She was the “other woman.” Not cherished but chattel. Outside the family, outside the promises. The “Plan B” that should never have been conceived much less should have been forced to conceive herself. The penultimate object lesson of what can happen when we lean unto our own understanding (Prov. 3:6) and determine that by our might, and by our power — not by His Spirit — we will make things happen (Zec. 4:6).

She is Hagar. An Egyptian servant until, one day, she is the enlisted surrogate to “save” God’s promise. Sarai’s solution to having a baby.

But then, this innocent, humble bystander, after losing her innocence and becoming pregnant with Abram’s child, becomes a contemptuous, arrogant, despising source of tension in the house. And Sarai’s response? A little crazy if you think about it.

“Look what you’ve done,” she says, in effect, to her husband, “the woman I gave you so that she could give me a child is now looking down on me. And I don’t like it! And it’s your fault! Do something!” To which Abram, responds, “You do something, she’s your servant.” And Sarai does something, she “dealt harshly with her.” So much so, that Hagar needed to flee.

What a mess!

But out of the mess, a message — our God is a God of seeing.

The angel of the LORD found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur. And he said, “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 to her, “Return to your mistress and submit to her.” The angel of the LORD also said to her, “I will surely multiply your offspring so that they cannot be numbered for multitude.” . . . 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 16:7-10, 13 ESV)

A God of seeing . . .

Seeing the mistakes. Seeing the consequences and collateral damage from men’s (and women’s) machinations. Seeing the mess.

And this God of seeing is the God who looks after me.

For He is “a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness” (Ex. 34:6). A God who engages and intervenes. Even in the mess.

A God able to sympathize with our weakness as, through His Son, He “passed through the heavens”, entered our world, and lived among the mess. “One who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Heb. 4:15). One who found Himself in His own mess and “offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to Him who was able to save Him from death” (Heb. 5:7). One fully qualified, in all respects, to see and to look after me in my mess — whether it’s a mess from no fault of my own or a mess of my own making.

Behold our God!

Know that our God beholds us.

He is a God of seeing. He is the God who looks after me.

Because of grace. For His glory.