The God Who Sees and Hears
Genesis 16:7-16
Last time we began looking at Genesis 16 and the story of the birth of Ishmael. We saw that it is a story of Abram and Sarai believing the promises of God but struggling with their circumstances. Abram and Sarai acted in their flesh to try to produce the promised son through Sarai’s maid Hagar. It is a story of impatience and expediency; of presumption and passivity; of selfishness and envy; of cruelty and unkindness. What a mess we make of things when we take matters into our own hands rather than trusting in the Lord and waiting on Him!
The second part of Genesis 16 focuses on Hagar. In Genesis 16:6 we saw that Hagar fled from Sarai when her mistress began treating her harshly. How do you think Hagar felt? Things had seemed to look up for her, for a brief moment. Her lowly status as a servant had changed when, responding to Sarai’s request and according to the custom of the day, Abram had taken her to produce a child on behalf of the barren Sarai. But when Hagar became pregnant, she arrogantly looked down on her mistress Sarai, who then mistreated her. Finally, things got so bad that Hagar ran away through the wilderness in the direction of her homeland.
Let’s read our text, Genesis 16:7-16,
7 Now the Angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur. 8 And He said, “Hagar, Sarai’s maid, where have you come from, and where are you going?” She said, “I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai.”
9 The Angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit yourself under her hand.” 10 Then the Angel of the Lord said to her, “I will multiply your descendants exceedingly, so that they shall not be counted for multitude.” 11 And the Angel of the Lord said to her:
“Behold, you are with child,
And you shall bear a son.
You shall call his name Ishmael,
Because the Lord has heard your affliction.
12 He shall be a wild man;
His hand shall be against every man,
And every man’s hand against him.
And he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.”
13 Then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, You-Are-the-God-Who-Sees; for she said, “Have I also here seen Him who sees me?” 14 Therefore the well was called Beer Lahai Roi; observe, it is between Kadesh and Bered.
15 So Hagar bore Abram a son; and Abram named his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael. 16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.
There are two dominant themes in these verses: First, the LORD sees Hagar (Gen. 16:7-12); and second, Hagar sees God (Gen. 16:13-16). The LORD saw Hagar’s affliction; as a result, Hagar saw God’s mercy and submitted to Him. (I drew from Stephen Cole’s points for this sermon). This story is encouraging if you are suffering and feel that God has abandoned you. God is faithful. He has not forgotten. He sees your affliction. Because He sees, you can see His mercy, and submit to Him.
1. In your affliction, God sees you
This story again demonstrates the faithfulness and mercy of our God. The LORD is patient with His people, and faithful to preserve them. Indeed, “He gathers together the outcasts of Israel. He heals the brokenhearted And binds up their wounds.” (Psalm 147:2-3).
Having fled from Sarai’s harsh treatment, Hagar traveled in the wilderness toward her homeland of Egypt. This is a very interesting and revealing text. Genesis 16:7 begins, “Now the Angel of the Lord found her …” This gives the impression that the LORD was seeking Hagar, He was pursuing her. God is a seeking God! We may think that we found Him, but the reality is, He found us. In Riomans 3 Paul quotes David from Psalm 14 saying,
10 As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one; 11 There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God. 12 They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.” (Rom. 3:10-12).
Like Hagar, we were lost and confused, unrighteous and unaware, wandering away from God. But the LORD came looking and found us. Jesus said He came “to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). Hagar could flee from the presence of Sarai, but she couldn’t flee from the presence of the Lord. Even when God’s people failed to live up to the covenant, God was faithful. And even though Abram had been unfaithful in his dealings with Hagar, God was faithful to her. The Angel of the LORD found her.
Genesis 16:7 is the first occurrence of the term angel in the Bible. The word “angel” means messenger. This messenger is “the Angel of the Lord” or “the Angel of Yahweh” (Gen. 16:7, 9, 10, 11). Who is this “angel of Yahweh”? What makes “the Angel of the LORD” different from other angels who appear in the Old Testament?
Several things stand out about this Angel of the LORD from the various passages of Scripture where He appears.
