After Seeing, Seeing After

“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, ‘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 Sarai. So, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar 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… ‘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, ‘Return to your mistress and submit 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…’

“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 16:1-11,13

What a mess. Impatience, pride, finagling, infidelity, jealousy, cruelty, blaming, misunderstanding, mistreatment, fear. Enter God. The God who sees it all sees after those in the fray. He watches every bit of the ugliness, and loves, pursues, redeems. This One whose eyes go to and fro in the earth searching out His own, and who sets His eye upon His children for good, is the omniscient and compassionate El Roi. He is the all-seeing Father with eyes fixed on His beloved children who have strayed, to see them home. (2 Chronicles 16:9; Psalm 33:18; Luke 15:20; 1 Peter 3:12)

It would grieve God to watch His chosen first couple of Israel risk their promised progeny. He would wince at their foolish planning and sexual misconduct, and the horrendous fallout afterwards. He sees our every grief and sin and sorrow, but He does not turn His back. He goes after the hurting, the wrong, and the wronged, and beckons us return.

This God who sees after us does not want us turning our backs on brokenness, but facing it with faith, and with the balm of Christ, seeing after repentance, healing, comfort, resolution, and redemption. Our Lord looks on our pain, our angst, our difficulties, and sees us through for our good and His glory. Will we look to Him and trust His care?

What ugliness has reared its ugly head in my spirit, my habits, my default reactions? Do I see clearly how rudely or selfishly I treat others, how casually or flippantly I treat my King? Once recognized, would I see after coming to the cross for cleansing?

Lord, help me see myself and others as You see, and like You, faithfully see after all You ask, for Your honor.