Getting to Know God – El Roi – The God Who Sees
Hagar the horrible must be one of my favourite cartoons. There is just something about him that begs sympathy. I mean think about it – no one ever gives him respect – not even trees. He is not valued for the special person that he is – not even by his wife of all people. And to top it all off, he’s constantly controlled on by those closest to him – no freedom, no fun. I sort of know what he feels like…
But there is another Hagar from the Bible, that I want to focus on this morning that also can relate. It is a she though not a he, but apart from this small detail, they share much in common. The Hagar that I want to talk about today was the maidservant of Sarah, Abraham’s wife. Like my friend Hagar the horrible, she was not given any respect, she was not valued and she was picked on by those closest to her.
She didn’t have it easy at all, but in the midst of her suffering, God met her in a fantastic way and revealed himself to her as El Roi, the God who sees.
If you’ve got your bibles there, please open them up and let’s read from Genesis 16.
To set the scene, just a little bit – Genesis 16 comes straight after Genesis 15 – funny how that happens really. And Genesis 15 is all about God’s promise to Abraham. God had chosen Abraham in order to bless him so he could be a blessing to the whole world. God wanted a peculiar people group who he could call his own. He found Abram a willing patriarch who had the faith to step out and follow him to a distant country. In turn, he promised Abraham 3 things (Gen 12:2). He promised that
1) From Abraham there would come a great nation – more than the sands on the sea shore. More than the stars in the sky – There was just one small problem – Abraham didn’t have any kids (And here I can relate) – but more on that in a moment.
2) The second thing promised was that Abraham’s name would become great
3) The last thing promised was that from him all nations would be blessed. And ultimately this finds fulfilment in the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ who was a Jew.
Now this was all well and good, but Abraham had a bit of a dilemna as we get to Chapter 16. It was 10 years since the promise, and he was no closer to seeing the promise fulfilled. Now Abraham was a youthful 75 when he set out from his homeland. So now 10 years later, he was still only 85. There was plenty of good life left in him yet.
For us in our modern age, we can’t comprehend the plausibility of this, but this is a case where the saying “They don’t make them like the used to” has some real application. Before the flood, people lived far longer than they do now. Adam lived 930 years. Seth his son lived 912 years. Enoch’s life was cut short at 365 years. While Methuselah lived for 969 years. Some speculate that before the flood, there was a huge layer of moisture in the sky which protected the earth from the extremes of seasons and protected mankind from the damaging rays of the sun. I don’t really know, but after the flood, the biblical records show that the lifespans of people start to reduce. Abraham’s father only lived 205 years and Abraham lived 175 years, so at 75, he was in the prime of his life, though approaching middle age.
Now we come to chapter 16 and it is 10 years on and nothing has changed. Still no dirty nappies to change or sleepless nights nursing a baby. There wasn’t even a wife who was complaining that she had to go to the toilet constantly because of her unfortunate condition that some call pregnancy. There was nothing at all to show that they were any closer to seeing the promise fulfilled and Abraham and Sarah were getting impatient. Not only did they feel out of the social set – I mean all their friends no doubt had 6 or 7 babies by now, but they also felt let down by God.
So lets read from 16:1
16 Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian maidservant named Hagar; 2 so she said to Abram, “The LORD has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my maidservant; perhaps I can build a family through her.”
Abram agreed to what Sarai said. 3 So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian maidservant Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. 4 He slept with Hagar, and she conceived.
Notice here that Hagar is described as an Egyptian. She was an outsider, a piece of property who was not worth much. Now we look at what Sarah and Abraham did as something despicable, but in the context of the time, it was quite normal and was acceptable. Some ancient tablets from Ur and Nuzi testify that there was a law that allowed a man to bear children by his maid servants and rightly claim them as his own children. But this did not please God for he was to provide a child, not man’s resourcefulness. – it was not the way He wanted it. We could preach another whole sermon on taking action into our own hands instead of leaving it in God’s but that is not what I want you to learn from this passage.
When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress. 5 Then Sarai said to Abram, “You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my servant in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the LORD judge between you and me.”
6 “Your servant is in your hands,” Abram said. “Do with her whatever you think best.” Then Sarai mistreated Hagar; so she fled from her.
