Hagar: A Desperate Woman

Precious in His Sight

Then the angel of the Lord told [Hagar]: “Go back to your mistress and submit to her. … I will so increase your descendants that they will be too numerous to count” Genesis 16:9–10

Few Old Testament narratives convey God’s love for the desperate as poignantly as Hagar’s story. She was merely a slave, probably a gift from Pharaoh during Abraham and Sarah’s sojourn in Egypt (Genesis 12:16).

For some reason, Sarah selected Hagar as the cornerstone of her plan to assist God and provide an heir for Abraham. Hagar may not have volunteered to be a pawn in Sarah’s scheme, but she was no fool. As soon as she became pregnant, she flaunted her position as “heir-barer” (Genesis 16:4).

Sarah, however, mistreated Hagar, so Hagar fled. Homeless and friendless, she felt hopeless. Then the angel of the Lord became her rescuing knight—not because she deserved to be rescued but because God cared about Hagar and her unborn child. In fact, he deliberately reached out to them, blessing them with his favor and expanding his covenant with Abraham to include the two outcasts (Genesis 16:5–12).

God provided—not the life Hagar may have envisioned—but the life he deemed best, one that fit into his eternal plan. Hagar’s security was not tied to Abraham’s household or an earthly inheritance; her security was bound up in God’s sovereignty and love.

God truly is El Roi, the God who sees me (Genesis 16:13). He sees my misery, my desperation, and my helplessness. He sees what I most need on any given day and provides it (Philippians 4:19).

He’s also the God who hears me when I cry out to him. Sometimes his answers are puzzling, but his ways are always right. The path he opens may seem unattractive or dangerous, but he promises to care for me. And if I, like Hagar, follow his directives, I’ll reap the blessings he has stored up for me (Psalm 138:8).

How comforting to know that one Egyptian slave woman and her son were precious in God’s sight. How encouraging to know that you and I are equally precious to him. Walk into your day with that truth securely tucked in your heart.

DIG DEEPER:

Read Hagar’s story in Genesis 16:1–16. Have you ever felt as desperate as she did? How did God provide for you?

Read Genesis 21:1–21. After Isaac was weaned, God insisted that Hagar and Ishmael leave Abraham’s household. What were God’s promises to Abraham and Hagar? Do you think God’s words gave them hope? Why or why not?

Read Isaiah 43:1–7. How can these promises, first delivered to the nation of Israel, also comfort and encourage us in difficult times?

To read more about how God comforted Abraham when he was told that Ishmael and Hagar had to leave, read But God Said to Abraham, part of our But God series.

Denise K. Loock

This devotion is part of a series on Women of the Bible.