A Journey of Faith, Week 6 - September 13, 2026

Sep 13, 2026

Devotional

Day 1: Fleeing Toward a Dead End, Found by the God Who Sees

Hagar ran from mistreatment, her pain propelling her toward Shur’s wilderness road—a path leading to walls, not freedom. Yet God intercepted her flight at a desert spring, not to condemn but to name her reality. He saw her turmoil, her pregnancy, and her fear. In the clash between human plans and divine purpose, God revealed himself as El Roi, the One who actively sees the unseen. His pursuit transforms desperation into destiny. Where we see dead ends, God sees opportunities to rewrite stories. [46:02]

“She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: ‘You are the God who sees me,’ for she said, ‘I have now seen the One who sees me.’”
(Genesis 16:13, ESV)

Reflection: Where are you tempted to run from a painful situation instead of pausing to listen for God’s voice? How might His presence in this struggle redefine your next step?

Day 2: Remaining When Every Instinct Says Run

God told Hagar to return to the source of her pain—a call that defied human logic. Like Christ in Gethsemane, surrender often means staying in hard places so God’s purposes can mature. Remaining requires trusting that God works through submission, not escape. The desert spring became a landmark not because circumstances changed, but because Hagar’s perspective shifted. Obedience in tension cultivates spiritual sight. [01:05:06]

“Going a little farther, [Jesus] fell with his face to the ground and prayed, ‘My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.’”
(Matthew 26:39, ESV)

Reflection: What unresolved tension in your life might God be inviting you to endure with faith rather than flee? How could staying reshape your capacity to trust Him?

Day 3: The God Who Changes Us Before Changing Circumstances

Hagar’s story reveals that God often transforms people before altering their situations. Her identity shifted from “slave” to “mother of nations” while still pregnant and returning to Sarai. El Roi doesn’t merely observe—He renames. Our trials become altars when we let God redefine our worth and purpose within them. Miracles happen not in the absence of pain, but through it. [01:09:35]

“We also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.”
(Romans 5:3–4, ESV)

Reflection: What false label or limitation are you carrying that God might want to replace with His redeeming name? How could your current struggle be shaping hope?

Day 4: Scanned Crowds and the One Who Sees

Like a child searching bleachers for a parent’s face, we crave to be seen in our rawest moments. Hagar’s cry echoes in 93 million daily selfies—a culture screaming, “Notice me!” Yet God’s gaze cuts through performance, finding us in hidden deserts. Being fully known by Him frees us from the exhaustion of curating images. His vision heals what human approval cannot touch. [51:16]

“You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.”
(Psalm 139:1–3, ESV)

Reflection: Where do you feel most invisible? How might embracing God’s attentive love loosen your grip on others’ approval?

Day 5: From Junk Pile to Priceless—Seeing What God Sees

The $3.07 thrift-store jersey, discarded yet destined for glory, mirrors our story. Christ finds value in what culture deems worthless. Hagar—a foreign slave—became the first person in Scripture to name God. Our pasts don’t limit His future. When we behold El Roi, we start seeing ourselves and others through His redeeming lens. Brokenness becomes a canvas for divine artistry. [49:44]

“And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”
(2 Corinthians 3:18, ESV)

Reflection: What part of your story feels like a “discarded jersey”? How might God’s vision of your purpose challenge that narrative?

Sermon Summary

Genesis 16 brings Abraham’s journey of faith to a hard moment. God had called Abraham out of the familiar in chapter 12, revealed Himself as God Most High in chapters 13 and 14, and showed Himself as Adonai, the Sovereign Lord, in chapter 15. But Sarai’s words in chapter 16 begin to compete with God’s word, and Abraham listens to a different voice. Faith starts fading when surrendered burdens get picked back up and tired hearts decide to make their own plan.

Sarai and Abraham show what happens when people get tired of waiting on God. God’s promise had not changed, but ten years had passed, and the waiting became painful. Their shortcut produced a fracture in the family, jealousy in the home, mistreatment, tension, and chaos. God’s playbook never leads to the kind of division that comes from abandoning His word to grab what is right in front of them.

Hagar then runs from the conflict, but the wilderness becomes the place where God finds her. Her name carries the idea of fleeing, and the road toward Shur pictures a person running straight toward a wall, a dead end. Yet the angel of the Lord meets her there. The angel of the Lord speaks as God, knows what only God knows, and receives what angels never receive, making this a visible manifestation of Christ before Bethlehem. Jesus finds Hagar when she is not looking for Him.

