Genesis 16:7-14 (NIVUK)
7 The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. 8 And he said, ‘Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?’
‘I’m running away from my mistress Sarai,’ she answered.
9 Then the angel of the Lord told her, ‘Go back to your mistress and submit to her.’ 10 The angel added, ‘I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count.’ […]
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.’ 14 That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi; it is still there, between Kadesh and Bered.
Hagar may have felt unseen and insignificant, but God saw her and valued her just as much as Sarai and Abram. I love that her response is to name the well where she met the his angel Beer Lahai Roi which means ‘Well of the Living One who sees me’. I think we should reinstate this Old Testament tradition of naming places after what God did there, to make visible and constant reminders of his activity. What places might you rename and what would you call them? The Office Where God Employed Me? The Hall of Christ’s Encouragement? The River Where I Cried to God? The Path Where God Walked with Me?
Lord, open my eyes to the places all around me where you have been at work.
Image used with permission from www.lambsongs.co.nz
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