Mother's Day has a very special place in the hearts of the majority of people in America. Hallmark estimates that 150 million Mother's Day cards will be sent this year (but only 95 million Father's Day cards), making Mother's Day the third largest greeting card holiday of the year. U.S. Americans spend an average of $105 on Mother's Day gifts, $90 on Father's Day gifts. The phone rings more often on Mother's Day than Father's Day -- though Father's Day will have more collect calls. The busiest day of the year at car washes? The Saturday before Mother's Day.

              In spite of the great amount of attention given to mothers on Mother’s day, many women do not feel that special the rest of the year.  Their spouses and children may not respond the way the mothers wish.  Stress builds up. They may find themselves morbidly cheering President BoKassa of the Central African Republic celebrated Mother's Day in 1971 by ordering the execution of all men jailed for crimes against their mothers.

              Some mothers feel that they never get it right.  Their children complain, their husbands give advice and there is very little support for them in the home.

              Let’s face it, there are some things a mother would never say such as:

1. "How on earth can you see the TV sitting so far back?"

2. "Yeah, I used to skip school a lot, too."

3. "Just leave all the lights on . . . it makes the house look more cheery."

4. "Let me smell that shirt -- Yeah, it's good for another week."

5. "Go ahead and keep that stray dog, honey. I'll be glad to feed and walk him every day."

6. "Well, if Timmy's mom says it's OK, that's good enough for me."

7. "The curfew is just a general time to shoot for. It's not like I'm running a prison around here."

8. "I don't have a tissue with me . . . just use your sleeve."

9. "Don't bother wearing a jacket -- the wind-chill is bound to improve."

              Or how about this? “When I said I wanted to fill the pews I didn’t mean us personally.”

              Because of the great stress that our society puts on mothers, it is easy for many mothers to feel bad about themselves, to be resentful of being mothers, to feel like their work is not worth it.

              I want you to know that God sees what you are doing.  The Bible tells us that children are important to God.  The raising of children is preparing the next generation.  It is an important task, one that falls on both parents, but especially on many mothers at certain periods of a child’s life.  God sees your work.  He knows what you do.

The real question I would ask you is this: do you see God?

              This is the struggle we all face, isn’t it.  We know that God is everywhere, that he sees and hears all.  But though God is everywhere, we don’t always see him here, at this point, in this place.

              Someone might say, “I have a real difficulty seeing God when I am changing dirty diapers.  I have a real difficulty seeing God when I am on my fifth load of laundry.  I have a real difficulty seeing God when my husband comes home and asks with a degree of sarcasm, ‘So what did you do today!’ ”

              I want to look at a mother who had real issues of seeing God.  Life for her was hard.  Her name was Hagar and she is found in Genesis 16.

              Right from the start almost anyone who reads this beginning passage in verses 1-3 has a hard time seeing God.

              1 Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian maidservant named Hagar; 2 so she said to Abram, “The LORD has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my maidservant; perhaps I can build a family through her.” Abram agreed to what Sarai said. 3 So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian maidservant Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife.

              I first ask these questions, “Do you think that God knew that Sarai had no children?  Do you think God saw this conversation between Abram and Sarai?  Do you think that God knew when Abram went in to sleep with Hagar?”

To those questions we would answer, “Of course God saw it all.”

So I would ask, “Do you think that Sarai saw God in this situation?  Do you think Abram saw God?  This was not unusual in that day.  If a woman could not have children, she could assume a child born by a slave or concubine.  I believe Jesus strongly supported monogamy as is evidenced in his teachings in the New Testament.  But the Bible many times gives facts without commenting on them.

If Sarai didn’t see God what did she see?  She saw the empty crib.  How her heart longed for a baby.  If she couldn’t get one on her own, she would find another way.  That empty crib consumed her thoughts and her mind.

Verse 4 gives the first source of stress:  Our own attitudes towards others.

4 He slept with Hagar, and she conceived. When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress.

5 Then Sarai said to Abram, “You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my servant in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the LORD judge between you and me.” 6 “Your servant is in your hands,” Abram said. “Do with her whatever you think best.” Then Sarai ill-treated Hagar; so she fled from her.

Do you think God saw this conversation?  Do you think he was privy to the discussion between Sarai and Abram?  Of course he was.  He saw the ill treatment Sarai gave Hagar.  He also saw the abuse Sarai heaped on Abram.  In fact, he saw Abram avoid confrontation.  He saw Abram take the easy way out.  “Whatever you want to do, do it.”

Did Abram see God?  Sarai saw the cradle, but what did Abram see?  He saw Sarai.  He was so focus on her that he didn’t see God.  If we want to be kind, we can say that Abram saw her hurt and wanted to do all he could to take the hurt our of her heart.  Or, if we don’t want to be so kind, we can say that Abram was just giving in to avoid conflict in the home.  But Abram does not see God in this situation.  His focus seems to be on pleasing Sarai.

