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.” The angel of the LORD 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.” 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.” That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi; it is still there, between Kadesh and Bered. So Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son she had borne. Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael. – Genesis 16:7-16 (NIV)
The preceding chapters describe Abram and Sarai impatient for a child. So Sarai gives her servant, Hagar, to Abram (who seems quite willing to sleep with her I might add). Abram get’s this Egyptian maidservant pregnant and then Sarai get’s mad and sends her away. God meets Hagar at a springs, presumably near where Abram and his wife were camped in the desert. Why did God choose to meet her at a spring. In a sense God met Hagar at a location where she was already being cared for by God through the provision of water in the spring. Hagar may not have realized or acknowledged this but she probably could not have survived in the desert without water from the spring. I am reminded of the vine that grew up for Jonah to protect him from the sun.
God provides many things for us which we may not realize or appreciate. He truly knows our needs better than we do. The name that Hagar gives God is very interesting “You are the God who sees me”. This had to be somewhat unique and revolutionary at the time. Most religions, including Christianity and Judaism at times, are all about God seeing us for what we do. This passage describes a God who “sees me”, sees all of me — who I am more than what I do. The amazing part of that is that God loves what he sees, no matter how badly we fail or mess up.
Prayer: You see all of me God, thank you that you still love what you see.
Walking on Water 
