by Rachel Bartlett
Have you ever used a sticker chart for your kids? Maybe your family has a chore chart or used a sticker chart when potty training. We have our kids place a sticker on a chart as we cheer and encourage them along. But where is my sticker chart?
Make the meals and snacks; gold star.
Help with school work; gold star.
Clean up snot, dirty diaper, or throw up; platinum star.
Does anyone see what I do? Or even more importantly, does anyone see where I struggle? There are days when we can’t find the strength to do the work. There are days where those gold stars seem out of our reach.
In Genesis 16, we meet Hagar. She was a servant of Abram and Sarai and becomes pregnant with Abram’s son. When mistreated by Sarai, Hagar flees to the desert. Pregnant, tired, and hurt, she meets an angel. This angel proclaims over Hagar that her unborn son “will dwell over against all his kinsman.” Hagar called out to God with the name El Roi, the God of seeing. God saw Hagar when no one else did.
Many years later (Genesis 21), Hagar is forced to flee again from Abraham. With her son by her side, she wandered through the desert. Hagar was thirsty, close to death, and all she could do was cry. She had forgotten the claim she made in that desert years before. God sent another angel to comfort Hagar and a well to nourish. His promise that day was the same as many years before. “Lift up the boy … I will make him a great nation.”
God’s call to us is similar. We are to raise our kids to be a great nation of followers of God. And He sees us along the way. With every victory, every struggle, and everything in between, He Sees. Praise El Roi!