HAGAR & EL ROI: THE GOD WHO SEES YOU

Do you ever feel invisible?  Like no one even sees you?  Some people claim that God sees everything, but does God really see you?

DOES GOD REALLY SEE YOU?

As a child when asked if I could have any superpower, I always chose to be invisible.  Back then I felt it would be super cool to go places, listen to people, and move around without anyone knowing I was there.  As I grew older, I learned that were times I could go places, see people, and feel invisible…without using any magical superpower.  I think you know what I am talking about.  And that was not so much fun or very cool at all.

Welcome to AT THE CROSSROADS, friends.  Let me begin by saying I see you.  Not literally of course, but I wish I could. In my mind’s eye, I do.  It helps me write better to picture us sitting together (with a cup of coffee, of course!) and looking at each other while we talk.  It makes me feel not so invisible as I sit alone in my home office typing away…

WHO IS HAGAR in the BIBLE?

Why am I thinking so much about being invisible vs. being seen?  I came across the story of Hagar while reading my Bible last week.  She was a sad, lonely, invisible woman who had a very difficult life.  Her story is told in two parts in the book of Genesis.

HAGAR AND GENESIS 16

In the first part of Hagar’s story (Genesis 16:1-16) we learn that she is an Egyptian slave girl in the tribe of Abraham. She belonged to Sarah, Abraham’s wife. When Sarah could not conceive a child, she gave Hagar to her husband as a surrogate. Being a slave, Hagar could not resist. Hagar became pregnant, and God promised that her child would be the ancestor of a great nation.

Life proved to be quite complicated for Hagar living with a woman who considered her a rival.  Can you even imagine? Hagar made some poor choices in lording her pregnancy over the barren Sarah, but Sarah made Hagar’s life so difficult that she ran away into the desert.  An angel of the Lord speaks to her and urges her to return to Sarah.  Let’s pick up the story in Genesis 16:

⁷ The angel of the Lord found Hagar beside a spring of water in the wilderness, along the road to Shur. ⁸ The angel said to her, “Hagar, Sarai’s servant, where have you come from, and where are you going?”

“I’m running away from my mistress, Sarai,” she replied.

⁹ The angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit to her authority.” ¹⁰ Then he added, “I will give you more descendants than you can count.”

¹¹ And the angel also said, “You are now pregnant and will give birth to a son. You are to name him Ishmael (which means ‘God hears’), for the Lord has heard your cry of distress. ¹² This son of yours will be a wild man, as untamed as a wild donkey! He will raise his fist against everyone, and everyone will be against him. Yes, he will live in open hostility against all his relatives.”

¹³ Thereafter, Hagar used another name to refer to the Lord, who had spoken to her. She said, “You are the God who sees me.” She also said, “Have I truly seen the One who sees me?” ¹⁴ So that well was named Beer-lahai-roi (which means “well of the Living One who sees me”). It can still be found between Kadesh and Bered.

¹⁵ So Hagar gave Abram a son, and Abram named him Ishmael. 

Genesis 16:7-15 (NLT)

HAGAR CALLS GOD EL ROI

I want to focus on Genesis 16:13 where Hagar gives God a name. She has such a personal and powerful experience with the living God, the God of Abraham and Sarah, that she gives him the name EL ROI.

EL ROI:  “the God who sees me.”   Notably, this is the only occurrence of El Roi in the Bible.

Let that sit with you for a bit.  Hagar, an Egyptian slave, encounters God (through an angel) and gives him a name that was never used before to describe Him.

• A woman.
• A foreigner.
• A slave.
• A concubine.
• A surrogate.
• A runaway.

Not quite the Old Testament resume for possessing exclusive naming rights for the God of the universe!

Hagar was alone, afraid, abused, and abandoned.  If anyone felt invisible it must have been Hagar.

THE GOD WHO SAW HAGAR SEES YOU

Yet, who sees her?  Who reaches out and speaks words of life?  Who promises to provide for and protect her?

God.  God knows her.  God hears her.   Most importantly, God sees her.

Hagar is not invisible to Him.  He knows exactly who she is, where she is, how she got there, and why she ran away.  God notices every detail, both good and bad, of her life.  Not only that, God went looking for Hagar.  She was lost, hopeless, and wandering in the desert. God sought her out with initiative and intention.

While it is powerfully comforting to know that God sees Hagar, it is also important to note Hagar’s response after calling God El Roi.

Hagar says, “Truly here I have seen him who looks after me.”  (Genesis 16: 13 ESV).

In another translation, Hagar responds, “Yes! He saw me; and then I saw him!”  (The Message).

Hagar sees God too.  She stops running and looks Him full in the face.  She turns to the one who extends her mercy and grace and follows Him.

But her story doesn’t end there.  In Genesis 21 we learn that after returning to Abraham and Sarah, she is never fully accepted despite being the mother of Abraham’s child.  In the end, she is rejected completely and driven to the desert with her little boy, Ishmael.

But God sees her.  He never took His eyes off of her.  He sends angel again to rescue her and her son, and eventually Hagar lives as a free woman, no longer a slave.

Are you feeling invisible today, weary traveler?

Are you wondering if God really sees you?

Take comfort from the story of Hagar.

He is EL ROI–the God who sees you.

PSALM 121: A PROMISE THAT GOD SEES YOU

Rest in the promises from Psalm 121 as you realize God will never take His eyes off of you.