Listen to the God Who Sees You
Salt and Light
Hagar and her little boy Ishmael were running away from Sarai. Ishmael was blissfully unaware of their predicament because he was still in Hagar’s womb (Genesis 16). Hagar had stopped by a spring near the road when the Angel of the Lord came to her. The angel asked her a couple of good questions: “Where have you come from, and where are you going” (Ge. 16: 8). If God asked you that what would you say? Hagar basically just answers the first one: “I’m running away from my mistress, Sarai.”
Spirituality and religion, Hands folded in prayer on a Holy Bible in church concept for faith.
To make a short story shorter, God tells her to go back to Sarai (who had been abusing her) and promises more descendants than she could count [currently her descendants are about 6% of the world’s population, more than the U. S. population]i, and to name her son Ishmael (God hears) because God has heard her cry of distress. In response, she called God “the One who sees me” (v. 13). In their book, Joyful Journey: Listening to Immanuel, Jim Wilder and his co-authors use the story of Hagar as an example of how God helps us in distress by showing that He sees us, hears us, understands our pain, but is glad to be with us, and will do something (Wilder et al., 2020, p. 35) ii
Does God see you and hear you? Let’s try a little experiment. It’s called lectio divinaiii and is a way to listen to God that goes back at least to Gregory of Nyssa (c. 335–c. 395 AD). There are traditionally four steps to lectio divina: lectio (reading), meditatio (meditation), oratio (prayer), and contemplatio (contemplation).iv As an example, let’s read the passage in Genesis about Hagar. Psalms are also great passages to use. A lectio passage should not be too long so that you can reasonably meditate on it. During the second reading, meditate; in meditation, some thoughts may come to you and a journal is handy for capturing these. Respond by praying to God: praise, thanksgiving, or confession. What stood out to you in your meditation that you want to ask God about? Stop in contemplation to enjoy God’s presence and to allow God to speak to you. He is the God who hears and sees you.
Notes:
[i] https://www.statista.com/statistics/806106/total-population-arab-league/#:~:text=In%202023%2C%20the%20total%20population,value%20in%20the%20observed%20period [ii] Wilder, E. J., Kang, A., Loppnow, J., & Loppnow, S. (2020). Joyful journey: Listening to Immanuel (rev. ed.). Presence and Practice. [iii] Colledge, E., & Walsh, J. (trs.). (1981). Guigo II: The Ladder of Monks and Twelve Meditations. Cistercian Studies 48. (= Image Books, 1978). [iv] https://www.bethel.edu/blog/lectio-divina/#:~:text=Through%20lectio%20divina%20we%20can,reflecting%2C%20responding%2C%20and%20resting.