Seen

Hagar's hashtag

I feel seen.

It's a common saying these days, a hashtag used in tweets or shares by someone who wants to express something to the effect of “They get me.”

It’s saying, “I feel understood. I realize I am not alone in this.”

What might Hagar's tweet have looked like?

Escaped from slavery.
Preggers. Lost in the wilderness.
BTW, the Angel of the Lord appeared.
#ifeelseen

But things didn't get automatically better for Hagar. At the command of the angel of the Lord, she returned to Abram and Sarai and had the son whom she called Ishmael.

But when Isaac was born as the son of Abraham and Sarah, she was sent out and was once again lost in the wilderness.

And guess who met her yet again in that lonely, wild place?

This story has echoes of the story in the New Testament of the woman at the well and Jesus going out of his way to meet her.

That well outside Samaria wasn’t the most direct route. Midday under the blazing sun wasn’t the best hour to sit near a well and take a break.

But that’s where Jesus needed to go, because he has an inclination toward finding broken people in wilderness spaces.