God Sees Us

Hagar had a hard life. She was a servant who lived in a tent with her nomadic masters. She was used as a surrogate mother by her employers, and she became pregnant by her boss. After Hagar became pregnant, there was strife in the family, and her boss’s wife became envious. She had regrets for allowing this to happen, and she began mistreating Hagar.

One day Hagar couldn’t take it any more, and she ran away. She had nowhere to go because she was from a foreign country. She was pregnant and couldn’t travel. She didn’t know what to do so she sat down helpless in the wilderness.

Then God revealed himself to her. He gave her direction for her life. Hagar said, “You are the God who sees.” She knew that God saw her condition and sympathized with her. 

Hagar also said, “Have I also here seen Him who sees me?”

God saw Hagar all along. He knows everything. But she thought she was all alone until the moment when God opened her eyes to see him. That changed things.

God told Hgar to go back home.

Things went relatively well for Hagar for about 16 more years. But then Hagar’s employer’s wife became pregnant herself and gave birth to her own child. This created further turmoil in the family, and Hagar was kicked out of the house along with her teenage son.

Hagar and her son wandered in the desert with nowhere to go. There was no water in the desert, and they became thirsty. Her son became dehydrated and was exhausted, and so she put him under the shade of a bush and left him to die. She went away from him because she didn’t want to see him pass away.

Then God opened Hagar’s eyes. She saw water. The water was there all along, but she had been too overwhelmed to see it. All she could see was her own problems. But when God intervened, her eyes were opened to see the blessing that had always been there. She drank some water and gave some to her son. They recovered strength and through God’s help were able to survive and begin a new life.

God sees us.

He knows our thoughts and what’s inside our hearts. We can’t hide anything from him because he knows everything about us (Psalm 139:1-4). God cares about us and loves us.

There was a time in our lives when we didn’t see God or know him. We were just living for ourselves. Maybe we ended up in a spiritual desert.

But then God opened our eyes to see something new. We saw and understood God for the first time. He was there all along, but we just didn’t see him. Sometimes it takes hard situations like Hagar’s for us to be willing to see God.

When we first connected to God he opened our eyes.

Jesus opened the eyes of a lot of blind people on the earth. It’s amazing for a blind person to recover sight. When a blind person sees, he discovers new things and experiences life like never before.

When God opens our eyes to see him, our spiritual eyes are opened, and we see the world in a new way.

God shows us things about himself. He shows us that he exists. He shows us that he created the world – it didn’t just happen. Laws, matter, and life were all created by him and for his purposes.

When God opens our eyes he shows us things about Jesus Christ. Whereas the communists say Jesus was just a moral teacher and Muslims says he was just a miracle-worker, God shows us that Jesus has resurrected and is still alive today.

God opens our eyes to see things about ourselves. He shows us that we need help. We have problems. We need to change things. This knowledge came by the Holy Spirit, not by our own understanding. God gave us clear answers to big questions.

God showed us things about the world we’re living in. He showed us that the things in the world won’t satisfy us. They are empty. All the entertainment in the world, the hobbies, and the relationships don’t really satisfy. Furthermore, God shows us that many things in the world are contrary to God. Through the Bible we find out what God likes and what he doesn’t like.

In addition, we find out who God is. We won’t know this by ourselves, but God has to tell us. The Bible tells us all we need to know about God. He is perfect. He is holy. And he is love.

This is different than the world. There is dirt in the world – not just material dirt, but the kind of dirt that stains our hearts. Sin is something that is contrary to God. It makes the heart and soul dirty.

Anyone can clean their bodies; if our skin gets dirty we take a shower. If our clothes get dirty we put them in a washing machine. But how can we clean our hearts?

What if we feel guilty about something we did? What if we feel shame?

We try to do better. But what if we can’t undo the hurt that we caused others, and we can’t heal the hurt in our own hearts? What if we lack strength to change ourselves?

Our hearts are dirty because we sinned against God. We need someone greater than ourselves to clean our hearts. Only God can clean our hearts (Isaiah 1:18; 44:22). 

Jesus washes us from our sins in his own blood (Revelation 1:5). Jesus’ blood has power to cleanse us. Blood doesn’t usually make something clean; it makes things dirty. But the blood of Jesus is unique because it is from God, and it has the power to cleanse us.

Jesus lived a perfect life and then he died. He died not for his own sins, because he didn’t have any, but he died for our sins. Then he rose up again because those sins couldn’t keep him down.

Now, by the death of Jesus, we are washed and cleansed from our own sins. When we believe in him, our sins are gone.

When we first trust in Christ, God’s Spirit comes inside us. The old spirit of the world goes out, and we are changed. The spirit of the world caused us to love the things of the world. But the Spirit of God causes us to know and love the things of God. God’s Holy Spirit remakes us. He gives us new desires, likes, and dislikes.

We change, and we see things differently. We see new things. 

God sees us all along and knows everything about us. But the Bible says we need to anoint our eyes to see. Without vision, God’s people perish. He helps us to see him and to see ourselves in the light of God. 

May God help us to see him clearly by his Spirit. May he help us see what is around us, and not be covered over with deception. May we see him and understand our place in his kingdom. May His Spirit smash the lies and fortresses of the devil that block our sight, in Jesus’ name.