EMPOWERING LIVES WITH PURPOSE:
Deb Hogan, WWL Guest Writer
Once again, I find myself sitting at the cancer center waiting for blood work. The waiting room is full of people, but I feel alone. I have a GPS device clipped to my blouse and a wristband stating my name and birthdate. Is this who I have become? A number on a wristband? When the technician calls me, I know I am just one among many patients she will see today. She doesn’t “see” me. She just knows me from my wristband. She doesn’t “know” me. She doesn’t know that I love to sing, enjoy Italian food, and cry at commercials. She doesn’t know that I am sensitive and get hurt easily. But God knows.
We see this character trait of God through the Old Testament story of Hagar in Genesis chapter 16. Sarah, Abraham’s wife, was not getting pregnant even though God had promised that Abraham’s descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky. Sarah decided to take matters into her own hands and gave her maidservant to Abraham. Hagar conceived and this caused division between the two women. “Sarah began to mistreat Hagar and Hagar ran away… The angel of the Lord found her near a spring in the desert, and the angel of the Lord said to her: You are now pregnant, and you will give birth to a son. You shall name him Ishmael, for the Lord has heard your misery…Hagar gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: You are the God who sees me.” (Gen. 16:7a, 11, 13a)
Do you feel “seen” today? Do you “know” that God knows you? Psalm 139 outlines God’s complete knowledge of us – adding that God’s thoughts toward us outnumber the grains of sand on the seashore. (Ps 139:17 NIV) Rejoice today that the God of the universe “sees” you! You don’t have to show Him your wristband to jog His memory. He even sees your sin, yet the Bible says, “While we were still sinners Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8 NIV) So the next time you feel unseen remember that your name is engraved on the palm of His hand.
You are seen. You are known. You are loved.