- “The angel of the LORD” is distinct from Yahweh, yet identified with Yahweh (Gen. 16:10, 13; 22:11-18; 31:11, 13; Ex. 3:2, 4; Josh. 5:13-15; 6:2; Zech. 1:10-13; 3:1, 2). Here in Genesis 16 as well as in several other passages, the term “the Angel of Yahweh” is interchangeable with “Yahweh,” The conclusion is that the presence of the Angel of the LORD is the same as the presence of the LORD (Ex. 32:24-30, 34; 33:11, 14, 20; Isa. 63:9). He accepts worship due only to God.
- Often it seems impossible to distinguish between the Angel of the LORD and the LORD Himself. This is true in our text (Gen. 16:7-13) and in many other occurrences (Gen. 21:17; 22:17-18; 24:7, 40; 31:11-13; 48:16; Ex. 3:2-10; Judges 6:12-14; 13:21-22). This unique Angel seems to possess full authority and character of God.
- “The angel of the LORD” speaks as God, identifies Himself with God, and claims the prerogatives of God (Gen. 16:7-14; 21:17-21; 22:11-18; 31:11, 13; Ex. 3:2; Judges 2:1-4; 5:23; 6:11-24; 13:3-22; 2 Sam. 24:16; Zech. 1:12; 3:1; 12:8). In Exodus 3 when Moses was on Horeb, the mountain of God, it says, “And the Angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush” (Exo. 3:2). But it is God who speaks to Moses from the burning bush saying, “I am the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” (Exo. 3:6).
- “The Angel of the LORD” was a divine person, and appears to be not simply a heavenly messenger, but the Lord Himself come to deal with Hagar in her time of distress. She recognized that it was God Himself who had seen her and whom she had seen, “Then she called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, You-Are-the-God-Who-Sees; for she said, ‘Have I also here seen Him who sees me?’” (Gen. 16:13). This is what we call a theophany, a manifestation of the LORD Himself. God showed Hagar that He cared for her by coming and meeting her Himself as she fled.
The Lord called Hagar by name and said, “Hagar, Sarai’s maid, where have you come from, and where are you going?” (Gen. 16:8). Remember, when God asks questions it is not because He doesn’t know the answers. He asks in order get someone to probe their own heart. The LORD wanted Hagar to think about two things: Where have you come from? and, Where are you going? Those are good questions to ask yourself when you’re in a difficult situation: Where have you come from? Did God allow that trial for some reason? Where are you going? Did you seek His permission to run? Our real need in a bad situation is not to escape, but to seek and to submit to the Lord.
The Lord is dealing with Hagar’s prideful heart. She answered, “I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai” (Gen. 16:8). God’s questions call Hagar to repentance. She had come from being Sarai’s maid. As such, she was not free to flee from her duty.
The LORD’s message to Hagar included both a command and promises. First the Lord commanded her, “Return to your mistress, and submit yourself under her hand” (Gen. 16:9). God called her to return and submit. Return implies repentance. Submit implies obedience. Hagar needed to return and submit. Listen, our number one need in times of affliction is to return and submit, to repent and obey. We don’t learn to submit to God by running from our problems.
Stephen Cole writes,
The book of First Peter is about submission to authority in a time of trial. The Christians to whom Peter wrote were suffering, some as slaves under harsh masters, some as wives under disobedient husbands, all as citizens under an unjust government. Peter’s word to each group of victims was, “Submit” (1 Pet. 2:13, 18; 3:1). He sums it up, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety upon Him, because He cares for you” (1 Pet. 5:6-7). Your number one need in a time of trial is to submit to God–humble yourself under His mighty hand. He is in control of the circumstances.
While that’s a difficult word, it’s also a merciful word. The Lord is merciful and kind. He sees the affliction of His people. He pursues us even in our sin, and He calls us to repent and return, to submit and obey, even when it is hard.
