• It was the 1956 Rose Bowl. I remember it well. I was one year old. Michigan State was playing UCLA in football, the score was tied at 14-14 with only seconds to play. Duffy Daugherty, Michigan State's coach, sent in placekicker Dave Kaiser who booted a field goal that won the game. When the kicker returned to the bench, Daugherty said, "nice going, but you didn't watch the ball after you kicked it." "That's right, Coach," Kaiser replied. "I was watching the referee instead to see how he'd signal it. I forgot my contact lenses, and I couldn't see the goal posts."
• Vision is important. We spend lots of money on vision, especially at my age.
• Sometimes we go into life situations and we cannot see.
• I am so glad I have an El Roi, a God who sees.
• In the previous passage, Hagar ran away from Sarai because of the harsh treatment.
• She was pregnant because Sarai sent her into the tent of her husband Abram to make her a surrogate mother.
• Fleeing scared, no place to go, what was she to do?
Gen 16:7 The angel of the LORD found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur.
• The Angel of the Lord went looking for her and He found her, of course.
• She ran to the spring on the way to Shur.
• Shur comes from the Hebrew word for “wall”. Interesting.
• Hagar hit the wall. She had enough and could not take anymore, she thought.
• When you hit the wall, look for the Lord.
• Second, Who was the Angel of the Lord?
• Hagar will tell us that it is Jesus, “the one who sees me”.
• This is a classic illustration of Jesus appearing as the Angel of the Lord, or the Captain of the Lord’s Host, or some other title in the Old Testament.
• Jesus was active and very present in the Old Testament.
• In the womb of Mary, Jesus stepped into humanity in order to save us.
• But He is eternal, from the beginning, and will reign supreme forever.
• Joh 1:1-5 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
• Joh 1:2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
• Joh 1:9-14 The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. 14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
• Oh, the eternal Jesus. When a cult tries to draw you away from true Christianity, you can ask two questions.
• A. What do they teach about Jesus? Is He and has He always been the Eternal God?
• B. How many laws and works does the cult try to add to simple grace received through faith (believing).
• Rom 11:6 But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.
Gen 16:8-12 And he said, "Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?" She said, "I am fleeing from my mistress Sarai." 9 The angel of the LORD said to her, "Return to your mistress and submit to her." 10 The angel of the LORD also said to her, "I will surely multiply your offspring so that they cannot be numbered for multitude." 11 And the angel of the LORD said to her, "Behold, you are pregnant and shall bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael, because the LORD has listened to your affliction. 12 He shall be a wild donkey of a man, his hand against everyone and everyone's hand against him, and he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen."
• Hagar, where have you come from and where are you going?”
• Not only did the Angel of the Lord know where to find Hagar, He knew where she had come from and where she had planned on going.
• He knows all.
Gen 16:13 So she called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, "You are a God of seeing," for she said, "Truly here I have seen him who looks after me."
• Hagar learned one of the names of God, El Roi, the God who sees.
• Then she demonstrates faith in Him with the statement, “I have seen the one who looks after me.”
Gen 16:14 Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi; it lies between Kadesh and Bered.
• She named the well, “The Well of the One Who Sees Me.”
• The writer tells us where the well, or spring, is, and those who are from the area know it well.
• The well is between Kadesh and Bered.
• In Hebrew, that is between the Sanctuary and Call.
• That is a picture of salvation in itself.
• The sanctuary, the sacred place where God reveals Himself, waiting for us to call upon Him.
• When we call upon Him, we have a God who sees us to watch after us.
• What a beautiful picture.
• Rom 10:13 For "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."
Gen 16:15-16 And Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram called the name of his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael. 16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.
• Ismael is the first person that we find in scriptures where God gave his name before he was born.
• His name means “God will hear.”
• When Hagar cried to God, God heard.
• When she met God, she found out God sees.
• I want us to look at a couple of things briefly tonight for encouragement.
• We can see that Abram and Sarai’s plans have already starting hurting others, and deeply.
1. The Lord knows where you are.
• He knows where you come from and where you are going.
• Hagar tried to disappear and the Angel of the Lord showed up.
• You cannot disappear from God. You cannot hide.
• Jonah told God, OK, God, whatever you say,” just before he headed out the other direction.
• When the Angel asked Hagar, “Where did you come from and where are you going?”….
• God did not ask her because He was trying to put the pieces together, He already knew.
• God knows exactly where you have been and where you will be heading if you keep going.
• It is us who fail to figure God into the equation.
• However, He doesn’t take us out of the equation, even when we try to run.
• When you go the wrong way, He intercedes and changes your direction.
• You may feel lost right now. God knows where you are. Call on Him.
• He is the God who sees and hears.
2. God has big plans.
• God had shared big plans with Abram. Abram shared big plans with Sarai.
• Then they threw Hagar into the mess, and it overwhelmed her.
• They put her into a position where she didn’t belong or want to be.
• Now she seemed to be a victim of the big plan.
• Let me be honest with you. There are times all of us feel like we are over our heads.
• As we try to get to know God, we see the big picture.
• And when we do, we seem way too small.
• We seem way out of place.
• Not only that, the big picture of God reminds us of …
• Psa 8:3-4 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, 4 what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?
• God, when I look at your power, majesty, and great plans, I feel I have to run.
• I don’t know where, but it is too much for me.
• Hagar felt like God’s big plans were moving forward and she would simply get run over by them.
• I feel that way, too, some times, ok, maybe many times.
• But look….
3. God has small plans.
• God told Hagar, “Return, I have plans for you too.”
• When you play chess, you have these little pawns that make up your first row of defense.
• When I first started playing chess, I would defend my pawns as violently as I would my bishops, rooks, knights, queen and king.
• I played it too much like checkers. A bad mistake that will never win.
• Playing chess gives you the idea that our lives, as God’s pawns, are worthless compared to God accomplishing His win and fulfilling His purpose.
• However, A chess game is not how our God runs His Kingdom.
• God does the Kingdom so that the pawns are valued, protected and win.
• He never loses a pawn.
• John 3:16 is not a verse about how God is trying to save the planet from the evil dictator Satan.
• It is about how God loves you personally, enough to send His only begotten Son to save you.
• Zep 3:17 The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.
• We forget about this picture of God, who is madly in love with you and sings over you.
• He is a Loving Shepherd that cares to quiet your fears, your troubles and your concerns.
• 1Pe 5:6-7 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, 7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.
• That He may exalt you? Relieving you of your anxieties? Simply because He cares for you?
• God has little plans, or should I say, plans for little me and little you.
4. God has room for you in His plans.
• God’s great plans, room for me!
• That is hard to grasp. Hard to imagine.
• Let me show some things, quickly.
• Pro 16:9 The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps.
• Pro 19:21 Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand.
• Me can make our plans without God, and actually fulfill them, but we will not disrupt God’s plan.
• But the opposite side of that coin is this: We may not feel like we can add to God’s plans, but if we seek Him, He will use us in His plans.
• He makes room for us in His plans.
• Baby, this pawn is goinna do some damage to the devil. Amen?
• You see?
5. God’s little plans for us turn into big plans for Him.
• Hudson Taylor had definite convictions about how God's work should be done. We can make our best plans and try to carry them out in our own strength. Or we can make careful plans and ask God to bless them. "Yet another way of working is to begin with God; to ask His plans, and to offer ourselves to Him to carry out His purposes."
