How does God see us?
“You are the God who sees me” is how a woman named Hagar envisions the divine presence during a time of crisis recorded in the first book of the Bible (Genesis 16:13, New International Version).
We might ask, “Does it matter if I know how God sees me?” I’ve increasingly come to find that yes, it does, because it’s the way into discovering who we really are – and the way out of seeming captivity to things that would try to make us think and act in a way that’s less than what we truly are as children of God, who is entirely good.
I had some years that were pretty rough, during which I made choices that were harmful to myself and others. Through it all, though, I had an inkling that the way I was feeling and acting wasn’t who I truly was. What I didn’t know was how to change the way I was seeing myself.
I asked a Christian Science practitioner for help through prayer. It wasn’t long before I realized that I wanted to see myself the way the practitioner was seeing me, because this individual had such a loving perspective. And then I realized that the way the practitioner was seeing me was the way God, Love, was seeing me.
The book of Isaiah records some messages that reveal specifics about how we are seen by our divine Father-Mother God. When these messages were given, many Jewish people were in captivity. Things had been tough for them – really tough. These messages (paraphrased from chaps. 41-43) also apply to each of us, right now and always.
I have made you.
You are precious to Me.
I love you.
I will help you.
I have called you.
I have chosen you.
You are Mine.
These messages convey the immense love God has for each of us and our value as His children. Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of Christian Science, reflects on this in “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures” when she writes, “Soul is never without its representative” (p. 427). That’s each of us in our true, spiritual nature – the representative, or spiritual reflection, of God, divine Soul.
How different that is from the way we sometimes see ourselves and others! And God’s messages aren’t empty promises. Many Bible figures found comfort, healing, and direction from glimpsing something of this, and it’s no less possible today. We can ask God, “How are You seeing me right in this moment?” and listen for the answer. We can feel it, accept it, and see it.
Each of us can discover in prayer our own freedom – recognizing that we are formed spiritually, and inseparably connected to Spirit, and that Spirit is continuously creating us new. We are helped by God to see ourselves the way God knows us: as divine ideas – capable, whole, harmonious, and healthy. We can learn that we are loved by divine Love continuously, because our true nature is good and Love’s nature is to love. We are God’s offspring, and from God we can learn how to fulfill the absolute uniqueness of who and what God knows us to be – and how to live more consistently with that spiritual reality.
In my case, glimpsing divine Love’s love for me helped me shift away from a self-centered focus that defined myself as a mixture of good and bad qualities, to a growing respect for myself as God’s spiritual offspring. From there, I grew in kindness, attentiveness to others’ needs, and a desire to serve my community. I can tell you honestly that this new view made all the difference, proving to be a path to freedom from destructive tendencies.
Divine Love has infinite ways to express to us just what we need to hear and know about what we really are. We’re all capable of discerning these promises: I have made you. You are precious to Me. I love you. I will help you. I have called you, chosen you. You are Mine.
