YOUR EYE IS ON THE SPARROW

An Egyptian slave, Hagar encountered God in the desert and addressed him as El Roi, "the God who sees me."
In the ancient world it was not uncommon for an infertile wife to arrange for a slave girl to sleep with her husband so that the family could have an heir.
When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress. Sarai then began to mistreat Hagar; so she fled from her.

How often, do we find it easier to run away from situations, rather than to endure and resolve issues, or allow God to change us in the midst of adversity. Hagar did have an attitude problem by despising her mistress after she found out she was pregnant!

The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. And he said, "Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?"
"I’m running away from my mistress Sarai," she answered.
Then the angel of the Lord told her, "Go back to your mistress and submit to her." The angel added, "I will so increase your descendants that they will be too numerous to count."

I wonder why the angel asked Hagar the question "Where have you come from, and where are you going?" Wouldn’t it be easier just to say, "Hey, I am an angel, lost your way? Let me lead you to a better place."
There must be a reason to that question, and could it be that the angel wanted Hagar to face the fact that she was running away. That she was running away because she could not stand the pressures, injustice and mistreatment of her employer. I guess that Hagar must have felt deep pain or anger when she said those words "I’m running away from my mistress Sarai." How often we have deep pain and buried emotions of anger that is within us and no matter where we go or what we do, these issues that caused the pain have to be faced and dealt with. Many people bury their deep pain in their work and busyness of life as an escape from having to face them. They are like Hagar, running away from their problems.

What did the angel say to Hagar? "You did the right thing? Your employer is good for nothing, let me help you get to the next destination?" The angel said "Go back to your mistress and submit to her." Wouldn’t we in our humanity say, "If only you know what I have gone through...it is easy for you to say such things....you have not been in my shoes...you don't understand etc..."

The angel also said to her:
"You are now with child and you will have a son. You shall name him Ishmael, for the Lord has heard of your misery. He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers."

Isn’t it good that in whatever adverse circumstances we face, we can seek God for Him to reveal His purposes. We can either see God’s hand in it and come forth victorious or succumb to the negatives and be bitter and angry with God and everyone else.

Hagar chose to see God in it and she gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: "You are the God who sees me" for she said "I have now seen the One who sees me." (Gen 16:13)

No matter what we go through, God sees us and sometimes we may not understand the difficulties and trials we have to go through, but rest assured that He always has something good in store. He provides us the grace, to go back to places that have been difficult, and we need to trust Him to help us face the issues of life and move on even in the midst of pain.

Hagar was not assured that she would be treated any better when she returned. In fact, when Ishmael grew up, she and Ishmael were driven out from their home, but there again, God showed His faithfulness in fulfilling the promises He made for Ishmael (Gen 21:8-20).

Ask EL ROI, the God who sees us, to open our eyes to His work and to increase our faith even and especially when His promises seem impossible to fulfill.

Lord, I praise You for You know the whole story. From beginning to end, You see it all. Give me the humility to admit my limitations. For I don’t always see the past accurately, my vision of the present is often blurred, and I am blind when it comes to the future. Help me fasten my eyes on You, trusting in Your vision for my life and in Your watchful care.

-jo-
(With reference to some points from Praying the Names of God by Ann Sprangler)

I WILL RUN TO YOU

Your eye is on the sparrow
And Your hand, it comforts me
From the ends of the earth
To the depths of my heart
Let Your mercy and strength be seen
You call me to Your purpose
As angels understand
For Your glory
May You draw all men
As Your love and grace demands

Chorus:
And I will run to You
To Your Words of Truth
Not by might, not by power
But by the Spirit of God
Yes, I will run the race
Till I see Your face
Oh, let me live in the glory
Of Your grace

I tried to capture in some small way the greatness of Almighty God, that He is so complete in His love for mankind, and yet is so incredible that He knows when one sparrow falls from the sky. Run towards God, don’t hold back. If you dare to put your life in His Hands, He will daily blow you away with His grace towards you. - Darlene Zschech-