KEY VERSE

“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

 

ROOTED TRUTH

Long before anyone else saw her, validated her, or gave her a name worth remembering, God saw Hagar — and that is the story of every woman in this week’s devotions.

 

FAITH STORY

Hagar’s story begins in someone else’s narrative.

She was Sarah’s servant — an Egyptian woman with no power, no voice, and no say in what happened to her. She was given to Abraham, became pregnant, and then was cast out into the wilderness — twice — by the very family that had used her.

Alone, pregnant, and out of water in the desert, Hagar reached the kind of place where a person becomes invisible — to society, to family, to history. Nobody was coming for her. Nobody was watching.

Except God.

The angel of the LORD found her by a spring in the wilderness. He spoke to her — by name, with promises, with a future. And Hagar responded with words that would echo through Scripture: You are the God who sees me. El Roi. The God who sees.

This is significant. Hagar was the first person in the entire Bible to give God a name. Not Abraham. Not Sarah. Hagar — the servant, the outsider, the woman everyone else had overlooked.

This week, we are going to walk through the stories of women across Scripture — women who were overlooked, doubted, shamed, barren, foreign, desperate, and grieving. Women whose stories the world might have written off. And in every single one, the same pattern appears: God sees.

He sees the woman waiting decades for a child. He sees the foreigner with no standing. He sees the one carrying shame she didn’t choose. He sees the one weeping at a tomb before dawn.

If you have ever felt unseen — overlooked, passed over, invisible in your own story — this week is for you. The God who saw Hagar in the wilderness sees you too. He always has.

 

SCRIPTURE FOR DEEPER ROOTS

Genesis 16:1–16 — Hagar in the wilderness.

Psalm 139:1–3 — “You have searched me, LORD, and you know me…you perceive my thoughts from afar.”

Hebrews 4:13 — “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight.”

 

DAILY PRACTICE

Spend time today reflecting on a season when you felt unseen — overlooked by others, invisible in a room, or forgotten in a difficult circumstance. Bring that memory to God and declare over it the name Hagar gave Him: El Roi, the God who sees. Ask Him to show you where He was present in that season, even if you couldn’t feel it at the time.

 

DAILY PRAYER

El Roi, the God who sees — thank You for finding Hagar in the wilderness, and thank You for finding me in mine. There have been seasons when I felt invisible, overlooked, forgotten. But You were there. You are always there. As we walk through the stories of these women this week, open my eyes to see how You have been seeing me all along. Amen.

 

DEEP REFLECTION

1.  Hagar was the first person in Scripture to name God — and she named Him ‘the God who sees.’ What does it mean to you that this revelation came through someone the world had overlooked?

2.  Have you ever experienced a season of feeling unseen — by family, by community, or even by God? How does Hagar’s story speak into that experience?

3.  This week we’ll walk through women whose stories might have been dismissed by their cultures. What does God’s attention to these women tell you about how He values people the world tends to overlook?

 

#DeeplyRooted#DailyRenewed Devotions for a Grounded and Growing Faith