I think Hagar’s story (Genesis 16) is a lifeline for a lot of us. She found herself in that barren place, with no one caring for her, no friends, no source of substance to even stay alive. Because of choices she didn’t make, choices that were made for her, she was cast out. A baby growing in her womb and nowhere to go. This is where God met her. She responded to Him by calling Him “the God who sees me” and she had hope. 

Many of us have been in a barren place — maybe not the same desperation that Hagar faced, but we have experienced our own wildernesses. I think back to my last wilderness and it’s probably the hardest one I’ve experienced so far. I came to a point where I asked, “What if God does see but He doesn’t really care? What if He isn’t all-knowing and all-powerful?” I let my mind consider the possibilities but it didn’t take long to come to the conclusion. I couldn’t handle the alternative. I had to believe that He saw and that He was in control. If He allows the situation, He will walk it with me. For my own sanity, I needed to believe like Hagar, “God sees me.” And that’s what I told myself multiple times every day - He sees. He cares. He is in control. He is here with me. And then I asked Him to help me worship Him. Honestly, worshipping was more for my own benefit than to magnify Him. When we worship, we put life into focus. We remember how big He is and how small we are. We remember how faithful He is and that gives us the strength to continue. 

If you find yourself in a wilderness of a place today, know that you are not alone in your pain or even your doubt. God is big enough to handle our questions. But it also does our soul a world of good to choose to believe in the midst of the doubt. So express that doubt and those emotions to God and then, like the psalmists so often did, remind yourself of truth. 

Let’s sing together the words of this song… (link is in the resource section) 

I choose to sing when I can hardly breathe out a breath 

I choose to stand when all I wanna do is give up 

I choose to trust when my whole world is falling apart 

I choose You, Jesus 

Cause I still believe through it all 

I still believe You are wonderful 

You’ve never given up on me 

Cause I still believe You are powerful 

I still believe You do miracles 

You’ve never given up on me 

I choose Your name, the only name that’s worthy of praise 

I choose You, Jesus 

The world may say where is your God 

We will say He’s right here with us 

His name is Jesus