If we pivot our focus in this passage from the history of Israel—the formation of the covenant family—to read it as a story about spiritual formation, the symbols and textures emerge in a slightly different way. Words of the senses emerge as significant and interrelated. Seeing and hearing are essential to survival. Hagar places her son under a bush so she does not have to see him die. She weeps, the child weeps, and God hears. God speaks to Hagar and opens her eyes. Once she knows she has been heard, she sees a well of water. Water, a symbol of life, often prompts a reflection on our spiritual journey and how the seeing of God’s providential action opens up a reservoir of hope. The scene might move us to ask how being heard in our grief or pain can help us to recognize God nearby. It may also help us remember how grace has provided a means for us to not only survive, but thrive, as God promises Hagar her son will also father a nation.

As you read this passage again, ask yourself how you feel when you are not heard, when you cannot bear to see what is happening before you. Could it be that exclusion or being ignored closes us down, as it did Hagar? Does isolation or discrimination create a kind of tunnel vision where we don’t see the wells that are there for our refreshment? What kind of waiting and calling on the Lord feels faithful and healthy in the place where you sojourn? What will you see when you know that your prayers have been heard?