Text: Gen 16:1-16
Vs 13 MSG: She answered God By name, praying to the God who spoke to her,” You’re the God who sees me! Yes, he saw me and then I saw Him!” That’s how that desert spring got named,” God-Alive-Sees-me Spring”.
NLT- Thereafter Hagar used another name to refer to the Lord who had spoken to her. She said
“You are the Lord who sees me”. She also said, Have I truly seen the One who sees me?…
According to the culture of those days, a barren wife could have a surrogate child through her maidservant. eg Rachel and Lear both gave their maidservants to Jacob and they had children for Jacob. Hence Sarai gave Hagar to Abram who made her pregnant. She did the right thing at the wrong time and it amounted to a mistake on her part. This caused jealousy and ill-treatment from Sarai that Hagar has a child and I don’t have one and Hagar ran away into the desert because of the ill-treatment. Hagar was however shocked to encounter God who she realised was watching over her and her unborn child to protect them. Even though she had run away into the desert to face life as a single mother, God saw her and cared for her. Even though God’s covenant was with Abram and not directly with her God still watched over her to rescue and bless her and her son. God brought a blessing out of a mistake. Bible says in Ps 127:3 that Children are a blessing from the Lord and the fruit of the womb is his reward. God still blessed the child and made provision for him. You see brethren God does not discard or abandon anyone. When a prostitute has a child, we call it a mistake but that is not how God sees it, he sees it as a blessing to the world because there is a purpose and destiny that the child has come to fulfil e.g. Jephthah in Judg 11:1- 12 was the son of a harlot and was thrown out of his father’s house etc.
There is someone here today God has sent me to you to say dry your tears for very soon you will see the other side of me that will bring you joy and laughter and cause you to sing a new song of joy and gladness IJN.
Brethren there are things in life, challenges that we are facing that we think nobody knows or if they know they don’t see how it is affecting you, e.g. the suffering, the pain the sorrow of heart that they don’t see but God the righteous judge sees it all, he feels what you feel and he knows and sees what you are going through and I can assure you He will grant you victory over the battles of life you are facing IJN. To those of us who are married there may be times you wish there was a third person who can mediate between you and your spouse so they know you are right but don’t worry, the unseen guest, the third person is seeing everything and would surely vindicate you IJN.
I don’t know whether you are also carrying a heavy burden like this woman, a load that is hard to bear, maybe it’s the burden of the family and your husband doesn’t understand, and he probably doesn’t want to know. As a man are you placing burdens on your wife that you should be carrying? Repent and wake up to your responsibilities because the Righteous judge sees it all.
I believe there is someone here who this message is for. God has sent me to tell you that he sees everything you are going through and because Hagar and the unborn child did not die in the desert, whatever you are going through will not kill you nor overwhelm you, that thing you are carrying will not die in your hands IJN. Children are a blessing from the Lord and the fruit of the womb is his reward. It does not matter whether they came as a result of rape which we call a mistake but with God there are no mistakes because he knows the end from the beginning. We are talking about bringing a blessing out of a mistake.
You see It is easy to feel that you have been forgotten by God especially at moments when, like Hagar, you have been unjustly treated and when we become clouded in our circumstances knowing God as the God who sees everything can help you to have hope again. A lot of the unpleasant things that have happened to me in the ministry, I have been able to shake off because I believe he sees everything and that gives me hope. He is the one who can find you in the wilderness of your life when no one else knows you are there let alone reach you. He is the One who can bring you out of a horrible pit, out of that sticky situation and set your feet upon a rock and establish your goings. God brought a blessing out of the mistake of Sarai. What Sarah asked her husband to do to an innocent maid was a mistake clearly, but God turned it into a blessing! Deut 23:5 tells us that because God loves you so much, He can turn every curse into a blessing for you. Isn’t God wonderful? He is indeed a righteous Judge! and He actually judged between Sarai and Abram. What is it that you have done that you consider a mistake? a blessing may come out of it you know. We always say every disappointment is a blessing. I am not talking about sin. Sin will always have repercussions. Sin is Satan’s Identification Number.
