Common Good

Common Good

The God Who Sees the Overlooked

Scripture References

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Old Testament

Genesis 16:1-14

1 Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, bore him no children. She had a servant, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar.

2 Sarai said to Abram, “See now, the LORD has restrained me from bearing. Please go in to my servant. It may be that I will obtain children by her.” Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.

3 Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her servant, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to Abram her husband to be his wife.

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4 He went in to Hagar, and she conceived. When she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes.

5 Sarai said to Abram, “This wrong is your fault. I gave my servant into your bosom, and when she saw that she had conceived, she despised me. May the LORD judge between me and you.”

6 But Abram said to Sarai, “Behold, your maid is in your hand. Do to her whatever is good in your eyes.” Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she fled from her face.

7 The LORD’s angel found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain on the way to Shur.

8 He said, “Hagar, Sarai’s servant, where did you come from? Where are you going?” She said, “I am fleeing from the face of my mistress Sarai.”

9 The LORD’s angel said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit yourself under her hands.”

10 The LORD’s angel said to her, “I will greatly multiply your offspring, that they will not be counted for multitude.”

11 The LORD’s angel said to her, “Behold, you are with child, and will bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael, because the LORD has heard your affliction.

12 He will be like a wild donkey amongst men. His hand will be against every man, and every man’s hand against him. He will live opposed to all of his brothers.”

13 She called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, “You are a God who sees,” for she said, “Have I even stayed alive after seeing him?”

14 Therefore the well was called Beer Lahai Roi. Behold, it is between Kadesh and Bered.

New Testament

Matthew 10:29-31

29 “Aren’t two sparrows sold for an assarion coin? Not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will.

30 But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.

31 Therefore don’t be afraid. You are of more value than many sparrows.

Thought for the Day

Jesus speaks of sparrows: small lives, cheap in the market, easily missed. Yet not one falls to the ground apart from the Father. If God attends to what the world barely counts, then fear does not get the last word. The hairs of your head are numbered; your life is not mislaid.

Many people on the move live with the ache of being treated as a case-file rather than a person: interviewed, assessed, postponed. Scripture does not ask us to pretend the world is simple. It asks us to remember that God sees.

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Genesis tells a harder story. Hagar is used, blamed, and driven into the wilderness. She is not merely poor; she is unseen. And there, in the heat and the loneliness, the angel of the Lord meets her. The God of Abraham is not only the God of households and promises. He is the God who finds the cast-off.

So pray for those who have slipped from view: the ones sleeping badly, the ones waiting for decisions, the ones carrying shame. Ask for a Church that learns to look steadily. And ask for your own heart: that you might notice, without fuss, the person Christ has already noticed.

Prayer Points

Respond
  • God who sees, draw near to those who feel forgotten in camps, hostels, temporary housing, and waiting rooms.
  • Give wise safeguarding and protection for women and children at risk of exploitation or violence.
  • Grant steadiness and kindness to caseworkers, lawyers, interpreters, and charities working under pressure.
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  • Heal what has been done in secret: trauma, humiliation, and fear; give true companionship and hope.
  • Teach me to look with attention, so that my mercy is not vague but neighbour-shaped.