will surely multiply your offspring so that they cannot be numbered for multitude.” 11 And the angel of the LORD said to her,

  “Behold, you are pregnant
    and shall bear a son.
  You shall call his name Ishmael,
    because the LORD has listened to your affliction.
12   He shall be a wild donkey of a man,
    his hand against everyone
    and everyone’s hand against him,
  and he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen.”

13 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.” 14 Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi; it lies between Kadesh and Bered.

15 And Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram called the name of his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael. 16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.

Daily Bread

Key Verse: 16:13

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.”

Sarai's reasonable advice caused Abram's next stumble. Sarai suggested that Abram sleep with her slave so that he could have a child. Abram probably knew the advice did not align with God's promise of the rightful heir, but he chose to listen to his wife.

The slave Hagar became pregnant, which brought trouble to their house. Hagar became proud, and Sarai blamed Abram. In reply, Abram avoided his responsibility as the head of the family and let Sarai handle the problem. So, Sarai drove the girl into misery, and she fled, carrying Abram's child. Amid self-created problems with no good solutions, God intervened.

He sent his messenger to Hagar, assured her of her child's birth and safety, and told her to return and submit to her mistress. The prophecy about her child and God’s direction to her may challenge our modern sensibilities. However, Hagar believed: the sovereign God was always watching over her. She was moved. While Sarai and Abram had no respect or concern for her, God did not ignore her, a slave, and guided her to do what was right with an assurance of protection. Today, would you also come to God, who sees you? He will guide you as he knows you and cares about you.

Prayer: Father, I bring my weariness before you. I trust you to guide me in your perfect plans.

One Word: God sees me

Daily Bread

Write on a Scroll What You See

Revelation 1:9-20

Key Verse: 1:18

and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.

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