Even though we mess up God can still bring a blessing out of our mistake, in some circumstances, he can still bring good out of evil, he can still bring a miracle out of our mess. I don’t know what mess you may be in, what mistake you think you have made because there are some mistakes that have serious repercussions to one’s destiny but today the God that sees you, the God that sees the heart will turn the tide around for you IJN. This does not mean now we can commit sin or do wrong and expect God to turn it around for us No!
God can bring light out of darkness, the things that are not clear to you, he sheds more light so it is clear, the things you don’t understand he brings understanding if only you ask him instead of asking your friends. We have heard of women who aborted a child and they could not conceive again, we have seen those who got pregnant at the wrong time, clearly a mistake and were not allowed to abort and they gave birth and that was the only child they could have and that child went on to become great. Also our GO, his parents did not plan for him and when the pregnancy happened they did all they could but could not prevent his birth, Look at him today, a lot of people are thanking God for bringing him into the world for such a time as this, the parents could have seen it as a mistake but God made them see it as a blessing. He put his hometown on the map, made the father’s name a household name today. Many don’t know his father, but they know his name. God can bring a blessing out of your mistake though some mistakes can be very costly and irreparable God can still bring out a blessing.
There might have been times when you wondered whether God saw or heard or even cared about what you were going through. Hagar has proved this to us that he does, she has proved to us that he is the Jehovah El Roi the God that sees. Because in the midst of what she went through God saw her. He knows the good the bad and the ugly, the genesis to the revelation of your problem. We may faint and we may sink, we may feel the pain and be near the brink but very soon the dark begins to shrink, and light begins to dawn on the horizon when you find the one who sees. Weeping may endure for a night but joy comes in the morning. No matter how long the night may linger, the night will always give way today. This was what I believe Hagar went through, she was innocent in this whole thing, she was not privy to the plan of Sarah and her husband, just as Job too was not privy to the conversation between Satan and God, no help in the desert no man in sight, no food and water for the baby, she felt the end had come and did not want to witness the death of the child and so was on the brink of death but Jehovah El Roi suddenly showed up for her to rescue her. You can see this in Gen 21:14-21.2 Chronicles 16:9 says “The eyes of the Lord goeth to and fro in all the earth….”
Isn’t it funny that Hagar was put in a situation which she did not ask for and had to pay a heavy price for? It was not as if she was trying to seduce Abram, she was just minding her own business when Sarai concocted this idea, so why would God not come to her rescue?
She was innocent in this matter so if you find yourself caught up in something you know nothing about or you were just a victim of circumstance or you were lied against at work or treated unfairly etc then the God who sees in secret will come to your rescue. Ps 46:1 says He is a very present help in trouble.
Hagar had an encounter with God in the desert and it turned her life around, she thought she was going to live and die a single mother alone, but God made her return and she was taken care of. Today in Africa you need to see how house helps are being treated as if they have no parents as if they were not born of a woman. Those maltreating them fail to realise that circumstances drove them to become house help but they also have a destiny and God the righteous judge sees them and how they are being maltreated. They are abused physically, sexually, raped, cursed and made to feel less than human. Do you think when they cry to God in their pain God will not answer? Let us be careful how we initiate something that someone else is now paying the heavy price for, their God will avenge them because he is a God of justice, the Righteous judge.
Brethren I want to let someone here know that He is the God who sees you. He sees you when you don’t see him. He sees you in your affliction, in your pain, when others have forsaken you, when you are lonely and can’t find any support, when you are being accused wrongly, when even those who are closest to you abandon you, he sees you and sees what is going on in your marriage that nobody else knows, he sees everything. He not only sees you but calls out your name as he called out Hagar, so she knows that he was not calling someone else. The devil knows your name but calls you by your sin to shame you but God knows your sin and still calls you by your name. (song) He knows my name…
Our children desperately long to be seen and known and heard by their parents. How can we do this? by taking time out to discover and celebrate their interests, by appreciating their unique qualities no matter how different they are from our own, by listening to their perspective on life. You will be surprised what you can learn from them, things that you think they don’t know they probably know more than you! So when we discover and value their God-given uniqueness they feel happy, fulfilled and accepted and the issue of suicidal spirit will not even come near them but when they are rejected and feel as if they are not part of the family then the problem begins. When a child begins to ask you, Are you really my father/mother then begin to worry, something is happening inside of him/her.