But what about Hagar?  Does God see her?  Does he see the position she is put in as a servant girl?  Of course he does.  Does God see the contempt for Sarai spring up in her heart because she was able to have a baby and Sarai was not?  Of course he did.  God knows our hearts.  He sees the true thoughts and intents.  Did he see how Hagar treated Sarai?  Yes he did!  Someone suggested Wednesday night that an emotional bond might have grown in Hagar’s heart towards Abram.  That might have been the source of contempt.  She was a better wife than Sarai in her own mind.  If so, did God see that?  Yes he did.  Did Hagar see God?  We have no indication that this was so. If anything, Hagar was looking at herself. Her pride was showing.  Our pride and God do not coexist.

Hagar’s theme song would be, “Anything you can do, I can do better.  I can do anything better than you.”

But then Hagar’s life heads downhill.  I don’t know what Sarai did, but Hagar found it difficult.  Sarai may have given her the silent treatment or she may have been on her case day in and day out.  Sarai might have given her the most difficult, smelly, dirty jobs she could find, or she might have been given to responsibility and might have had to fight boredom.  Sarai might have physically abused her, or she might have totally ignored her all together. 

How bad was it for Hagar?  It was so bad that she felt that the only way out was to run away. 

Did God see this?  He certainly did.  Did Hagar see God?  I would tell you that all Hagar was concerned about was her own self, her own safety.

7 The angel of the LORD found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. 8 And he said, “Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?” “I’m running away from my mistress Sarai,” she answered.

Notice her answer.  She does not say, “I am leaving Canaan and going to Egypt.”  She says, “I am running away from my mistress Sarai.”   Where is she going?  She is probably on the road back to Egypt, to family and friends.  But she is not preoccupied with seeing her family.  She is running away from Sarai.  She doesn’t care where she goes, what happens to her, where she ends up.  She only cares that she get out of Sarai’s house.

Abram was called by God to leave the Ur of the Chaldees to go to an unknown land.  He was not running from something, he was following someone, namely God.  Hagar is not following anyone, she is running from someone.  That makes her situation much more destructive, much more dangerous.

9 Then the angel of the LORD told her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her.” 10 The angel added, “I will so increase your descendants that they will be too numerous to count.” 11 The angel of the LORD also said to her: “You are now with child and you will have a son. You shall name him Ishmael, for the LORD has heard of your misery.

Ishmael means “God will hear.”  God will hear what?  God has already heard of your misery.   He knows how tough it is.  So he tells Hagar to go back to your mistress and submit to her.

Hagar does.  I wonder how hard it was to go back and what kind of a reception she received from Sarai and Abram.  Did Sarai have a moment of compassion?  Was she upset because she thought her troubles had walked out the door, but now they return?  We don’t know.

12 He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he will live in hostility towards all his brothers.

It sounds like her son will experience all she experienced.  It is interesting to note that Ishmael became the father of the Arab nations.

 13 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.” 14 That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi (be-ayr' lakh-ah'ee ro-ee); it is still there, between Kadesh and Bered.

Do you know what made Hagar go back and tough it out in this hostile household?  She recognized two things.

First, she saw that God saw her.  What a great awareness.  The well was called be-ayr lakh-ah ee ro ee, which means “Well of the Living One Seeing Me.” 

Can you imagine what this meant to her?  Here she is, pregnant, running away, alone, sitting by a well, her life in total shambles!  And as she thinks about the conversation she just heard, she does not think about Sarai, Abram, her circumstance or anything.  She says, “God really sees me!”

Second, she realized that by that well, “Well of the Living One Seeing Me,” she saw God. She says, “I have now seen the One who sees me.

The angel of the Lord often is used to describe God’s appearances in the Old Testament.  This broken woman realizes that to some degree, in some way, she saw God!

I imagine some people who are under stress might say, “This doesn’t help me at all.  I want my husband, my children, my circumstances to change.  I want stress out of my life.  I think it is horrible that God told Hagar to go back to that kind of life.  I don’t see God and I don’t think God sees me.” 

But I want to tell you that there are many here who have seen that God sees them and that has given them a tremendous lift during a time of crisis. 

There are mothers here today who would tell you about how hard it was for them.  They were struggling with husband, children, in-laws, outlaws, finances, diapers, endless squabbles, negative thoughts and emotions.

Some of these same mothers will tell you that through it all, they see God and they see that God sees them.  They will tell you that it makes a huge difference for them.

We live in a time in which children are undervalued.  In the interest of personal freedom, many of our children are getting a raw deal.  But mothers who hear God saying, “Your children are important, you marriage is important, go back and I will be with you!”  have found a strength and a wonder that only can come from God.

15 So Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son she had borne. 16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael.” Genesis 16:1-16, NIV.

              Ishmael!  Every time she hears that name she remembers, “God hears, God hears!  God sees me and I have seen God!” 

              Did it mean that life improved for Hagar?  May be.  If she went back with a different attitude and a different mindset it might have alleviated the stress between her and Sarai.  If she was aware that God saw and heard all that went on, she might have been more careful.  And because of that she might have felt the easing of her stress.

              But it still must have been hard.  But with the Psalmist she would say, “God is my refuge and strength, a very present help in times of trouble…”

              Mothers, trust God.  He sees.  Do you see Him?  Open you eyes!  Your children are made in God’s image.  Our Creator has made a beautiful world for us to enjoy.  In the Bible and in the music the church sings we see and hear the voice of God.  And in your time of need, he is there all the time.