I am forever changed by grief, but grief is not the full measure of my life in Christ. “GLEANINGS from Claudia — The Abiding Life” explores this life attached to the One True Vine.

“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.” Genesis 16:13

Used and abused by a couple who could no longer wait on the promise of God, pregnant Hagar fled to a spring in a desert place. The Angel of the Lord found her there and asked her where she came from and where she was going. Hagar’s answer was about where she came from “I’m running away from my mistress Sarai” but there was no place she was going and no answer for that question. Through His angel (who many commentators think is Jesus) God gave her the answer telling her to go back to her mistress and submit to her. Can you imagine? What did that response do to Hagar’s heart? But there was more – God saw Hagar and God affirmed Hagar’s personhood and value telling her that He would increase her descendants so that they would be too numerous to count. God provided justice and gave her a promise she could cling to. She no longer had to find her value in the approbation of the one she served on earth — rather she found it in the One who saw her from heaven.

Hagar named the Lord who spoke to her ‘El Roi’ translated ‘the God who sees.’ He saw her among the servants of Abram, He saw her serving Sarai, He saw her in the arms of Abram, He saw her mistreated by Sarai, and he saw her in the desert place. In every circumstance, in a life that was mostly out of her control, He saw Hagar. He saw the child in her womb and He saw the future for Hagar, for the child and for the descendants from this child. He saw the years of animosity to come between the lineage of Ishmael and the lineage of Isaac – a history of struggle born of the impatience of two people who couldn’t quite wait for the promise of God.  And He saw the coming redemption and reconciliation – that sure time when the plan of history would be complete and many people from each lineage would stand before the throne of God in total, awestruck worship.

El Roi – the God of justice, redemption, reconciliation, vision, compassion, mercy, provision, abundance – the God who sees! God give me the fortitude and strength to wait on Your promises, to wait for Your provision, to wait for YOU!

“LORD, you have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance. I will praise the LORD, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me. I have set the LORD always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. …  You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.”
Psalms 16:5-8, 11