DAY EIGHT – January 12
Daily Reading: Gen 14:14-16:16; Mat 5:27-37
So she called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, “You are a God of seeing,” for she said, “Truly here I have seen him who looks after me.” Genesis 16:13
I used to work in a department store and I learned some insider stuff I didn’t know before. I learned about the employees that work there who pose as shoppers to watch for potential shoplifters. I learned about the hidden cameras and the one-way windows where there were eyes on virtually every part of the store. It was cool to know the insider info but also unnerving to know how much they knew about the shoppers.
In chapter 16, Hagar is on the run. She has acted with contempt against her mistress Sarai and is now homeless. Perhaps fearful, certainly feeling rejection, a messenger from God appears with a promise and with direction. She is to turn around, go back to Abram and Sarai, with a submitted attitude. But secondly, God gives her hope concerning her son’s future and with it God’s promise of sustaining her. She is no longer an abandoned single mom without protection or hope.
Hagar responds to this encounter with her new name for this God she now knows personally. The name? It takes a phrase to properly interpret the Hebrew name into English: “You are a God of seeing.”
Hagar may have felt like an abandoned, single mom on the run with no one watching out for her. But God is not just the God who knows all things. He is the God who sees.
Daily Reading: Gen 14:14-16:16; Mat 5:27-37
So she called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, “You are a God of seeing,” for she said, “Truly here I have seen him who looks after me.” Genesis 16:13
I used to work in a department store and I learned some insider stuff I didn’t know before. I learned about the employees that work there who pose as shoppers to watch for potential shoplifters. I learned about the hidden cameras and the one-way windows where there were eyes on virtually every part of the store. It was cool to know the insider info but also unnerving to know how much they knew about the shoppers.
In chapter 16, Hagar is on the run. She has acted with contempt against her mistress Sarai and is now homeless. Perhaps fearful, certainly feeling rejection, a messenger from God appears with a promise and with direction. She is to turn around, go back to Abram and Sarai, with a submitted attitude. But secondly, God gives her hope concerning her son’s future and with it God’s promise of sustaining her. She is no longer an abandoned single mom without protection or hope.
Hagar responds to this encounter with her new name for this God she now knows personally. The name? It takes a phrase to properly interpret the Hebrew name into English: “You are a God of seeing.”
Hagar may have felt like an abandoned, single mom on the run with no one watching out for her. But God is not just the God who knows all things. He is the God who sees.
- Are you a single Mom who follows Jesus and is slugging it out every week in the work force and coming home to work that is never done? God sees.
- Have you been in a dry place where the Heavens seem silent? God sees.
- Are you a pastor or a godly man who labors quietly, faithfully without applause? God sees.
- Has 2014 been a year of hardship, with frequent battles followed by despair? God sees.
Prayer: God my Father, You are not only the all-powerful, all-knowing God. You are the all-seeing God. I would be terrified of that thought except for grace that gives me confidence to approach You. Because of my faith in Jesus, I am comforted by the truth that You see my suffering, my service and my situation and You are both able and willing to help me. Help me as I pray to see life how You see it.
For further study: What is the meaning of the meat, the lantern, etc. in Genesis 15:7-20?
It seems all rather gruesome to us—animals split open and laid out while Abraham looks on and wonders what will happen. It is strange to us except for those of you who enjoy a good pig roast or open BBQ! But, for the Hebrews like Abraham, this wasn’t quite so strange. The most solemn promises were guaranteed with blood and known as covenants.
Abram has asked a question in v.8. In so many words, Abram has asked, “How will I know You are good for your promises? God says, Stand by. I’m going to give you an object lesson. So, as God commands, Abram gets the animals and cuts them in two and lays them out—as the word “covenant” conveys the meaning, “to cut,” a solemn agreement between two parties affirmed with blood.
There was rich symbolism in this era regarding covenants. In those days, those entering into a covenant would cut an animal, lay it out and walk between the pieces in a figure eight. It was a way of saying, “If I don’t keep my promise to you let me be like this animal—cut in two.” Serious vow. So Abram is looking on as God is about to give an object lesson.
As we read further in Genesis 15, the sun is going down. A deep sleep falls upon Abraham along with great darkness. Abram can watch but he can’t do anything. And as the sun sets, a smoking torch passes between the pieces of meat which represents God’s solemn vow. God is in effect saying, “If I don’t keep my promise to you let this be done to me.” God is saying, “My word is good. My promise holds. My blessings are certain.” The writer says it plainly: “On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, "To your offspring I give this land.” (Gen. 15.18)
And God, as He so often does, gives a double whammy in this object lesson for this was not only a lesson for Abram, but one for us as well—a picture of what was to come. As followers of Jesus looking back on this scene through the lens of the New Covenant, we can see that in the same way, the Son of God was not cut in two, but flogged, pierced, nailed to a tree, stretched out to make a covenant with all who believe in Him.
We, in a similar way as Abraham, may ask, “Is God good for His promises?” And God the Father says, “Look at the cross. There’s My covenant. My word is good. My promise holds. My blessings are certain.”
Romans 5:6, For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. God made a blood covenant on a tree outside Jerusalem. The Lamb was bruised and beaten. His blood was spilled to say, “I give You my solemn promise.”
For further study: What is the meaning of the meat, the lantern, etc. in Genesis 15:7-20?
It seems all rather gruesome to us—animals split open and laid out while Abraham looks on and wonders what will happen. It is strange to us except for those of you who enjoy a good pig roast or open BBQ! But, for the Hebrews like Abraham, this wasn’t quite so strange. The most solemn promises were guaranteed with blood and known as covenants.
Abram has asked a question in v.8. In so many words, Abram has asked, “How will I know You are good for your promises? God says, Stand by. I’m going to give you an object lesson. So, as God commands, Abram gets the animals and cuts them in two and lays them out—as the word “covenant” conveys the meaning, “to cut,” a solemn agreement between two parties affirmed with blood.
There was rich symbolism in this era regarding covenants. In those days, those entering into a covenant would cut an animal, lay it out and walk between the pieces in a figure eight. It was a way of saying, “If I don’t keep my promise to you let me be like this animal—cut in two.” Serious vow. So Abram is looking on as God is about to give an object lesson.
As we read further in Genesis 15, the sun is going down. A deep sleep falls upon Abraham along with great darkness. Abram can watch but he can’t do anything. And as the sun sets, a smoking torch passes between the pieces of meat which represents God’s solemn vow. God is in effect saying, “If I don’t keep my promise to you let this be done to me.” God is saying, “My word is good. My promise holds. My blessings are certain.” The writer says it plainly: “On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, "To your offspring I give this land.” (Gen. 15.18)
And God, as He so often does, gives a double whammy in this object lesson for this was not only a lesson for Abram, but one for us as well—a picture of what was to come. As followers of Jesus looking back on this scene through the lens of the New Covenant, we can see that in the same way, the Son of God was not cut in two, but flogged, pierced, nailed to a tree, stretched out to make a covenant with all who believe in Him.
We, in a similar way as Abraham, may ask, “Is God good for His promises?” And God the Father says, “Look at the cross. There’s My covenant. My word is good. My promise holds. My blessings are certain.”
Romans 5:6, For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. God made a blood covenant on a tree outside Jerusalem. The Lamb was bruised and beaten. His blood was spilled to say, “I give You my solemn promise.”
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