The Lord’s question, “Where have you come from and where are you going?” presses into every season of transition, pain, and confusion. God then gives Hagar a difficult word: not to run, but to remain, submit, serve, and surrender. The cross gives weight to that command, because Christ Himself asked whether the cup could pass, yet remained faithful when running would have been easier. God often does His greatest work in the toughest places, and the places of greatest pain can produce the greatest product.

Hagar’s circumstances do not immediately change, but Hagar changes because she has encountered El Roi, the God who sees. God sees the broken, the mistreated, the anxious, and the person with a back against the wall. El Roi gives strength to remain when His will calls for remaining. The choice before Hagar becomes the choice before every hurting heart: run from God’s purposes, or see the One who sees and trust Him in the middle of the circumstance.

Key Takeaways

1. Do not settle while waiting on God [54:35] Waiting can make a lesser option look like a necessary option. Sarai and Abraham show that impatience often disguises itself as wisdom, planning, or simply doing what has to be done. God’s will never contradicts God’s word, even when obedience feels lonely or costly. [54:35]
2. God finds people running toward dead ends [01:00:19] Hagar fled from pain, conflict, and mistreatment, yet Christ found her before the wall she was heading toward. The wilderness was not proof that God had abandoned her. The wilderness became the place where she discovered that God had been watching, hearing, and moving all along. [60:19]
3. Remaining can be a faithful act [01:05:06] Running is not always the answer, even when the situation is painful and unfair. Christ’s own faithfulness in Gethsemane and at the cross shows that surrender sometimes means staying under a hard assignment. God can do work in a heart through pain that escape would never allow. [65:06]
4. God changes people for circumstances [01:09:07] Hagar’s situation did not suddenly become easy, but her vision of God changed everything. El Roi did not merely see her distress from far away; He met her in it and gave her strength for it. God’s presence does not always remove the burden, but His presence makes faithful endurance possible.

## [69:07]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[43:02] - Abraham’s Journey of Faith
[43:55] - God Most High and Adonai
[45:12] - Hagar, Sarai, and Abraham’s Failure
[47:49] - Seen as Something Priceless
[50:30] - The Desire to Be Seen
[52:07] - Failing Faith and Impatience
[56:21] - When Shortcuts Fracture the Home
[58:56] - Hagar Runs Into God
[60:41] - The Angel of the Lord Finds Hagar
[64:13] - Called to Remain, Not Run
[67:44] - El Roi, the God Who Sees
[70:44] - Responding to the God Who Sees

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading

Genesis 16:1–16

Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. She had a female Egyptian servant whose name was Hagar. [45:09]
And Sarai said to Abram, “Behold now, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. Go in to my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. [45:21]
So, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her servant, and gave her to Abram her husband as a wife.
And he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, she looked with contempt on her mistress.
And Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done to me be on you! I gave my servant to your embrace, and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked on me with contempt. May the Lord judge between you and me!”
But Abram said to Sarai, “Behold, your servant is in your power; do to her as you please.” Then Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she fled from her.
The angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur. [46:11]
And he said, “Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?” She said, “I am fleeing from my mistress Sarai.” [46:19]
The angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress and submit to her.” [46:32]
The angel of the Lord also said to her, “I will surely multiply your offspring so that they cannot be numbered for multitude.”
And the angel of the Lord said to her, “Behold, you are pregnant and shall bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael, because the Lord has listened to your affliction. [46:41]
He shall be a wild donkey of a man, his hand against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen.”
So she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, “You are a God of seeing,” for she said, “Truly here I have seen him who looks after me.” [47:08]
Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi; it lies between Kadesh and Bered.
So Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram called the name of his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael.
Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.

