St. Patrick, Hagar, and the God who Sees
Well friends, we’re on week 4 or 5 of Lent — depending on how you’re counting — and I don’t know about you, but it has been a really encouraging season for me. Today is also St. Patrick’s Day, which if you’re not Irish, like me — you may not celebrate today. That’s okay. But, today we’re talking about Patrick, Hagar, and what God’s been teaching me recently.
St. Patrick, as you may have surmised is a saint.
A saint, if you’re not familiar, is someone that the Roman Catholic, Anglican, or Eastern Orthodox churches (maybe others, but essentially high church traditions) revere as especially holy members of the capital “c” Church. Low churches tend to not follow that tradition because of the emphasis of the “priesthood of all believers” and Paul’s writings which refer to all believers at saints. But Hebrews does lay out a list of leaders of faith and there is importance in remembering those who came before us and learning from them. So we’re going to embrace what our high church brethren do and look at the life of Saint Patrick.
So who is Saint Patrick? What did he do? And what on Earth does he have to do with Hagar?
First, he was NOT Irish. While much of his life is mysterious, this is what we have come to know. He was not born on the island of Ireland but instead was taken there as a captive; a slave. He lived there for six years from age 16 to 23 and primarily spent his time isolated and lonely. During that time he prayed for God’s deliverance and after a divine encounter he was able to escape and return home. Upon returning he realized he wanted to dedicate his life to ministry and became a priest. But while he was home he realized that his heart was burdened for his enslavers; the Irish. He often heard them in dreams, calling for him to come back to them. After becoming a priest, he returned to Ireland to reach the unbelievers and eventually helped lay the foundations for the Roman Catholic Church’s influence in Ireland.
If you’re familiar with the story of Hagar, perhaps you can see what similarities there are between Patrick and this Old Testament woman. Both served others, Patrick as a slave to his Irish captors and Hagar served Abraham and Sarah.* Both spent time isolated and alone, Patrick in the wilderness taking care of animals and Hagar after she is chased away by Sarah.* Both were seen by God and had divine encounters, Patrick when God revealed a way for escape as well as a path back to Ireland and Hagar when God speaks to her through His angel.
I’ve written about Hagar before and this idea of a God who sees us. But it’s something God has been reminding me of again. He sees us.
He sees us when our lives are full of blessing and joy, when we’re living innocently in the wonder of childhood or delighting in new life. He sees us when we’re in the depths of despair — even in captivity and rejection. He sees us and more often than not, He speaks to us. God is faithful. His promises are yes and amen. He does not lie. He has promised life abundant and sometimes that abundant life doesn’t look the way we imagined but that does not negate His goodness or faithfulness.
This is a lesson I have often learned in the hardest ways possible and it is one I am learning daily in this season. Right now, I feel a little like Patrick and Hagar — isolated and cast off from friends and family. I feel unseen, unwanted, unwelcome, and honestly unloved. But God sees. He sees and He knows. He’s teaching me to cry out to Him daily for deliverance, to put my trust in Him and His timing, not my own absolutely feeble attempts. He’s teaching me that His yoke is easy and light and to surrender to Him. He’s teaching me, as I’ve been told before, to “stop fighting and let Jesus win and get a hold of grace again.” And while it’s a difficult lesson to learn, it’s easier when I remember that God sees us and He cares. He cared about Hagar even though she was a result of Abraham’s lack of faith. He cared about Patrick, a slave alone in a foreign country. He cares about you and me.
I ended my last post about Hagar with the verse from Matthew about sparrows. But I don’t want to do that today. Instead I want to end talking about how God demonstrated that He cared. Because that’s the purpose of this season we are in.
God cares about us and I know that with certainty because of what He did thousands of years ago on a hill outside of Jerusalem. Jesus, being both God and man, died our death so that we could be made right with God. He died and three days later rose again so we could be restored to our creator. Why? Because He loves us. And love isn’t a fancy or a feeling. It’s not husbands and wives on their wedding days. It’s death on a cross for you and me. It’s agape. It’s “a selfless, purposeful, outgoing attitude that desires to do good to the one loved.” - Kenneth Wuest.
I know God cares and sees us because I know He loves us with perfect love that we can find nowhere else. A love that was willing to die for us and a love that seeks our good even when we can’t see it.
*Originally I wrote Elizabeth because I’m fallible. We’ve been camped in the Gospels and well E and S both struggled with infertility and got pregnant in their old age so ya know, an honest mix-up to make. I promise I know the difference. :)