Tracy and I live in a rural township just North of Minneapolis, MN. My morning commute to work starts around 5 am. Many of you are thinking 5 am, yuck! But I love my morning time. The coffee maker grinds beans for a fresh cup of java at 3 am (non-workdays it’s a little later 😊). But even on days off, I enjoy my morning time with God and then devotions and prayer with Tracy. Mornings are awesome! I also love experiencing nature come alive as the night turns into day. Watching the vast solar system slowly fade into a glorious sunrise never gets old. It does something incredibly refreshing to my soul.
On my morning commute, I drive East for a few miles before heading South towards the city. This typically gives me great views of the night sky just prior to sunrise. This August there have been amazing views of the two brightest stars of our solar system, the planets Venus and Jupiter. From our vantage point on Earth, early August revealed these two (Venus and Jupiter) farther apart, but each new day they appeared closer and closer. On August 11th or 12th, they appeared only 1 degree apart, as if they were grazing each other. Following days revealed them drifting apart again. They were joined by a very vivid crescent moon on the mornings of the 19th and 20th, and then an amazing alignment of 6 planets occurred on August 21st. It was an incredible display of which Tracy also enjoyed popping out into our front yard a couple of mornings.
What was most interesting to me was the day-to-day distance change of Venus and Jupiter. Its incredible that even when these two planets appeared to be almost touching, they are still millions of miles away from each other. Isn’t that amazing? Still millions of miles apart.
Scientists estimate estimated that there are at least 10 sextillion (10²²) stars in the observable universe, a number so vast that it cannot be counted by humans. Our solar system alone is estimated to be at least 18.6 trillion miles in diameter.
So, here is a question for you, and one that I’m sure many of us have pondered at one time or another. Have you ever felt that in the big scheme of Gods massive creation, that your life is very small? That your life, in view of God’s creation and plans for the entire world…you and your life are less than significant to Him? Thinking, “Surly the God of the universe has bigger and more important people and situations to attend to than me and my life?” Perhaps you have even cried out to God at some point of your life and said…
“God, do you even see me…”
Feeling as though you and God are millions of miles apart?
In Genesis Chapter 16 we are told of a woman named Hagar. It is a powerful story of a young woman who finds herself in a very misfortunate situation and of how God meets her in the midst of what she is going through.
We often pay more attention to the story of Abraham and Sarah and the fulfillment of God’s promise to make Abraham the father of many nations. But within Abraham and Sarah’s story, we discover the faith and perseverance of Hagar, a woman who was pulled in and then cast out into the wilderness due to an impatient and jealous woman and her husband. Two imperfect God-fearing people, who temporarily got off track.
Abraham was an Israelite who had heard from the Lord that he was to become the father of many nations. He and His wife Sarah journeyed to Canaan as God had promised them, and somewhere along the way picked up an Egyptian servant girl named Hagar.
Abraham was focused on fulfilling Gods promise, which he eventually did. But not without a time of great turmoil, tension and long-lasting consequences. As the story unfolds, they were desperately trying for Sarah to get pregnant. After all, how do you become a father of many nations without children, right? Ater 10 years of trying, Sarah became very impatient.
In desperation Sarah constructed her own plan. She convinced Abraham to sleep with their servant girl Hagar in hopes she would bear Abraham a son. But after Hagar conceives, Sarah’s jealousy swells, and she bitterly mistreats Hagar.
The pregnant Hagar runs away to the wilderness. She runs from humiliation and oppression into almost certain death. But she encounters angel of the Lord that tells her to return and submit to Sarah. God assures her that she, too, will be the mother of a great nation. In response, Hagar gave this name to the Lord: El Roi, which means, “You are the God who sees me,” (Gen 16:13 NIV).
Fast forward in the story to Genesis 21, and Hagar is sent away a second time to die in the wilderness, this time with her young child, Ishmael. Though she is met and saved by an angel again, this time her exile is permanent.
Hagar shows us that even when we wander in wilderness places, even when life’s circumstances and situations push us into a corner, God is near to us and listening for our cry for help. Hagar was in a very difficult situation, and what did she do? She fled. Isn’t that often our natural tendency? “Get me out of here, this is too painful, too hard.” But still, God found her, right there in her hurt and in her need. He saw her; saw right into her situation, into her heart.
Friends, you are not invisible. You are not unseen by God, God sees you. You are seen and known and loved by the very God who hung the stars in the sky and formed you when you were in your mother’s womb (Psalm 139:13-14 and Jeremiah 1:5).
Listen, it does not matter what you have done or have not done. God sees you right where you are and His arms are wide open to you (1 Cor. 16:23-24). Jesus said “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest.” (Matt 11:28)
He is God, El Roi. He does not have a seeing problem; we do. His vision is perfect: ours impaired by the disease of sin, of weakness. But God says, “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.” (Psalm 32:8)
This is all good news for those of us who are less than perfect 😊We all may go through times when we may wonder “God, where are you?” Here’s what I’ve realized: When I feel unseen, chances are my eyes are not truly focused on Jesus, I’m focused on myself. I may feel invisible, but that’s on me. If I’m perfectly honest with myself, I can start to justify my poor eyesight by my works for God. “But God, I did this for you…I followed what you wanted me to do…and now, where are you?” My focus is on me—not Him—and what I have accomplished to somehow gain favor points with God, which is actually legalism.
This is what we need to do more than anything else: Set our eyes upon Jesus and truly worship Him. I have found that the best path in any situation in life is to raise my eyes to heaven and set my mind “on the things that are above, not on things that are on earth” (Col. 3:2). Just like the old hymn says, “Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face. And the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace.”
So, remember, if and when you ever feel unseen by God.
- God is not the one with the vision problem—you are. Right now, you only see in part, while He sees the entire picture.
- He is El Roi—the God who sees me. He sees all wounds and worries. He sees your heart. Look to Him and trust Him.
- God is no respecter of persons. Hagar was a non-Israelite, a woman with no power or status.
- Turn your eyes upon Jesus—praise Him, worship Him, and trust Him.
May God bless you richly today as you put your trust in Him. Until next time…
Blessed by the Best,
Mark
See You in the River 