After calling her to return and submit, then the LORD encouraged Hagar with His promises:
10 Then the Angel of the LORD said to her, “I will multiply your descendants exceedingly, so that they shall not be counted for multitude.” 11 And the Angel of the LORD said to her: “Behold, you are with child, And you shall bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael, Because the LORD has heard your affliction. 12 He shall be a wild man; His hand shall be against every man, And every man’s hand against him. And he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.” (Gen. 16:10-12).
What a gracious promise Hagar receives from the Lord! God’s promises to her were similar to the ones He had already promised Abram: a multitude of descendants too numerous to count and a son named Ishmael, which means “God hears.” She must call her son Ishmael, “Because the LORD has heard your affliction” (Gen. 16:11).
He not only hears and sees our affliction, He sees the future after our affliction is over. God reveals that Ishmael will be a wild donkey of a man, meaning, a strong, independent, untamed man. He will be a fighter, whose hand will be against everyone. When it says, “he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren,” it means “in the face of.” Ishmael’s Arab descendants lived near (to the east of) Isaac’s descendants and were in opposition to their brethren. These were words of hope for Hagar. Her son would not, like her, be enslaved, but he would prosper.
So the first great theme in these verses is that God saw Hagar. God sees our affliction; He cares; and He calls us to return and submit to Him. That brings us to our second theme,
2. In your affliction, you can see God
Hagar responded to the LORD’s message to her by faith. Genesis 16:13 says, “Then she called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, You-Are-the-God-Who-Sees; for she said, ‘Have I also here seen Him who sees me?’” When she realized that God had seen her, she responded by acknowledging that she had seen God and she named both the Lord and the spring after her experience. “Therefore the well was called Beer Lahai Roi; observe, it is between Kadesh and Bered” (Gen. 16:14). These names are her statement of faith.
Hagar met the living Lord and called His name El Roi, “You-Are-the-God-Who-Sees.” God sees! Not only does God see, but even better, God sees me, and in spite of my confusion and rebellion, He lets me get a glimpse of Him! What an amazing thing! That God would reveal Himself to sinners like Hagar and like us!
She called the well, “Beer Lahai Roi,” which means either, “the well of the Living One who sees me,” or, as C. F. Keil argues, “the well of the seeing alive,” since Hagar “saw” God and remained alive. Her encounter with the living God became a testimony to others. When travelers asked, “How did this place get this name?” they would retell the story of how God met Hagar there in her time of need, told her what to do and promised His blessing. When the Lord revealed Himself to you in your trial, did you bear witness to others of God’s tender mercy?
Hagar responded to the Lord with submission and obedience. She returns to Abram and Sarai as God commanded her. Genesis 16:15 says, “So Hagar bore Abram a son; and Abram named his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael.”
One lesson we should surely learn from Genesis 16 is that when circumstances seem to be against us, when we feel like God has forgotten us and that He isn’t hearing our prayers, God wants us to submit in faith to Him, not resort to our own human schemes.
We need to go back and put ourselves under the authority God has ordained for our benefit. If you’re a teenager, you need to submit to your parents. If you’re married, you need to commit yourself to your partner, in spite of the difficulties. If you’re hopping from church to church, disgruntled with each one because of the impossible people who have wronged you, you need to commit yourself to a church where Christ is honored and His Word is preached. Stick it out and work through the problems in a spirit of submission to the leadership God has placed in that church, even though they aren’t perfect. (Cole).
God saw Hagar, and I can tell you confidently, He sees you. He especially sees your affliction. He will act in mercy toward you. He will meet you there. How will you respond to Him? Will you submit yourself to His loving purpose? The French writer, Paul Claudel, wrote, “Christ did not come to do away with suffering; He did not come to explain it; He came to fill it with His presence.” I pray that today you will see the God who sees you. Jesus said, “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” (J0hn 16:33). Have you seen this Jesus? Have you believed on Him?
There is both warning and hope combined in this story. Detours do not mean dead ends. God sees and God hears. Those who wait on Him will never be disappointed. The Lord was kind to Sarai and Abram and Hagar despite their sin. He would fulfill the promises that He made to them. But it would happen according to God’s plan, not human scheming. “He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it” (1 Thess. 5:24).
