Ever Feel Invisible?
Genesis 16: 1-5
"Now Sarai, Abram's wife, bore him no children. She had an Egyptian slave-girl whose name was Hagar, and Sarai said to Abram, 'You see that the Lord has prevented me from bearing children; go in to my slave-girl; it may be that I shall obtain children by her.' And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. So, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her slave-girl, and gave her to her husband Abram as a wife.
"He went in to Hagar, and she conceived; and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked with contempt on her mistress. Then Sarai said to Abram, 'May the wrong done to me be on you! I gave my slave-girl to your embrace, and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked on me with contempt. May the Lord judge between you and me!'"
Reflection by Ron Buford
We expect to work hard, be attentive to family, church, colleagues, and love interests, juggling schedules, meetings, and concerns. But isn't it frustrating when we feel like an invisible part of the machinery in our lives with those we love? Hagar, Sarai, and Abram all began to feel this way.
Sarai, Abram's wife, decides to help God fulfill God's promise to Abram for a son, even in his old age, by sending her maid Hagar to sleep with her husband. Having made this sacrifice, for which neither God nor Abram have asked, Sarai becomes insecure when Hagar becomes pregnant with Abram's child and the new center of attention. Sarai feels upstaged and invisible, taking her frustrations out on Hagar, who, pregnant with Abram's child, flees to the dessert.
But God sees Hagar perishing beside a spring in the desert, and tells her to return, that a great nation will also come from her son. So Hagar names the spring, "God alive sees me" and names her son Ishmael, meaning "God heard and answered."
Prayer
Gracious God, remind us that we are never invisible to you. Teach and empower us to share constructively with those whose actions leave us feeling invisible. May we also see ways our own actions make others feel invisible. Today, may we, may everyone in our presence feel seen, heard, and worthy of the love of God . . . who answers. Amen.
Genesis 16: 1-5
"Now Sarai, Abram's wife, bore him no children. She had an Egyptian slave-girl whose name was Hagar, and Sarai said to Abram, 'You see that the Lord has prevented me from bearing children; go in to my slave-girl; it may be that I shall obtain children by her.' And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. So, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her slave-girl, and gave her to her husband Abram as a wife.
"He went in to Hagar, and she conceived; and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked with contempt on her mistress. Then Sarai said to Abram, 'May the wrong done to me be on you! I gave my slave-girl to your embrace, and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked on me with contempt. May the Lord judge between you and me!'"
Reflection by Ron Buford
We expect to work hard, be attentive to family, church, colleagues, and love interests, juggling schedules, meetings, and concerns. But isn't it frustrating when we feel like an invisible part of the machinery in our lives with those we love? Hagar, Sarai, and Abram all began to feel this way.
Sarai, Abram's wife, decides to help God fulfill God's promise to Abram for a son, even in his old age, by sending her maid Hagar to sleep with her husband. Having made this sacrifice, for which neither God nor Abram have asked, Sarai becomes insecure when Hagar becomes pregnant with Abram's child and the new center of attention. Sarai feels upstaged and invisible, taking her frustrations out on Hagar, who, pregnant with Abram's child, flees to the dessert.
But God sees Hagar perishing beside a spring in the desert, and tells her to return, that a great nation will also come from her son. So Hagar names the spring, "God alive sees me" and names her son Ishmael, meaning "God heard and answered."
Prayer
Gracious God, remind us that we are never invisible to you. Teach and empower us to share constructively with those whose actions leave us feeling invisible. May we also see ways our own actions make others feel invisible. Today, may we, may everyone in our presence feel seen, heard, and worthy of the love of God . . . who answers. Amen.
|
