BETHANY BELUE | GUEST
My family loves music. While we love all kinds of music, many nights after the kitchen is clean and the kids are bathed, we find ourselves dancing to 90’s pop and swinging our children around the room. Recently, as I danced with my little boy and looked over at my husband holding my little girl in the air, I thought to myself, “This is the life I dreamed of. Oh, how I feel seen by the Lord!”
It’s a simple thought and a true statement, but it stops me in my tracks. Of course, I feel seen by the Lord right now. I’m living the life I wanted. I hold the children for which I longed for so many years; I look at my husband for whom I spent many years praying, and although my life is far from perfect, I am living a life which brings me much joy. Yet, did the Lord not see me four years ago when we moved to a new city? I felt completely alone in a new church, our marriage was hard, and our children were an unmet desire. Was He not just as present then as He is now in this moment?
The God Who Sees
I’ve always been drawn to the story of Hagar. She was pregnant by Abraham, a man who was not her husband. After being mistreated by her mistress, Sarai, she fled to the desert where she was scared and alone. Yet, in her circumstances, the Angel of the Lord found her and spoke tenderly to her. Her response in this situation is one of my favorites in the entire Bible: “So she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, ‘You are a God of seeing,’ for she said, ‘Truly I have seen him who looks after me’” (Gen. 16:13). Not only did the Angel find her, but he saw her! He looked after her in her pain, in her destitute state. She and her son were not part of the covenant people of God, yet God was present for her.
That same God who saw Hagar is the same God who was with the Israelites as they wandered in the desert (Ex. 16); with Joseph when he was a slave in a land that was not his own (Gen. 39); with Jonah in the belly of a whale (Jonah 2), and with His son Jesus as He hung on the cross (John 19). All throughout the Bible we can read stories of men and women who were seen by the Lord, the God who not only sees in the good and fruitful times, but who also sees His children in moments of waiting, hurt, loneliness, and even moments of living in sin.
A God Who Redeems
I could share many reasons why I feel seen by the Lord today, but I am challenged to face the moments that didn’t feel like seen: the moments of deep pain and hurt, the moments when I didn’t know the next step to take, and I felt completely alone. The pain of those moments still feels near and raw, but the promise of our God—that I know to be true—is that He is the same God who sees me now as who saw me then. He is the God who sees. Not only is He a God who sees; He is a God who redeems. He is a God who promised to not leave His children alone in the desert. He is a God who promised One greater than Moses who would lead His people. And He kept that promise in His son, Jesus Christ. He left His son alone in His pain so that we might never be alone. Jesus paid for our sins on the cross on our behalf. And one day, He will redeem all the hard, all the broken, and all the pain when Christ returns to make all things new.
The brokenness of this world is real. We will experience seasons in the desert. In our wanderings, we may question if the Lord sees us. May we remember what Hagar realized; may we see our God as a God who sees. May we see Him as One who looks after us not only in moments of joy, but also in moments of pain and sorrow. May we cling to the hope that because we are a child of God, we will one day not only be seen by the Lord, but we will see Him face to face in our eternal home.
