The God Who Sees Me

Last week I wrote about a girl named Amisi in An Egyptian Flower. If you read Genesis 16 you’ll find more of Amisi’s story, which we addressed in our Sunday Celebration.

But why Amisi? Genesis 16 is the story of Hagar, servant to Sarah (Abraham’s wife), not someone named Amisi. Genesis 12:10-20 tells about Abraham and Sarah living for a time in Egypt, no doubt when Abraham procured Hagar for his wife. But Hagar is not an Egyptian name; it’s Hebrew, and means forsaken. What father would name his precious daughter Forsaken? Amisi's Hebrew name, most likely given by her mistress, makes her story all the more fascinating.

After Hagar got pregnant with Abraham’s child, she despised Sarah and in return Sarah started mistreating her, apparently provoked by feelings of jealousy. When Hagar (Forsaken) could take it no more, she ran away into the most forsaken place she could find, the desert. There she had an encounter with God, who assured her that her cries had been heard.

Hagar was a woman, a foreigner and a slave. She had absolutely no standing in society, and yet the God of all the universe found her in the wilderness, met with her and comforted her there. The Egyptian flower Amisi had received a new name, Hagar (Forsaken), but here in the most lonely place on earth she gave God a new name: You are the God who sees me. Can't you almost hear her? Even though I am forsaken, you are the God who does not forsake me. Even though I am rejected, you are the God who does not reject me. Even though I am unseen, you are the God who sees me.

We all feel forsaken and invisible from time to time. No matter how we feel, it is good to know that God hears and God sees. We are not forsaken, we are not rejected, and we are not unseen.