God's Eyes Are on Us

“Truly here I have seen Him who looks after me.”
GENESIS 16:13
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God's Eyes Are on Us
These are words of one who is glad and filled with wonder. "Ah," says Hagar, "how incredulous I have been! I did not think that God was concerned about me, and I assumed that I was seeing God from behind, not His face; that is, I assumed that God had turned away from me. But now I realize that the back which He showed me is His face. He indeed saw me before; but I, preoccupied as I was with my afflictions, was not able to look closely. Now, however, I know that He loves me and that He cares for me." These words are, therefore, like a universal hymn of all the godly. When there is affliction, we see God from behind; that is, we conclude that God has turned away from us, as He says in Isaiah (54:8): "For a moment I hid My face from you, but with everlasting love I will have compassion on you"; that is, "At first I acted as though I did not know you, as though I had abandoned you." This is the view from behind, when we feel nothing but affliction and doubts; but later, when the trial has passed, it becomes clear that by the very fact that God has showed Himself to us from behind He has showed us His face, that He did not forsake us but turned away His eyes just a little.
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