“The God Who See’s Us”
Genesis 16:1-16
Genesis 16:13 “And she called the name of the LORD that spake unto her, Thou God seest me: for she said, Have I also here looked after him that seeth me?”
I. The virtues of the One who see’s us
Genesis 16:7 And the angel of the LORD found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur.
a. He is omnipresent - ubiquitous DEF. - present everywhere at once.
The angel of the Lord goes where only the ever present God can go.
b. He is omniscient – all knowing, knowing everything.
The angel of the Lord knows what only the all knowing omniscient God could know.
c. He is omnipotent – all powerful, possessing complete, unlimited or universal power and authority.
Does omnipotence mean that God can do literally anything? No, that is not the meaning. There are many things God cannot do. He cannot do what is self-contradictory or nonsensical, like squaring the circle. Nor (and this is vital) can he act out of character. God has a perfect moral character, and it is not in him to deny it. He cannot be capricious, unloving, random, unjust, or inconsistent. Just as he cannot pardon sin without atonement because that would not be right, so he cannot fail to be faithful and just in forgiving sins that are confessed in faith and in keeping all the other promises he has made. Moral instability, vacillation, and unreliability are marks of weakness, not of strength: but God's omnipotence is supreme strength, making is impossible that he should lapse into imperfection of this sort.
The positive way to say this is: though there are things which a holy, rational God is incapable of intending, all that he intends to do he actually does. "Whatever the Lord pleases he does" (Ps. 135:6). As when he planned the make the world, "he spoke, and it came to be" (Ps. 33:9), so it is with everything that he wills. With people "there's many a slip twixt cup and lip," but not with him.
James Packer
The angel of the Lord promises to do what only the omnipotent God could do.
II. The values of the One who see’s us
What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly:--'Tis dearness only that gives every thing its value.
T. Paine.
Genesis 16:3 And Sarai Abram's wife took Hagar her maid the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife.
a. The object of that He values
Genesis 12:16 And he entreated Abram well for her sake: and he had sheep, and oxen, and he asses, and menservants, and maidservants, and she asses, and camels.
Hagar was most probably a slave given to Abraham by Pharaoh during the time that he was down in Egypt. She was therefore considered to be no more than a piece of property with no rights and subject to the whims and will of her master Abraham, and in this case Sarah his wife. In chapter 15 we have the promise of an heir for Abraham but 10 years have past with no fulfillment of the promise and Sarah takes matters into her own hands and with Abraham’s collusion gives her slave, Hagar, to take to wife in the hopes that what God has thus far failed to provide can be accomplished thru human resourcefulness. Abraham takes Hagar as his secondary wife, she conceives and unwisely begins to lord her pregnancy over Sarah who finding this situation of her own creation intolerable, begins to persecute Hagar and (her husband) resulting in Hagar fleeing for homeland.
Somerset Maugham, the English writer, once wrote a story about a janitor at St Peter's Church in London. One day a young vicar discovered that the janitor was illiterate and fired him. Jobless, the man invested his meager savings in a tiny tobacco shop, where he prospered, bought another, expanded, and ended up with a chain of tobacco stores worth several hundred thousand dollars. One day the man's banker said, "You've done well for an illiterate, but where would you be if you could read and write?" "Well," replied the man, "I'd be janitor of St. Peter's Church in Neville Square."
b. His values in operation
Genesis 16:7 And the angel of the LORD found her…
“The angel of the Lord found her…” Not in the sense that God didn’t know where she was or where she was going but in the sense that God picked the time and the place to reveal Himself to her.
The photographer for a national magazine was assigned to get photos of a great forest fire. Smoke at the scene hampered him and he asked his home office to hire a plane. Arrangements were made and he was told to go at once to a nearby airport, where the plane would be waiting. When he arrived at the airport, a plane was warming up near the runway. He jumped in with his equipment and yelled, "Let's go! Let's go!" The pilot swung the plane into the wind and they soon were in the air.
"Fly over the north side of the fire," yelled the photographer, "and make three or four low level passes."
"Why?" asked the pilot.
"Because I'm going to take pictures," cried the photographer. "I'm a photographer and photographers take pictures!"
After a pause the pilot said, "You mean you're not the instructor?"
c. His values and there opportunity
What is the scope and range of the Lord’s values?
Luke 12:24 Consider the ravens: for they neither sow nor reap; which neither have storehouse nor barn; and God feedeth them: how much more are ye better than the fowls?
Luke 12:28 If then God so clothe the grass, which is to day in the field, and to morrow is cast into the oven; how much more will he clothe you, O ye of little faith?
Matthew 10:29 Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.
30 But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
31 Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.
1 Peter 5:7 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for
you.
III. The vigilance of the One who see’s us
a. He is the original promise keeper!
Genesis 16:10 And the angel of the LORD said unto her, I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude.
11 And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the LORD hath heard thy affliction.
b. His faultless performance
Nothing is too big for my God to accomplish, and nothing is too little for Him to use in accomplishing it!
God's wonderful works which happen daily are lightly esteemed, not because they are of no import but because they happen so constantly and without interruption. Man is used to the miracle that God rules the world and upholds all creation, and because things daily run their appointed course, it seems insignificant, and no man thinks it worth his while to meditate upon it and to regard it as God's wonderful work, and yet it is a greater wonder than that Christ fed five thousand men with five loaves and made wine from water.
Martin Luther
Psalms 121:3 He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber.
4 Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.
Genesis 16:15 And Hagar bare Abram a son: and Abram called his son's name, which Hagar bare, Ishmael.
16 And Abram was fourscore and six years old, when Hagar bare Ishmael to Abram.
c. His inscrutable purposes
Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.
Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
1. How should we live our lives knowing that “Thou God seest me”
2. We should live in faith knowing that “Thou God seest me”
3. We should conduct our affairs knowing “Thou God seest me”
4. We must not despair in trouble knowing “Thou God seest me?”
