The God who sees me

By Max Sahl  |  Wycliffe Today Christmas Edition 2023

The Bible is filled with examples of people who experience the pain of marginalisation. In Genesis 16, we meet Hagar. Forced to bear Abraham’s child, then face subsequent resentment and abuse from Sarah, Hagar was well acquainted with feeling small and insignificant. She may have been a poor slave woman yet an encounter with an angel of the Lord reminds her that she is not alone. She refers to the Lord as ‘El Roi’, meaning ‘the God who sees me’.

Many people in the world on the margins of society experience similar feelings of abandonment to Hagar. This is especially true for those suffering from abject poverty, illiteracy, war, homelessness, deafness, blindness or other health conditions. I recently had the opportunity to visit a Multilingual Education (MLE) project in the Democratic Republic of Congo that is being funded by Wycliffe Australia. In the north of the country are the Ngbaka people, most of whom are subsistence farmers, locked into a cycle of illiteracy and poverty because they do not speak French which is the language of education in the country. The MLE project aims to teach six and seven-year-old children how to read and write in the Ngbaka language before they begin formal schooling in French. The project has been extremely successful because these children are ready to learn literacy skills in French because they already have them in Ngbaka.

Jesus demonstrated the greatest depth of love and compassion for those in the margins of society. The stories in this special Christmas edition of Wycliffe Today show how God is reaching out to marginalised people like the Ngbaka through projects that provide dignity and support. When spiritual and physical needs are met, people feel cared for and seen. As it says in Matthew 25:40, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me’. I hope you are encouraged as you read about lives being transformed, and reflect on the God who sees you and loves you.