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For I said in my haste, I am cut off from before Your eyes; nevertheless You heard the voice of my supplications when I cried out to You. – Psalm 31:22

As a girl the one thing she hated most was when her father ignored her. She didn’t disobey often, but when she did, after he spanked her, he didn’t speak to her, he didn’t look at her. 

Sometimes for days.

He wouldn’t acknowledge her when he came home from work or while the family ate dinner. He wouldn’t respond to her when she asked a question or told him Goodnight. 

The spanking she could endure, but not the silence. Not being ignored, being spurned – not being treated as if she wasn’t there, as if in his eyes she had no value. 

Photos courtesy of Unsplash

Hagar did what her mistress told her to do. “My husband will sleep with you, so that we may have a child,” Sarai told her.

This was a common practice in ancient Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq). For the purpose of conceiving and bearing children, a female servant could become a secondary or lesser wife. Because Sarai was infertile, she could give her personal maid to her husband, with the hope that a child would result. According to the custom, any child born from this arrangement would legally be viewed as the husband’s heir, unless or until a child was later born from the barren wife.

God told Abram He would give him and Sarai a son. But 10 years later, nothing. 

Abram tried to convince God to accept his servant’s son as his heir (Genesis 15:2-3). Plan B.

Logically it was impossible. This husband and wife duo were elderly, way past the years of making love and making babies. 

So, after more than a decade of waiting, Sarai came up with Plan C. 

“Take Hagar…” she told Abram. 

He did. And Hagar conceived. 

In her pride, Hagar looked at Sarai with condescension, which of course infuriated the mistress of the household. 

Sarai blamed Abram and then treated the maid harshly. Hagar ran away.

Later Hagar sat in the desert, dusty, tired, lost, alone. Who knows what confusing emotions were swirling through her heart, mind and body at that moment? (Remember, she was pregnant.) 

Yeah, she got a little arrogant. But she’d been sold as a servant, moved to a foreign country, used for someone else’s benefit, and then mistreated. Did she feel insignificant? Invisible? Worthless? Hopeless?

Most likely.

Yet, Hagar was not invisible to God. And in these desperate moments He made sure she knew it. God not only saw her, He spoke to her, He comforted her, and He declared over her a future blessing. 

And let’s not forget, He was giving her a son! In Old Testament times this was huge! This was everything a woman could want. No, she wasn’t the primary wife, but she was a wife, with a home and a position of significance. And she was about to become a mother – to a son who would have more children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren than she could count! 

Not to mention, God spoke to her! In person! 

Pause: So, just to clarify, I have never had a personal in-the-flesh-even-if-it-was-just-the-backside visit from the Almighty God! And no one I know has had that kind of visit. And not many people in history or in Scripture got that kind of visit. Like, this was huge!

In Genesis 16 we read Hagar’s response to this personal appearance from God. 

Then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, You-Are-the-God-Who-Sees; for she said, Have I also here seen [the back of] Him who sees me?

Wow! 

Sounds like she was in disbelief, maybe just a little. Am I sure I just saw Jehovah God, the God of Abraham?!?! And He saw me?!?! Wow!

As God instructed, Hagar returned to Abram and Sarai’s home. Another decade-plus passed, and once again Hagar was sitting in the desert – this time with her teenage son, Ishmael, nearby. 

This time, though, she didn’t run away – she was kicked out. 

But once again God spoke to her (Genesis 21), reminding her of the promised blessing and opening her eyes to the future He saw for her.

The God of Abraham, the God of Sarah, the God of Hagar, and the God you and I serve today is still the God who sees.

The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their cry [prayers]. – Psalm 34:15; 1 Peter 3:12

Like that little girl I mentioned earlier, I too hate being invisible, undervalued and overlooked by someone close to me – by someone who should love me.

This is why one of the hardest things for me to handle is God’s silence. Even David in the Psalms cried out to God, begging Him not to be silent (Psalm 28:1).

But God is teaching me through the silence to grow my trust in Him. To stretch my faith to a deeper level that clings to His promises more tightly. Because He is good. His intentions for me are good. And God always works for my good. Always.

When God is silent, don’t make the mistake of assuming it’s because He’s angry or you’re out of His favor. Believe the truth: that He is working out a good plan for you. And when the time is right, He will reveal all. And you won’t be able to miss it. (And you’ll probably wonder, like I have, why you ever doubted.)

God’s Word is saturated with His gentle, caring voice, with His expressions of love for His creation and for His children. During the quiet times when He’s not actively whispering or nudging you, it can feel frustrating or stagnant. Those are the times to dig into His Word and let the Holy Spirit remind you of just how much God loves YOU – His beloved child, His precious daughter.

Read: Genesis 16