Hagar
The woman in the desert who gave God a name.
The story
Hagar never chose any of this. She was a slave — an Egyptian servant in Abraham’s household — with no agency over her own life. When Sarah couldn’t conceive, she was handed to Abraham to bear a child on Sarah’s behalf. She had no say. When she became pregnant, the dynamic in the household curdled, Sarah turned on her, and Hagar fled into the desert alone. An enslaved, pregnant woman. No food. No water. No one.
And then something happened that no one in her world would have imagined — God spoke to her. Not to Abraham. Not to Sarah. To Hagar. A slave woman in the desert whom everyone had discarded. He called her by name, asked where she was going, and made her a promise. She was so undone by the experience that she gave God a name — El Roi. The God who sees me. It’s the only place in the entire Bible where a human being gives God a name.
Years later it happened again. After Isaac was born, Sarah had Hagar and her son Ishmael cast out entirely. Back into the desert. Her water ran out. She put her son under a bush and walked away because she couldn’t bear to watch him die. She sat down and wept.
And God found her again. “What is the matter, Hagar? Do not be afraid.” He showed her water. He stayed.
She was invisible to everyone around her. She was not invisible to God.
For you, reading this now
You feel like no one sees you. Like you could disappear and the world would keep moving. Hagar knew that feeling better than almost anyone in the Bible. She was a slave — used, discarded, cast out into the desert twice, with nothing and no one. The first time she ran away alone and pregnant. The second time she sat down in the sand and wept because she thought she was watching her son die. Both times, God found her. Both times, He called her by name. She was so overwhelmed that she gave God a name back — El Roi. It means: the God who sees me. If you feel unseen right now, that name was first spoken by a woman who had every reason to believe she’d been forgotten. She hadn’t been. And neither have you.
This character speaks to people who feel…
Read it for yourself
First wilderness: Genesis 16 — Hagar runs away and meets the God who sees her.
Second wilderness: Genesis 21:8-21 — Hagar is cast out with Ishmael and finds water in the desert.
Where to start, if you only have ten minutes: Genesis 16. The first encounter is the heart of her story.