The Living One Who Sees Me

As I'm preparing to teach tomorrow on Sunday School, I feel the Lord's hand working on my life in this very subject I decided to talk today.

Last year as I prepared to move back to my home country, the Lord came powerfully and moved things around me and told me clearly He didn't want me to go home. He called me to trust him. Let me tell you this is the hardest thing I've ever done in my life.

I grew up always planning my future, looking ahead, having an idea of where I'm gonna be in the next 2-5 years. But since the Lord said "TRUST ME", I've been learning to put aside my plans and do it. I had lots of experiences with God in the past, but nothing prepared me for that.

How do you trust when you can't see a thing in front of you? As a Thomas kind of person, I felt very bad when, looking to what I thought is missing in my life, I blame God for not having it. And as I prepared the lesson for tomorrow, God caught my attention in a special way. Let me take you there.

When we are children, it’s easy to feel afraid when things around us don’t go as we expect. If a storm starts, if we get sick, if we move schools, every little thing can make us think we are alone. But God never let us alone, he is always seeing us and look with us with compassion. When we grow up, the situations are different, but it doesn't mean we feel different. We can still feel the same loneliness and abandon.

The lesson this Sunday is about Hagar's story, and her experience with God. Have you ever been in a situation where nobody was there to help you? Hagar thought she was alone and forgotten, but found out Someone was watching over her.

In Genesis 16 we read that Sarai, Abram's wife, decided to take things in her hands and accomplish God's promise of an heir to them through giving her servant Hagar as a wife to her husband. When Hagar got pregnant, she started despising her mistress. Sarai complained to Abram and he said she could do whatever pleased her to Hagar, he didn't care. So Sarai mistreated Hagar, and she fled from her.

The angel of the LORD found Hagar near a spring in the desert and asked her what she was doing there. She explained she had run from her mistress. Then He told her to go back to Sarai and make her a promise - her descendant would be too numerous to count. He told her son would be called Ishmael (God hears), for the LORD had heard of her misery. He also added that he (and his descendants) would be against everyone and everyone against him. The descendants of Ishmael are the arabs, and from here you can understand the conflict between Israel and Palestine and much more. But this is not our topic here. 

The question is Hagar was feeling lost and abandoned, neglected for her mistress, a pregnant woman in the desert. Sometimes we feel the same way - I do. Psalm 121.7 says: “The LORD will keep you from all harm—he will watch over your life”. What do you think it means? Another verse says: “For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.” (Ps. 34.15) It means that God is seeing us all the time. Whatever our situation, God sees us, and He is there to help us. He knows what is hidden in the future, cause He planned it for us.

"TRUST ME" is the hardest thing for me because I want to do, I want to be, I want to know. But  I don't, and you don't, and nobody knows what future lies ahead.So we have to trust God even when things go hard (well, and when things go easy too).

When life becomes painful, we can find strength in what Hagar discovered. The Lord is “the Living One Who Sees Me.” When we understand that the Lord is aware of our pain and need, our strength will be renewed. God not only sees us, He sees the future. He promised Hagar a future for her unborn son Ishmael. We too have hope for tomorrow, whatever our pain is today. God is never caught on surprise. He is the One Who Sees.

“The LORD will keep you from all harm—he will watch over your life”. Ps.121.9

Hope you find this assurance as I do tonight. 

Your Sister