Spiritual Seed: Building Beliefs

March's Spiritual Seed

In Old Testament times, an Egyptian slave woman named Hagar belonged to Sarai, Abram’s wife (later, Sarah and Abraham). Her story is mostly sad. When Sarai couldn’t have children, she brought Hagar to Abram so that she could “obtain children by her.” Hagar became pregnant, and Sarai became jealous.

Hagar’s position in society was extremely low. As a slave woman, she had little say over what happened in her life. She must have felt outcasted, unseen, unheard, and largely unloved. Sarai treated her harshly, to the point that pregnant Hagar escaped their household.

Alone, sitting by a well, away from Sarai and Abram, Hagar had an encounter with an angel of God.

This angel told her that the Lord would bless her because “the Lord listened to your affliction.”

Then Hagar did something that no other human ever dared to do in the whole Old Testament: she gave God a name.

Others, like Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob received names from God, but none of them ever gave a name to God.

So, what was the name Hagar gave God?

El Roi — “The God Who Sees” and in other translations, “The God Who Sees Me” (Genesis 16:13)

Hagar was abused, used, dealt with unfairly, and in her deep need to be seen, she found a God who saw her. She experienced God in a way that felt deeply personal.

Later, when she gave birth, she named her son Ishmael, which means “God hears.”

Hagar’s theology about God developed out of her own experience.

Sometimes we try to do things backward. We build up our Wall of I Knows before we have a chance to meet God ourselves. We embrace rigid beliefs and then force our experiences into boxes to validate those beliefs. Sometimes we have our paradigms and views so set in stone that we may not leave room for the mystery that is Life.

Many religious traditions teach that faith is about learning doctrine first, then experiencing God in a way that fits into that framework. Hagar’s story suggests the opposite: her suffering led to an encounter, and that encounter shaped her understanding of God.

How might our faith look different if we let experience lead instead of forcing experiences to conform to predetermined beliefs?

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And now, onto March’s Spiritual Seed…