When they passed you over for that promotion he knows and sees when they give that job to someone else that they know you qualify for, when you suffer that injustice he knows and sees. He is the God who judges without saying a word. Mordecai was passed over after saving the king from being killed in Esther 6:1-3 and nothing was done for him he did not complain nor make a fuss but the One who sees noted it and when his day came to be remembered God withdrew sleep from the king until they saw the error of how he was denied a reward and look at the glorious reward that was given to him that he himself thought he did not deserve. Somebody hanged himself as a result.
You see God knows your season. In Gen 41:38-40 Joseph suffered for 12 years before his season came. God created a situation that only Joseph had a solution to. He interpreted to Pharaoh what he saw in a dream and proffered solution He laid it out to Pharaoh and pharaoh had no other choice but to make him the prime minister. He had initially tried to do it by himself after interpreting the dream of the butler and asking him to remember him before the king but that didn’t work. You can’t do it in your strength, if you even did it, it won’t have honour attached to it.
Even if they can help you, they can forget as was in this case. For 2 yrs. Joseph was forgotten
Joseph did not know that for 12 years God was watching, seeing everything.
Another thing that God knows about you is that He knows your value, you are not a dead dog. Mephibosheth qualified himself as a dead dog in 2 Sam 9:8 His name means destroyer of Baals, which is a very powerful name. He was in Lodebar when he should have been in the palace; misplaced location but God Never forgot him and he saw him languishing in Lodebar but when the time came for him to be recognised and honoured he made David remember him and he brought him back to where he belonged, in the king’s palace dining with kings! The great restorer restored him back to his rightful place despite the fact that he was lame on both legs. His honour was restored. God knows your value.
Brethren when we are not in the right location we can suffer needlessly. When we are doing the right thing at the wrong time the consequences can be grave. But the consolation is our day to be remembered will come, as it has come for some today.
His name is Jehovah El Roi the God who sees everything. You cannot hide anything from him and people who do you evil cannot also hide anything from him. Heb 4:13 says “Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight, but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. David said in Ps 139:1-2 “O Lord Thou has searched me and known me. Thou know my downsitting and mine uprising, Thou understands my thoughts afar off. ”He sees your problems and knows your weaknesses. He saw Hagar running from Sarah, so he sees you struggling and running away from that responsibility, from that man/woman that wants to do you harm. What are you running away from and where are you running to?
He saw Elijah running from Jezebel and cornered him at the juniper tree and asked him what are you running away from and where to? God has a destination for us, and it is only him that can help us get there. You cannot do what Hagar did and expect to get to that destination. But whatever it is that you have to go through, You have to go through it for him to see you through it. You need to face what you are running away from. He appeared to Hagar to encourage her that her world has not come to an end so he will encourage you too. The spirit of suicide could have caught up with Hagar and could have decided to end it all especially when she said to God she does not want to see the death of her child. She was vulnerable. I am sure no mother would want to see her child die. He then sent her back to her master; God has a work for you to do too and be ready to go back if you have not. Just as Hagar went back to face conflict and problems at home so you too must face yours, you cannot run away from problems, they are not afraid of anybody, rich or poor, they will always come. Jesus said in this world Ye shall have tribulation.
We don’t live by a situation we live by revelation because if you live by situation then it is your feelings that is directing you instead of the Holy Spirit in you. He sees he hears, he intervenes, he cares, he restores, he is faithful.
