The God Who Sees Me

Genesis 16:13 (NLT)

“Thereafter, Hagar used another name to refer to the Lord, who had spoken to her. She said, ‘You are the God who sees me.’ She also said, ‘Have I truly seen the One who sees me?’”

Not the One They Picked

Hagar wasn’t Sarah. She wasn’t chosen. She didn’t hold the promise. She was given to Abram not out of love, but out of someone else’s impatience with God. Used for what she could provide. Then discarded when her presence became inconvenient.

And yet—God came to her.

Not Abram.
Not Sarah.
Hagar.

She was a woman, an Egyptian, a servant, and now—pregnant and alone in the wilderness. She had no power. No choice. No protection.

But she had a God who sees.

God Didn't Just Speak to Her—He Found Her

Earlier in verse 7, it says:

“The angel of the Lord found Hagar beside a spring of water in the wilderness…”

Found. That means He went looking.

This isn’t a moment of convenience—it’s a rescue. Hagar wasn’t calling on God. She wasn’t worshipping. She was surviving. And still—God came for her.

This is what makes this passage radical: Hagar didn’t go looking for God. God went looking for her.

If you've ever felt invisible... like you're just filling a role in someone else’s story... like you’re too complicated, too tired, too unimportant to be considered… Hagar’s story is a reminder: you are not disposable. You are not forgotten. You are not invisible.

She Named God

This is the only time in all of Scripture that someone gives God a name.

Not Moses.
Not David.
Not Paul.
Hagar.
A runaway, a foreigner, a single mother in the desert.

“You are the God who sees me.” — Genesis 16:13

Not just God provides.
Not just God is holy.
But God sees me.

Not my productivity. Not my pain as a footnote. Not my body as property. Not my role as mother or maid.
Me.

And what’s even more powerful? She doesn’t just feel seen—she says,

“Have I truly seen the One who sees me?”

Being seen doesn’t always come with a solution. But it does come with presence. And that presence gives you enough strength to return—not to suffering, but to testify. To carry the evidence that you were known by God.

A Word for the Unseen

You don’t have to be the center of someone’s narrative to be at the center of God’s heart. You don’t have to pray perfect prayers to be pursued. And even if no one in your life has called you worthy—God already did.

A Prayer for the One in the Wilderness

God who sees,
Thank You for finding us in our wilderness, in our running, in our silence.
Thank You that we do not need to perform to be seen.
Teach us to speak truth about who You are—like Hagar did.
Let our seeing You be the beginning of seeing ourselves as loved.
Amen.