Seen and Heard

In my teenage years I wrestled with the same searching questions that multitudes had asked before me – ‘Who am I?’ and ‘What is the meaning of my life?’ Along with deep inner confusion over my identity, I was troubled by the thought that if I died the world would go on as if I had never lived. My searching for answers to those questions eventually brought me into contact with Christians in my late teens.

Two particular memories from that time are of some words of a Christian song and those on a Christian poster. These are the few lines that I still remember from a song by singer/songwriter Garth Hewitt over forty years after first hearing them.

‘I long to be of value, I long to have a friend

I long to have a home to go to when my life will end’

The Christian poster was a picture of a trail of footprints stretching out into the distance on a sandy beach. The words were a paraphrase of Psalm 103:15-17 and simply read, ‘A person’s life is like a trail in the sand. The wind blows over it and it is gone. Only the love of God knows it was there.’

The words of that song spoke to the deep longing of my heart. The words on the poster pointed me towards the answer to that longing, to know the love of God, the One who created me and gave me life. It was a long and often painful journey from that time, until years later, at a candlelit Christmas carol service, I felt the loving embrace of a Father who had waited patiently for my steps to finally turn homewards to Him after my years of wandering.

Our verse for today is from the account of Sarah’s maid Hagar fleeing from Sarah’s harsh treatment after Hagar conceived a child by Abraham. There in the wilderness Hagar encountered the angel of the Lord and received a revelation of the God who saw her distress and rejection. In that knowledge she was able to return and submit to Sarah again. Later in Chapter 21 of Genesis, when Abraham sends Hagar and Ishmael away, she encounters God again in the wilderness, this time not through an angel but by directly hearing His voice from heaven. Now she knew the God who both sees and hears.

This Christmas we celebrate again the miracle of the God who came down from heaven and dwelt among us in the person of Jesus. As Christians we celebrate Jesus as our Emmanuel, no longer a baby but the risen Saviour, present with each of us by His Spirit. For anyone reading this Seed who might be facing the prospect of spending Christmas alone this year, I pray that you, like Hagar in her isolation, will know the love and presence of the One who sees and hears you and longs to meet you where you are.