Matthew 26:39

And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” [01:06:52]

Matthew 11:28–30

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. [01:11:29]

Observation questions

What details in Genesis 16 show the difference between God’s promise to Abram and Sarai’s plan for dealing with the delay?
What changes in Sarai and Abram’s home after Hagar conceives, and how does each person contribute to the conflict? [56:47]
What does the angel of the Lord ask Hagar, what does Hagar say she is doing, and what command does the angel give her?
What does Hagar call God in verse 13, and what does that name reveal about what she experienced in the wilderness? [01:09:01]

Interpretation questions

Abram had trusted God’s promise, yet he later listened to Sarai’s plan. What does this reveal about how waiting can weaken faith and lead a believer to take back a burden once surrendered to God? [53:10]
Sarai’s plan may have seemed practical after ten years of waiting. Why is a plan that conflicts with God’s Word never a faithful solution, even when the need is real and the delay is painful? [54:57]
The angel of the Lord finds Hagar while she is fleeing, rather than after she has found her way back. What does this show about God’s care for people who are broken, mistreated, confused, or running toward a dead end? [01:00:34]
Hagar is told to return, while Jesus also chose the Father’s will in Gethsemane. How can a believer seek God’s wisdom about whether a hard season calls for faithful endurance or for leaving? [01:13:06]

Application questions

Is there a burden—such as a relationship, health concern, financial pressure, child, job situation, or unanswered prayer—that has been given to God but slowly picked back up? What would it look like this week to place it back under the Lord’s care? [01:10:44]
Where might impatience be making a lesser option look like the only option? Is there a decision that needs to be slowed down so it can be measured by God’s Word instead of fear, loneliness, or urgency? [54:35]
Have personal choices or patterns contributed to tension in a home, family, friendship, or church relationship? What is one humble step toward God’s way—repentance, a hard conversation, prayer, forgiveness, or seeking help—that could be taken? [58:13]
Hagar answered honestly, “I am fleeing.” If the Lord asked, “Where have you come from and where are you going?” what honest answer might describe this present season? [01:03:00]
Is there a painful situation that creates a strong desire to run? What would it mean to seek the Lord carefully before acting, while also recognizing that God does not call anyone to remain in danger or abuse?
How does knowing God as El Roi, the God who sees, speak into a place where a person feels overlooked, unseen, or alone? What specific truth from Genesis 16 needs to be remembered this week? [01:08:07]
Jesus invites weary and burdened people to come to Him for rest. What practical habit could help a believer come to Christ with a heavy burden this week instead of trying to carry it alone? [01:11:29]

Sermon Clips

49s

#ChangeThePersonNotCircumstances

“And watch this man, Sarah's circumstances hadn't changed at all. God hadn't changed the circumstances for the person. She had changed the person for the circumstances. I'm telling you, that's so powerful, man. Somebody needs that right now. For somebody this morning, wanna repeat that. God changed my circumstances. And for somebody this morning, God's saying to you, many times I don't change the circumstances for the person, I change the person for the circumstances. When I call you to remain, I give you the strength to do it. Even though you would prefer running away.”

26s

#RemainForVictory

“Because in the midst of my greatest pain, sometimes comes the greatest victories. We're proof this morning that sometimes God doesn't cause to run, it causes to remain. You wouldn't be here worshiping Jesus this morning if he had ran. He remained faithful to the call. He surrendered. He submitted. He served. He sacrificed. Even though it'd been easier just to run away.”

57s

#FoundByJesus

“She's fleeing away from her problems, man. She's she's fleeing away from the drama. She's fleeing away from her family issues. She's she's running away as fast and far as she could, and Jesus the Christ finds her. Wow. Man, I'm so glad Jesus found me. I don't know about you, man. Aren't you glad he's willing to leave the 99 in search of the one? Yes. Have you been the one? Yes. Because I have. Aren't you so glad that when you weren't looking for Jesus, he was looking for you? That's our testimony this morning, amen? That's why we show up on Sunday morning to give our first and best because he found us.”

28s

#FaithAlignedMarriage

“I was like, I don't even have to pray about what you should do. I know that it is not God's will for you to marry a nonbeliever. God's never gonna reveal, he's never gonna reveal something to you that misaligns with his word. If you're dating a non believer, don't need to pray about it. Need to break up with a person because it's not God's will. The will of God will never contradict the word of God.”

22s

#WaitDontSettle

“Because the dangerous temptation in the midst of waiting on God is to settle for less than what he had. I know what God said, but I'm tired of waiting. I told, I I never forget, there was a girl I pastored years ago,”

35s

#RanIntoGod

“just at this moment, y'all, this is so good. Just at the moment, Hagar is fleeing from the conflict. She's fleeing from her problems. She's headed towards the dead end, and she runs right into God. wonder if there's somebody's testimony this morning, man. That's your testimony. You were running away as fast and far as you could. You were running away from a situation. You were running away from a crisis. You were running away from a situation, and you were trying to get away as fast as you could and you ran right into God.”

