OWC 2026 Devotional | Week 4, Day 4

GOD, HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT ME?

I have often confused how God feels about me based on how I feel about myself, and this is too often informed by how other people treat me.  

For most of my life, when I’ve been treated unkindly, felt unseen, and faced rejection, I’ve assumed that because God allowed the behavior, He agreed with it. I assumed this was how He doled out conviction. 

Read Genesis 16 

Hagar was placed in a very difficult place: “given” to Abraham to produce an heir. She didn’t have any choice in this arrangement, and it did result in a pregnancy. Once she discovered she was pregnant, she despised Abraham’s wife. She must have not been able to hide how she felt about Sarah, because Sarah reports to Abraham that Hagar has brought her suffering, resulting in Hagar being sent away. There is a strong cycle of unhealthy treatment that everyone has participated in, yet Hagar is the only one who finds herself alone and pregnant. She’s been treated terribly by others; she’s been treated poorly by God’s people. She could easily believe that their rejection, abuse, and unkindness were acceptable to God. The Lord wanted her to know it wasn’t, so He pursued her. Genesis 16:7 says God found her, and as we’ve seen the Lord do in His pursuits, He asks her questions. He asks her to tell her story. Where have you come from and where are you going? Of course, He already knew her story, but He asks questions so Hagar will know He’s listening. He not only listens to her, but He also speaks to her, giving her wisdom and direction. When we’ve been treated unkindly and rejected, we feel so unheard and so unseen. The Lord pursued Hagar when others abandoned her. The Lord spoke to her when others wouldn’t listen, and he looked at her when others refused to see her and the pain they had caused her. The Lord wants us to know His heart for us is not always, maybe not even often, reflected in how others treat us. We cannot answer the question, “God, how do You feel about me,” based on how others treat us. 

His Word and His presence will always be the best and most accurate answer to how God feels about us. 

Don’t let others, in words or in their deeds, answer this question for you. Only take God’s word for it. Even when you’ve had to flee hurtful people and harmful circumstances, God will find you, hear you, see you, and He will speak to you.  

• What have you believed about God’s Pursuit of you when others have treated you unkindly?  

• What is God revealing to you about His Pursuit of you when others have treated you unkindly?