1680 You Are Seen

BIG Life Devotional | Daily Devotional for Women

In relationships, it is said men most want to be respected. And women, well we are different. Women most want to be seen. And when we feel unseen, overlooked and dismissed, our value is under attack. It’s why women act out in the craziest ways simply trying to be seen. Somebody notice me. Somebody see me!

Girl, you are seen.

Right where you are, at this very moment, you are seen. You haven’t gone unnoticed. You haven’t been overlooked. You’re not dismissed. Your value is known by the one who is most important … the one who can change everything for you.

Today, I will share 3 stories from the Bible that prove God sees you. Right where you are, exactly as you are, God sees you.

First, the story of Hagar. Hagar is the servant of Sarah. Sarah was the old woman married to Abraham who could never have children. To fix the issue, Sarah came up with the bright idea for Hagar to have a baby for her with husband, Abraham.

Now I could have told you that wasn’t going to work out well. That’s some Maury Povich stuff in the book of Genesis! Just as we could have predicted, after Hagar, the servant girl, follows the plan and gets pregnant with Sarah’s husband, Sarah gets really jealous and starts treating Hagar terribly. Finally, pregnant Hagar runs away into the wilderness.

And it’s here in the wilderness God meets Hagar. Here where she felt so unseen, so overlooked, so dismissed, and so used, her loving God comes to her and says, “My girl, I’ve heard you and I see you.” The angel of the Lord told her to return to where she was running from and he would greatly multiply her offspring and they would be too many to count.

Genesis 16: 13, Hagar calls God El-Roi, meaning “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.”

I don’t know what wilderness you’re in right now, but God sees you. I don’t know what you’re running from, but God has met you here today to say, “stop running.” The Almighty Lord cares about you and he cares about what you are going through. And my friend, what you are going through right now has not cancelled God’s future plans for you.

Just as God’s future plans for Hagar to be blessed with more children, grand children, and great-grandchildren than she could count, still stood in her wilderness, God’s good future plans for you still stand in your wilderness. Yes, you’re going through it, but God’s already made a way through it.

Imagine seeing the God who sees you, as Hagar did. Imagine being able to stop running in the wilderness and return to the thing you’ve been running from with the confidence God sees you and his promises over your life will be fulfilled no matter what.

Well, if you’ve been asking if God sees you, isn’t this proof right now? You’re hearing this. This is your answer. Yes, my daughter, I see you. Yes, I’m with you. Yes, I’m making a way for you. Yes, my promises still stand over your life and not a single one will go unfulfilled. I see you … don’t you see me here?

The second story is one of my favorites. It’s what happens right before Peter walks on the water with Jesus. It’s the part where there’s a wild storm in the darkest part of the night. It’s the part that proves Jesus sees us always.

Mark 6: 45-48, “Immediately he made his disciples get into the boat and go ahead of him to the other side, to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. After he said good-bye to them, he went away to the mountain to pray. Well into the night, the boat was in the middle of the sea, and he was alone on the land. HE SAW THEM straining at the oars, because the wind was against them. Very early in the morning he came toward them walking on the sea.”

It was in the middle of the night which mean it was dark, it was stormy which meant the seas were wild and loud, and the boat was in the middle of the sea which means there’s no possible way that little boat could have been in sight for Jesus who sat on the mountain praying. He couldn’t hear them crying out over the loud sea. It’s absolutely impossible. There were no flood lights, no spot lights, no lights of any sort that would help Jesus see them. Yet it says, “HE SAW THEM.”

Jesus saw them straining at the oars in the middle of their problem. And, my sister, Jesus see you straining in the middle of your problem. This world may be loud and crazy, but none of that keeps him from seeing YOU.

And when Jesus sees you struggling like you’re struggling right now, you can be absolutely guaranteed he will come to you! He will walk on top of your problems and get to you. He will stand upon the things that have been threatening you because he is more powerful than all of this. He’s here, honey! He is here.

And finally, a little story tucked away in the book of John we rarely notice. A story about a man no one else noticed, but Jesus noticed. His name was Nathanel. When Jesus encountered him, Jesus said in John 1: 47, “Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.” Verse 48, “How do you know me?” Nathanael asked. “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you,” Jesus answered.

Nathanel became one of Jesus’ 12 disciples. His faith was built on knowing JESUS SAW HIM. He saw him before anyone ever spoke of him. He saw him in secret place where no one else saw him.

Under the fig tree, Jesus says he saw him. A fig tree offered great shade in this hot place. It was where people went to pray and study God’s word. It was their place of quiet devotion and secret prayer. The fig tree was a sacred place. And Jesus tells him, I saw you when no one else could see you. I see you in your sacred place seeking me.

God saw you this morning when you asked him for help. He saw you lastnight when you paused and whispered to him. He saw you when you searched your Bible for the answers you need. He saw you when no one else saw you. And he sees you right now. Right now as you listen, he sees you here.

God says in Jeremiah 29:13, “You will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart.” Nathanel was seeking God and searching for the Messiah that had been promised … and there he found Jesus. Under the fig tree, in that sacred space where he went for no one else to see him, Jesus saw him.

Jesus sees you under your fig tree. In your secret sacred space where you look for him.

He sees you in the storm, rowing and getting no where.

He sees you running from all this hardship in your wilderness.

He is El-Roi, the God who sees you. My prayer over you today is that you would see him. See him right here with you. See evidence of his provision, his protection, and his promises which cover your life.

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