The story of Hagar in Genesis 16 is both a tragedy and an example of God’s amazing grace.

You will remember that Abram had come off several high points: his stunning victory over the four kings of the east with only the men of his household (Genesis 14); God’s covenant and promise that he would have an heir and become the father of a mighty nation (Genesis 15). Not only that, he became the father of all who believe:

Then he believed in the LORD; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness. (Gen 15:6 NAS)

But in Genesis 16 we find Abram and Sarai many years after that promise still childless. Abram was in his mid-eighties and Sarai was in her seventies. Sarai considered her prospects dimming with each passing year and finally formed plan B: give her servant, Hagar, to Abram as a wife and claim the child as her own.

And it turned into one big, hot mess. Abram was silent and passive. Hagar, once she conceived, became uppity. Perhaps she taunted Sarai, “Neener neener I’m pregnant and you’re not!” And Sarai told Abram, “It’s all your fault!” Talk about marriage problems! And Abram, instead of taking this mess in hand, remained passive and told Sarai, “She is your maid; deal with her as you see fit.”

Sarai treated Hagar harshly and soon Hagar ran from her mistress and started back to Egypt.

Imagine being Hagar: she was a foreigner. She was a runaway slave. She was a pregnant woman on the run in the desert. Alone.

How could it get worse?

It is at that moment that the Lord intervened. Genesis says, “Now the Angel of the LORD found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur.” Hagar was probably very tired and certainly scared. She may have been happy to meet a Protector.

The significance of this meeting in the desert is highlighted by two firsts. This is the first appearance of the Angel of the Lord in the Bible and, by that name, in history. Many believe him to be the pre-incarnate Christ. He comes full of grace to mend and repair all the wreckage caused by these three people. And he starts with Hagar. He will deal graciously with Abram and Sarai later.

It is also the first time in the Bible that someone gives the Lord a name. That an outcast, foreign slave should be the first one visited by the Angel of the Lord and the first one to name him is astounding.

But even more significant to Hagar was this: the Angel of the Lord knew her name. We might say, “Well, of course he did: he’s God.” But that is to miss the point. Hagar was stunned because this Angel knew her name. In her world, she was a nobody. And this Angel saw her in her desperate plight and treated her kindly!

Then she named the Angel El rohi, “the God who sees me.”

So, the Lord was gracious and kind to a rebellious nobody Gentile outcast wandering in the desert. He saw her and knew her name. She was not a nobody in the Lord’s eyes.

What is the message for us? Well, like Hagar, we are ornery and disobedient. We don’t deserve anything from God. We may think we are nobodies and say, “I’m just an old, worn-out has been” or “I’m just a little kid” or “Nobody knows who I am.” But in our misery and sin, the Lord sees us and will meet us in the desert or anywhere we have run to.

Share Hagar’s wonder: “He sees me! He knows my name!”