1.Hagar: Genesis 16:13, 13 She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.” Abraham and Sarah were a childless couple. When they did not have kids, Sarah in the hope of having a child asked Abraham to take one of her servants. The child then borne from her, Sarah would take as her own. Abraham agreed to her plan. He slept with Hagar, the Egyptian slave Sarah had given him, and she conceived. The joy was short lived. When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress, Sarah. Then Sarah mistreated Hagar; so she fled from her into the desert. There the angel of the Lord appeared to her and asked her, Genesis 16:8, 8 And he said, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?” She replied that she was fleeing from the ill treatment meted out by Sarah. 9 Then the angel of the Lord told her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her.”
Hagar had no status or position. She was only a slave yet the most compassionate Lord saw her broken heart. The Lord sent His angel to her to help heal her pain. Genesis 16: 10-12,10 The angel added, “I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count.”
11 The angel of the Lord also said to her:
“You are now pregnant
and you will give birth to a son.
You shall name him Ishmael,
for the Lord has heard of your misery.
12 He will be a wild donkey of a man;
his hand will be against everyone
and everyone’s hand against him,
and he will live in hostility
toward all his brothers.”
2.Jacob: Jacob fled for his life after cheating his own father and brother, to his maternal uncle, Laban’s place. Jacob was dearly loved by his mother. She helped him in tricking her own elder son, Esau. Even here, he fled the country under his mother’s instructions for safety. He is alone now, disheartened and lonely. He was amidst the mental storm of the memories of his home and family, and the anxiety for his future. Genesis 28:11, 11 When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep.
Genesis 28:12-15, 18, 12 He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. 13 There above it stood the Lord, and he said: “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. 14 Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. 15 I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”
18 Early the next morning Jacob took the stone he had placed under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of it. 19 He called that place Bethel, though the city used to be called Luz.
3.Israelites: The Pharaoh was afraid of the increasing number of the Israelites in Egypt. So he started to ill treat them and torture them. He made them his slaves. Exodus 3:7-8,10, 7 The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. 8 So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites,….10 So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.” The Lord performed numerous miracles. He rescued them from the hands of the Egyptians and looked after them. After the death of Moses, the Lord chose Joshua as the next leader and led them to the promised land, Canaan.
4.Daniel: The young boy decided that he will not defile himself by eating or drinking what was offered by the king. Daniel asked for help from the guard whom the chief official had appointed. The guard was scared of the king. Daniel pleaded with him, Daniel 1:12, 12 “Please test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink. 13 Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food, and treat your servants in accordance with what you see.” 14 So he agreed to this and tested them for ten days. The Lord was with Daniel. After ten days in comparison with other boys Daniel and his friends looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food. The Lord again saved Daniel and his friends from the pit of fire and from the lions. He is a Lord who always sees us.
5. Apostle Peter: Acts 12, Peter’s Miraculous Escape From Prison
Apostle Peter was imprisoned by King Herod for talking about Jesus, and spreading His words. He was arrested and put into prison, handing him over to be guarded by four squads of four soldiers each. The night before Herod was to bring Peter to trial, he was sleeping between two soldiers, bound in chains. An angel of the Lord appeared before him and asked him to get up. Immediately his chains feel off. The angel then asked him to clothe himself and follow him. Acts 12: 9-10, 9 Peter followed him out of the prison, but he had no idea that what the angel was doing was really happening; he thought he was seeing a vision. 10 They passed the first and second guards and came to the iron gate leading to the city. It opened for them by itself, and they went through it. When they had walked the length of one street, suddenly the angel left him. Peter thought he was seeing a vision, but when the angel disappeared it dawned on him that it was all real. He was saved by the Lord through the angel.
Dear children of God, be it a desert, a servant, a slave, a boy or an apostle, the Lord always sees us. This is not the witness of just one person. There are uncountable examples in the Bible. Even today there are several around the world who experience and witness the glory and presence of God.
Psalms 33:18, 18 But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him,
on those whose hope is in his unfailing love,
Psalms 139: 8-10, If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
Psalms 139:13-18, 13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts,[a] God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18 Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand—
when I awake, I am still with you.
Dear sister and brother, may each example given above and words of God, fill us with hope and help us live in contentment. Place your hope and trust in the Creator. He will never abandon you.
Isaiah 49: “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast
and have no compassion on the child she has borne?
Though she may forget,
I will not forget you!
16 See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;
your walls are ever before me.
Jehovah Roi 