Lesson 01 · Genesis · a well in the desert
The God who sees
“And she called the name of the LORD that spake unto her, Thou God seest me: for she said, Have I also here looked after him that seeth me?”
Genesis 16:13
Hagar is a pregnant slave woman who has run away from a household that mistreated her. She has no standing, no protection, and no plan. She is, by every measure of that world, nobody.
God finds her at a spring in the wilderness, calls her by name, and makes her a promise about her son's future.
Then something remarkable happens: Hagar gives God a name. She's the only person in the entire Bible who does. And the name she picks is 'the God who sees me.'
Not the God who fixes everything immediately — He actually sends her back into a hard situation with a promise. The God who sees. For someone invisible to everyone else, that was the thing she needed most.
Put plainly
The first person to name God was a runaway slave girl, and the name she chose was 'You see me.'
Sit with this
- Where do you feel unseen right now — at school, at home, even at church?
- Hagar was seen before her situation changed. Is being seen enough for you, or only being rescued?
If you're giving the message
- 01Hagar is the only person in Scripture who gives God a name.
- 02She was a slave, pregnant, and running — the least powerful person in the story.
- 03God called her by name before He said anything else.
- 04'Thou God seest me' was spoken in a desert, not a sanctuary.