Eyes and Empathy

The daily devotional I am using during Lent in 2025 focuses on the wilderness (figurative and real) that we encounter in and through the stories and characters of the Bible. At the beginning of the week, I found it odd that we should focus on Hagar. Hagar is a key character in Genesis 15 and 16, an Egyptian woman enslaved by her own people and by Abram's family. Through dehumanizing events, Hagar becomes the mother of many nations through her son Ishmael. Still, I wasn't convinced of the need to sit in the story of Hagar for a week.  Until the devotional's author revealed one amazing reality: Hagar, enslaved, dehumanized, abused, and cast away from Abram's family and God's redemptive story, was the first person in the biblical narrative to give God a name—The God Who Sees Me.

"And the angel also said, "You are now pregnant and will give birth to a son. You are to name him Ishmael (which means 'God hears'), for the Lord has heard your cry of distress. This son of yours will be a wild man, as untamed as a wild donkey! He will raise his fist against everyone, and everyone will be against him. Yes, he will live in open hostility against all his relatives." Thereafter, Hagar used another name to refer to the Lord, who had spoken to her. She said, "You are the God who sees me." She also said, "Have I truly seen the One who sees me?" (Genesis 16:11-13, NLT)

Being seen by another, by The Other, is a core longing of humans. Every person we lead, work alongside, serve, love, and care for longs to be seen and to be seen by us. I resonate with the desire and the reassurance from scripture that our God is the God who sees us. Whether in a wilderness or a sanctuary, God hears and sees us. As I meditated on the honor given Hagar, and her first name for God, I began to see a God-portrait of empathy. A picture of empathy that elevates empathy in imaging God Himself.

The first entry defining empathy at www.merriam-webster.com describes empathy as both action and capacity. Empathy is the action and capacity to understand, recognize, to notice the feelings, thoughts, and needs of another. Yet, the dictionary definition speaks of empathy's action and capacity as a vicarious activity. Vicarious is a problem. The most amazing reality in the narrative of the Gospels is that God does not vicariously consider human history. Instead, God incarnates Himself, Jesus enters into human history as the God-man. God's version of empathy is seeing and entering in with, not into the problem, but entering into a relationship with the person.

"So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. So, let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most." (Hebrews 4:14-16, NLT)

As Christians, leaders, and humans, we must strive to embrace God's view of empathy. Empathy is often held at arm's length to avoid mere sympathy. Yes, we do not want to fall into the same mudhole occupied by the person we are serving. Jesus faced all of our trials but didn't fall into sin. Real empathy is the empathy of the God who sees and enters into a relationship with a person in need. Real empathy sees the person, and then the problem. Real empathy loves the person and addresses the problem. Real empathy is difficult, it requires us to get close and be seen.

Can you recall a time in your life when you were truly seen by someone else? How did it feel? Did it change you?

Who in your life needs to be seen by you today?