God Sees and Understands Us in Life’s Hard Places

by Grace Fox

Sooner or later, we all experience a hard place in life where we feel lonely, weary, or scared. Our human bent dislikes and wants to avoid difficulty and pain, but those hard places often have an upside: they can become the space where we discover God’s presence, power, and peace in new ways.

I’ve experienced a few such places in my lifetime. One of the most memorable happened when I was 25 years old and living in Nepal. My husband, Gene, and I had moved there a year earlier to volunteer with a mission organization. Culture shock, isolation, and living in a mud and rock house with no electricity or indoor plumbing had proven more challenging than I’d expected. Parenting a newborn exhausted me. And the six-foot snake that slithered inches past my feet one afternoon terrified me.

When I was a child, the mere thought of touching a snake’s picture in a book scared me. Having a serpent enter my home left me traumatized. Thankfully, in Gene’s absence, a neighbor killed the critter and carried it away, but for hours afterward, I wrestled with thoughts of running away. More than anything, I wanted to take my baby boy and catch the first flight to North America. But God had a better plan.

That evening, after his return, Gene switched on our short-wave radio. To my amazement, the harmony of a male quartet singing “Great is Thy Faithfulness”—one of my favorite hymns—wafted over the airwaves and into the room.

We lived in that village for two years. This was the only time we heard Christian music—in English, nonetheless—on our radio. The timing was no coincidence. I knew beyond a doubt that God had seen me in my lonely, weary, scared state and stooped to meet me there.

I call this event my “Hagar moment” because it reminds me of how God saw and addressed the plight of an Egyptian teenager who worked as a slave in Abram and Sarai’s household.

God had promised Abram and Sarai more descendants than the sand on the seashore. When years passed with no sign of that promise being fulfilled, Sarai grew impatient. She took matters into her own hands and gave Hagar, her Egyptian slave, to Abram in hopes that the young woman would conceive. According to the culture, the baby from that union would belong to Sarai.

After Hagar became pregnant, Sarai grew jealous and abusive toward her. Hagar responded by running away. Her destination was likely Egypt and all things familiar—her family and home, her language, and her traditions. Living under Sarai’s roof had left her feeling used, abused, and invisible but perhaps, in Egypt, she would again feel loved and valued.

The young woman’s chances of surviving the wilderness journey were slim, but she was desperate. Imagine the state of her heart: Lonely. Weary. Scared. Imagine, too, her shock when the angel of the LORD appeared and called her by name. “Hagar.”

God saw Hagar in her hopelessness, understood her longing to be seen and loved, and addressed her desire in a profoundly personal way. This divine encounter resulted in Hagar giving God the Hebrew name El Roi, meaning “the God who sees me.”

This name means more than observing something with physical eyesight. It suggests that God sees and understands our thoughts and feelings. We might say that He sees us with the eyes of His heart. It also infers that He cares for us like a shepherd tenderly cares for his sheep.

Understanding this aspect of God’s character transformed Hagar’s life. Her circumstances did not change, but her perspective toward them did. She mustered her courage and obediently returned to Sarai’s household where she remained for more than a decade.

My circumstances didn’t change, either, but my perspective toward them did. Knowing that God saw and understood me gave me the courage to persevere—with joyful obedience—until He moved me and Gene to a different assignment 16 months later. When that time came, I didn’t want to leave. The hard place where I’d felt lonely, weary, and scared had become the space where I experienced God’s presence, power, and peace.

Perhaps you’re in a situation that has left you feeling lonely, weary, or scared. Maybe you have experienced the loss of your spouse, or betrayal, separation, or divorce. Maybe you struggle with physical health issues or have recently received a diagnosis you didn’t want to hear. Perhaps you’re fearful about the future or your loved ones’ well-being.

Whatever our hard place looks like, let’s remember that we are neither alone nor forgotten. El Roi sees and understands us. We can talk to Him and ask Him to meet us there. Let’s trust Him to care for us in that place and then let’s watch as He transforms it into a space where we experience His presence, power, and peace in new ways.

Grace Fox is a career missionary and award-winning author of 15 books including Names of God: Knowing Peace. Sign up for her updates and receive a printable of seven Scripture prayers based on God’s names in her new book. To learn more about Grace, visit www.gracefox.com.