The love of “the God who sees” has a healing effect on our hearts. On the Thursday edition of Live the Promise guest host Bill Arnold welcomes Liz Curtis Higgs to talk about God’s redemption in the life of Hagar.
Liz lays out some of the things we learn about Hagar:
• She was Egyptian.
• She was a servant of Sarai.
• She was hateful toward Sarai once she became pregnant.
• She is the only person in the Bible who gives God a proper name – El Roi; the God Who sees me.
• She is the first single mother mentioned in the Bible.
Liz points out that the Hebrew for Sarai’s treatment of her slave implied “applied force or … violence. Sarai abused Hagar. She was furious and felt she had the right to do that. Now we understand why Hagar ran away… My compassion swings toward Hagar having to go through this. She was invisible – but not to God.”
There are a number of lessons we can learn from the narrative in Genesis 16.
• God sees us, even if we are invisible, betrayed, rejected, or lonely. Liz knows this firsthand.
“You can’t run away from God. He had His foot firmly pressed on the heel of my jeans. When you’re out in the desert, when you’ve hit rock bottom, you’ve lost everything – that’s when God shows up. And He’s been there all along. If God still says, ‘I love you, you’re My daughter, and I want you in My kingdom’ – the kind of love that waits – be encouraged.”
• God keeps His Word.
• Names in the Bible carry significance. Hagar, for example, means “flight” or “wanderer.”
• God provides physical water and living water.
Hagar’s story can be found in Liz’s book, .
Key Scriptures: Genesis 16; Isaiah 59:1
Theme Song: Finish What He Started by Steven Curtis Chapman