The good shepherd always leaves the ninety-nine to go after the one who is hurting and in pain, the one who seems to be lost. When God found Hagar she was an outcast, pregnant with Abram’s child and about to die in the desert and she told the angel I am running away! haven’t we all felt like that sometimes but then you can run but you cannot hide from God. That day God healed Hagar’s broken heart,
gave her hope and changed her life so she was able to say You are the God who sees me. That was the moment she discovered she was not alone, that someone else knows exactly what I am going through and how I feel. Your husband may not see you in your pain, your wife may not see your struggles, but Jehovah El Roi sees, he knows what you are going through, he knows your name, he knows your thoughts and where you live.
Those circumstances that have tied you down for so long like that ass are going to be lifted IJN. The one who said to John, Behold I make all things new is about to make things new for you, about to give you a new beginning of joy, peace, promotion, progress and success. We live by revelation and not by the situation.
I notice that it is when God begins to move in your favour that you will notice the difference in people! They will either be envious of you and be unhappy or they will be happy for you! So, forget the past forget what they have done to you,
Hagar did! Somebody said More things are forgotten than are ever solved! how true! It is not everything that you are able to solve so it is better to forgive and forget it and move on, forgive those who have wronged you in the past, in church. Samuel was so hung up on Saul, the king God had rejected that he couldn’t see David the king God had prepared!
he thought it was Eliab! Saul was the past and David was the future that God was going to use to bless his people. Samuel almost made a mistake but for God’s intervention.
One of the strategies of the devil which he seems to use on us successfully is to get us to focus on things that don’t matter anymore and tries to make it an issue. Be careful about this, don’t get bogged down with things that don’t matter anymore.
If someone has hurt, you forgive them and move on and if it keeps coming upkeep on forgiving until it loses the power to hurt you anymore. Why spend the one life you have trying to justify the past when you can move forward into the blessings God has waiting for you! If you score a point and miss your purpose what have you gained? You see, a bend in the road is not the end of the road unless you fail to make the turn then it becomes the end of the road for you. Meaning that yes they have offended you, it is not the end unless you are not willing to forgive but if you forgive then you continue to enjoy your life. Unforgiveness makes you be bent but you will never be broken. Hagar had every reason not to forgive her mistress but God did not allow her to dwell in Unforgiveness by asking her to return home.
The angel came to her and called her by name. Isa 49:15-16 says Can a woman forget her sucking child….Your name is written on his palm and when the time comes he will call you by your name; when the time comes those who have rejected you, those who have overlooked you will call you by name to give you the good news. There is a blessing attached to your name that is coming to you very shortly. Also when you have God then you have the power to speak over your circumstances because life and death are in the power of the tongue! God doesn’t want you to be bitter but to be better. You are always better than your situation.
Jesus saw a donkey from afar that had never been ridden and asked for it to be untied. The God that remembered a donkey tied down for only God knows when can never forget you. That donkey was set free to enjoy a moment of glory and honour, so you too will be set free from that affliction and infirmity to enjoy what is rightfully yours, IJN. God knows you are the right person for that job even when the world thinks otherwise. David was chosen as the next king when his father and brothers thought he was the wrong choice. Hagar was used wrongly to fulfil a purpose, but God still brought a blessing out of the mistake because God does not make mistakes, also because He knew she was innocent in the matter. He cannot and will not make a mistake concerning you IJN. He is the God who sees everything that is going on. He sees in the light because he is light, he sees in thick darkness what is going on and no one can hide from him.
Brethren believe God that every mistake can be turned into a blessing. every curse can be turned into a blessing, every unjust judgement can be overturned, and every sorrow can be turned into joy
Every story has an ending. It is time for your change of story! Your set time to be favoured has come! Your story will have a happy ending IJN
God will turn it into glory and honour for you IJN.
Rise up.
Begin to thank the Almighty God for this word especially if it applies to you.
Father, please forgive me for every mistake I have done that I am suffering as a result IJN. Turn every mistake into a blessing for me, turn every curse into a blessing for me,
turn every negative pronouncement into a positive one
You are Jehovah El Roi the God who sees, you have seen me, please give me a change of story IJN.
The sermon was delivered on Sunday, November 24, 2019, by Pastor Bioye Segun, Regional Pastor, RCCG UK & Senior Pastor, RCCG Majesty Court, London.