47s

#GodSeesYou

“And for somebody else this morning, he wants you to know that he sees you. cares for you. He loves you. For somebody he's calling you not to run from it but remain in it. There's another side to that story though. There was a time, there was a time that Hagar left. Sometimes God calls us to stay for a season and then depart. I can't tell you that God's telling you to remain in it. I'm just telling you he did for Hagar. You gotta be close enough to the Lord, close enough to the spirits to know when to run and when to remain. But God does wanna remind you that many times he does his greatest work in the in the greatest pain.”

45s

#RemainForPurpose

“I wanna run from that marriage, man. I wanna run from that prodigal. My my kid is a prodigal. Wanna run from that grief. I wanna run from that work. I I'm just tired of it. I'm tired of dealing with it. I wanna run. And for somebody, God wants to come to you and says, my my will for your life this morning is not that you run from it, but you remain in it. I'm calling you to stay. I'm calling you to submit because in this pain, I've got incredible work that I want to do. I've got something I wanna do that I can't do if you run from it.”

51s

#GodHasPurpose

“Because what we see is we see in in in the first verses, we see that God saw Hagar. I see you, Hagar, in the wilderness, headed towards the dead end Road, back against the wall, and I found you. Because I've got a plan, I've got a purpose for your life. And God wants to say that to somebody this morning. I see you this morning. I care about you this morning. I haven't forsaken you this morning. My eyes are on you this morning. I've got plans and purposes for your life in the future that you can't see yet. So, in these intro verses, we see that God saw Hagar, but in the final verses, we see that Hagar saw God. We see a choice.”

53s

#GreatestWorkInPain

“Sometimes God does his greatest work in the toughest places. Many times the places of the most pain produce the greatest product. And I thought about this, man. I I can't skip over this. Jesus the Christ meets Hagar in this situation and says, need you to remain. Mean, I can you believe the nerve of God to ask somebody to remain even though it would be easier just to run away? Imagine the nerve of Jesus and then I thought about, man, can't, I mean, this isn't fair, man. This is, is not treating her right, man. It's it's not, it doesn't seem logical. Then the Lord brought to my mind this morning as I was finishing up this message. The one that asked her to remain prayed the same prayer in the Garden Of Gethsemane.”

36s

#BackToGodsPlaybook

“And God's coming to us this morning and say, you know what, man? If you want to end this family dysfunction, end this family tension, then it's time to get back to the way to God's playbook, It's man. Time to get back in the word of God. It's time to get back on your knees before God. It's time to get back in the church. It's time to get back to giving God my first and my best, man. I wanna end this family drama, end this family tension. I want my home to be a place where God is exalted and honored. Amen? Amen. Amen. The”

34s

#DontMakeYourOwnPlan

“For somebody this morning, listen, I don't know who this is for this morning, but for somebody this morning, God wants to come to us in this in this moment and say, be very careful in this season about making a plan. You're you're you're getting impatient with God. Like, God, I I thought you were gonna provide for me. I thought you were gonna provide that relationship. I thought you were gonna provide that school. I thought you were gonna provide that career. I thought you were gonna provide, and I don't see your provision. And God will say, be very careful right now in this season about making a plan.”

29s

#DontSettleForLess

“because she just got tired of waiting. And for somebody this morning, God wants to come to you because the dangerous temptation in this moment of your life is that you settle. You just get tired, and so you just say, you know what, it might not be the right thing, but it's the thing that's in front of me right now, so I'm just gonna grab it because it's right in front of me. Come on. And God just wants to come into that situation and says, be very careful about making a plan. Be very careful about settling for less than what God has stated.”

40s

#RunningIntoDeadEnd

“This is so good, man. The the word Hagar actually means to flee. It means to run. I'm running away from my problems. I'm running away from the conflict. I'm on the run from God's plans and God's purposes. The word sure in Hebrew means wall. So, watch this because in the Hebrew they wouldn't have missed it. You got this person that's fleeing from the plans and the purposes of God, and they're about to head towards a brick wall. They're about to head to a dead end.”

28s

#CalledToRemain

“Hagar, I found you on the way to a dead end, running away. But I haven't called you to run right now. I've called you to remain. haven't called you I haven't called you to to leave. I've called you to stay.”

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