For The Girl Who Doesn't Feel Seen
- A Heart Refined with Rachel Menard
- Dec 8
- 5 min read
I love the movie Hidden Figures! While the movie was largely fictionalized for dramatic effect, it does represent a lot of wrong in the United States during those years, as well as a good deal of change for African American people and women. But there was a scene in the film that registered with me as a moment that most likely every woman has experienced....
Katherine had been working so hard and, in real life, had provided the numbers requested by John Glenn for his flight into and returning from space. Yet, in short order, she was dismissed from her temporary job and reassigned to a lower-level position in NASA. She had to pack up her desk and go. What caught my eye was how everyone kept working, and no one really noticed that such an important figure was leaving.
This problem is not new. For generations, women have come and gone from rooms, working and putting everything they have toward what they feel led to do, along with what everyday life requires of them, and not just feeling unseen, but really being overlooked. Truth be told, it's easy to feel sorry for oneself and believe that what they're doing doesn't matter, but it's time to learn how to better navigate those feelings and misunderstandings.
Consider Hagar...goodness, there is so much to unpack here. This chick was just doing what she was supposed to as a servant to Abram and Sarai. Hagar was brought into a faithless scheme they concocted when God didn't work at the speed they expected. She not only had to take care of their basic needs, but she also had to give her body to deliver the child that Sarai thought she had to help God produce.
Once she had the baby—Ishmael—Sarai was a real hag to her (just saying how I see it)! So, Hagar, with her baby boy, was cast out into the desert. But it was there, where God met her, and she met Him personally, experiencing Him as El Roi, The God who Sees.
At that point, God does not give her the best news. Not only would her son be a "donkey," meaning he would have an untamed spirit and roam through struggles in the wilderness for his entire life, but she also had to return to this harsh environment with Abram and Sarai.
Fast forward...God's plan to fulfill His covenant begins to take place. Now, their names are changed to Abraham, "Father of the multitude," and Sarah, "Princess or Noble woman." Hagar watches as they have the baby boy—Isaac—who would take the role that had been wrongly given to her son. She saw how he was nurtured, weaned, and raised to be used by God. Then she also saw that not only Sarah but also Abraham, by God's direction, sent her and Ishmael away... into the wilderness. She was understandably devastated!
Now, it is so easy to feel sorry for Hagar and kind of resent Sarah here. I mean, y'all...this is jacked up, right?! Well, not as much as you might think. Let's dig deeper...
Warren Wiersbe gives a fabulous breakdown of what we cannot see if we read this story from Genesis through our own modern lens. Consider these facts...
Paul shows us in Galatians 4:21-31 that this story from Genesis has an allegorical application, representing the law of Moses and the law of grace given through Jesus Christ. In other words, "Sarah was wrong in Genesis 16 when she told Abram to marry [and have a baby with] Hagar, but she was right in Genesis 21 to tell Abraham to send Hagar and Ishmael out of the camp."
Stop and think about this..."Hagar and Ishmael represented the law of Moses (the earthly Jerusalem under bondage). On the other hand, Sarah and Isaac represented the law of grace (the heavenly Jerusalem). The only solution was to separate them."
Again, we can bow up in Hagar's defense, but if we watch how this plays out, we can see the divine juxtaposition of the fallenness of humanity against God's patience and use of sin and personal agenda to complete what He had in mind all along.
Wiersbe continues, "When you consider the facts about Hagar, you will better understand [God's plan] and the relationship between law and grace in the Christian life...
"Hagar was Abraham's second wife. She was added alongside Sarai. Likewise, the law was added to God's already existing promise (Gal 3). God did not start with law, but with Grace. His relationship with Adam and Eve was based on grace, not law."
"Hagar was a servant. [In the same vein,] the law was God's servant to keep the infant nation of Israel under control and prepare them for the coming of the Redeemer. The law was given to reveal sin, but not to redeem us from it. Grace does not serve law; it is law that serves grace. The law reveals our need for grace, and grace saves us completely from the works of the law (Gal 3-4; Rom 3:20)."
"Hagar was never supposed to bear a child. The law cannot give what only Jesus Christ can: Life, righteousness, the Holy Spirit, or an eternal inheritance. All the blessings of God come only by grace through faith (Gal 3; Eph 2:8-9)."
"Hagar gave birth to a slave. If you decide to be a slave to the law, then you become a child of Hagar, a slave, for the law produces bondage and not freedom. Sinners are saved wholly by grace apart from keeping the law of Moses. (Acts 15; Gal 4-5:1)."
"Simply put, the law cannot save or sanctify us, but it does reveal the holiness of God and the awfulness of sin," and God used the lives of these women to display His holy plan. He also met them right where they were...in their confusion and sin. He used them even when they doubted, laughed in his face, and wept with despair. Even when they were disregarded, misunderstood, unappreciated, and unseen...They were seen and used by God...and that was enough for them!
Here's a fact...We watch a lot of movies that are "Based on True Stories." Yet as good and moving as they are, many are embellished to accomplish an agenda. This is how Satan wants you to read the Bible, inserting or leaving out pertinent pieces that would limit our understanding of God's grand design to save us from ourselves and use us for His overarching plan and His perfect purpose for each of us in it!
Women, when we read Scripture, peeling back the layers to see that God not only has a great plan but also sees you as you live out the good works He planned for us ahead of time, you are made able (Eph 2:10).
These women on both sides of the spectrum went through childlessness, confusion, loneliness, embarrassment, the death of dreams, and devastation...Can you imagine their battle with their own feelings and sins while feeling completely unseen and underappreciated? Of course you can! BUT you, like Sarah and Hagar, are able to be discerning, have perseverance, endurance, and JOY because of the finished work of Jesus Christ...and that is enough for you!
Sister...it is my reflex to say that I see you, but the truth is I don't. I can't! But He does. When you are leaving a room today...literally or figuratively...and it feels like nobody in the world cares, like you are floating on an Island, and while the rest of the world moves on...
HE SEES YOU!
"Hagar named the Lord who spoke to her: “You are El-roi,” she said, “In this place, have I actually seen the one who sees me?" Gen 16:13
"Sarah said, “God has made me laugh, and everyone who hears will laugh with me.” Gen 21:6
“What’s wrong, Hagar? Don’t be afraid." Gen 21:17
All quotes are from Warren Wiersbe's OT Commentary/ Genesis 21, Pgs 84-85
Comments