The God Who Sees

One of the glorious attributes of the eternal God is His omniscience. God has complete awareness, understanding, and knowledge. He knows everything. He sees everything. One of my favorite examples of God's omniscience in the Bible is the story of Sarai and Hagar:

"Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children. She had a female Egyptian servant whose name was Hagar. And Sarai said to Abram, “Behold now, the LORD has prevented me from bearing children. Go in to my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. So, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her servant, and gave her to Abram her husband as a wife. And he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, she looked with contempt on her mistress. And Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done to me be on you! I gave my servant to your embrace, and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked on me with contempt. May the LORD judge between you and me!” But Abram said to Sarai, “Behold, your servant is in your power; do to her as you please.” Then Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she fled from her.

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.” And the angel of the LORD said to her,

 “Behold, you are pregnant
  and shall bear a son.
 You shall call his name Ishmael,
  because the LORD has listened to your affliction.
 He shall be a wild donkey of a man,
  his hand against everyone
  and everyone's hand against him,
 and he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen.”


 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.” Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi; it lies between Kadesh and Bered.

And Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram called the name of his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael. Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram."

Let's consider the context of this story, and let's do it from the perspective of Hagar.

Hagar is an Egyptian by birth, and has become the servant, or slave of Sarai, Abram's wife. Now Hagar lives as personal property of Sarai. Sarai to this point in the story had not borne Abram a son, according to the promise of the Lord. In a move of unbelief, Sarai asks Abram to lay with Hagar, that she may bear Sarai a child. This was a common practice in the culture of the time. For Hagar, her individuality and rights are not recognized and she find herself laying with her master's husband and she gets pregnant by him.

Now, Hagar is looking upon her master's wife with utter contempt and pride. "I can get pregnant, and I will be bearing a child to your husband, and you are barren." These are the kinds of contemptuous thoughts coursing through Hagar's mind. She could do something Sarai could not, and she looks down on her with utter contempt. How easy it is to look down on someone with contempt and harshness when they can't do what we can do! How easy it is to look down on someone who doesn't have what we have! How easy it is to look down on someone who isn't gifted in ways that we are gifted! That is what Hagar is doing to Sarai, and the stress of the situation reaches a boiling point.

Sarai deals harshly with her, and Hagar flees. She is pregnant, scared, used, and forced to flee back to Egypt. Imagine the fear and desperation in Hagar's life at this time. She is utterly afflicted, she is hopeless, and she is completely lost. And in her affliction God comes to her. He confirms to her that he has heard her affliction.

She calls out to him, "You are a God of seeing," saying, "Truly here I have seen him who looks after me."

God is the God who sees. He looks upon the lowly in their affliction. He sees all of the ugly things about us, such as the contempt of Hagar. Yet for those of us who have trusted Christ, we partake in God's steadfast love and mercy. Psalm 102 tells us that God "regards the prayer of the destitute" (v. 17). Psalm 102 continues,

"Let this be recorded for a generation to come,
  so that a people yet to be created may praise the LORD:
 that he looked down from his holy height;
  from heaven the LORD looked at the earth,
 to hear the groans of the prisoners,
  to set free those who were doomed to die,
 that they may declare in Zion the name of the LORD,
  and in Jerusalem his praise,
 when peoples gather together,
  and kingdoms, to worship the LORD." (v. 18-22)

God sees the afflicted and the sinner. He looks down at the earth. And the good news of the gospel is right here: He hears the groans of the prisoners and sets us free who were doomed to die because of our sin! God sent Jesus to die for our sin on the cross so that we may be reconciled to the One who sees us.

"All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." (2 Corinthians 5:18-21)

God sees our sin and knows our affliction and He loves us so much that He sent Christ to die to reconcile us to Himself. If you have trusted Christ, your trespasses are not held against you. The God who sees you has shown you great mercy. Paul implores here, "Be reconciled to God." That's the gospel. If you haven't trusted Christ as your Lord and Savior, now is the time! Be reconciled to God!

J.I Packer sums up being known by God in his book Knowing God, "There is unspeakable comfort...in knowing that God is constantly taking knowledge of me in love and watching over me for my good. There is tremendous relief in knowing that his love for me is utterly realistic, based at every point on prior knowledge of the worst about me..." Packer adds, "There is great incentive to worship and love God in the thought that, for some unfathomable reason, he wants me as his friend and desires to be my friend and has given his Son to die for me in order to realize this purpose." (Knowing God p. 42)

This is true for all who are reconciled to God by the blood of Christ. He knows you, sees you, loves you and watches over you. God wants you as his friend and desires to be your friend and has given his Son to make that happen. All glory be to Christ! If you trust Christ, be encouraged that God sees you and hears your affliction and is always with you. If you haven't yet trusted Christ, I implore you, be reconciled to God and experience the beauty of relationship with the one who sees you!