Hagar soon began to look down on her mistress Sarah. This was a chance for her to become a somebody. To find belonging and cease to be an outsider. And Sarah, no doubt was jealous to the core. She resented even suggesting to Abraham the whole idea and if she could reverse her actions, she would have done so. Hagar was miserable because of the torment and mistreatment she suffered at Sarah’s hands. Sarah was miserable because of her present situation and that of another. Abraham I’m sure was also miserable because he was being blamed left right and centre and was too weak to do anything about it. Hagar eventually got fed up and ran away. Think about it. She was only the servant. It was not her decision to sleep with Abraham and fall pregnant. It was not her idea, but now she was being blamed for it and mistreated because of it. Life wasn’t fair anymore and she got the stage that she couldn’t take any more. So she fled and headed in the direction of Egypt – she was going home.
Some of you sitting here today might be miserable and might be facing situations which you wish you could just run from. For some it may be your job situation – maybe you are dissatisfied where you are, maybe there is a boss that has it in for you and you are literally being bullied or mistreated. Maybe for some it is your home – a conflict with another family member, a feeling of rejection or being unloved. Maybe for some it is just being here in Gladstone – you feel as though you don’t belong and you will never settle. And all you want to do is flee – just like Hagar – somewhere where you can find some peace, some rest, some refreshment.
7 The angel of the LORD found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. 8 And he said, “Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?”
“I’m running away from my mistress Sarai,” she answered.
The Angel of the LORD is a heavenly being sent as a messanger for God. Sometimes though this angel is identified with God and as God. A we continue to read, notice the words of the angel are in the first person singular (i.e. “I”), yet they are words of God not of an angel.
9 Then the angel of the LORD told her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her.” 10 The angel added, “I will so increase your descendants that they will be too numerous to count.”
11 The angel of the LORD also said to her:
“You are now with child and you will have a son. You shall name him Ishmael, for the LORD has heard of your misery. 12 He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be gainst everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers.”
Here we see God’s grace and rebuke. First the rebuke. God had to remind Hagar that she was still Abraham’s wife and Sarah’s maidservant. This put her back in her rightful place. She may have been pregnant and Sarah not, but that did not make her superior in any way. Hagar was running from a place of privilege even though it also had its responsibilities and she was running to a place of sin, where she would fall back into idolatry. She was instructed to return to Sarah and submit to her. Hagar had to swallow her pride and return.
This was surely going to be a tough thing for Hagar to do, because Sarah and Abraham wouldn’t have changed so there is probably little chance that the external situations that forced Hagar to flee in the first place would have changed. But God was saying to her “you can take it”. Warren Wiersbe said – this life is 10% what you make it and 90% how you take it. Hagar could either run from the situations, or with God’s help, go back, submit to Sarah and take the situation.
But so that she was encouraged, God revealed his grace to her. Although the actions of Abraham in trying to fulfill God’s promises were wrong, God, takes pity on Hagar and offers her a blessing - and not just any blessing, but one of the three parts of the blessing given to Abraham. She is to have a son who is to be the father of many nations. Note the similarity to the promise to Abraham - in chapter 12. From Ishmael, descended the Arab nations that we know today – the arch enemies of Israel. From Ishmael has sprung the Muslim faith – again some of the strongest opponents to Christianity in the world. We could talk more about the legacy of sin and how trying to do things our way instead of God’s way can bring scares which we and our descendants have to deal with for generations, but that is a topic for another Sunday. The important thing here is that God shows grace to Hagar just as he did for Abrham.
The promised son will be called Ishmael for Ishmael means “God Hears.” Grasp the mercy of God displayed in this picture. Here is a servant girl, abused and mistreated, used and then almost thrown aside. And yet God reassures her by telling her He hears. He knows what she is going through, he hears the torment, he hears her inward groan, he hears her frustration and he takes pity on her. How comforting is this. That God is there hearing and seeing.
And be assured that if God hears what is happening in this Egyptian servant girl’s world, he hears what is going on in your lives. He hears the things that cut to your very heart – the things which feel as though they are gripping your heart and ripping it out – he hears them. He hears the things which are said against you that are totally unfair and nothing but lies – he hears them. He hears the words that are said to hurt you, he hears the words spoken when bad news is delivered to you, he hears your words uttered through tears and those screamed in anger. He hears – and so we are not alone.
And so that Hagar would never forget it, her Son was to be called “God hears” – Ishmael. Even when she returned to that place of torment and difficulty, she could rest in the promise that she was not alone. God hears. That promise is available for you and me too. No matter where we are in life - no matter what is happening in our little world – even if we think that we are totally isolated and think that no-one knows what we are facing – we can be assured that God hears.
What situations are you in which are difficult to deal with – be assured that God hears all.
13 She gave this name to the LORD who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.” 14 That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi; it is still there, between Kadesh and Bered.
15 So Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son she had borne. 16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael.
Hagar in response to God’s revelation and promise gives him a new name – the name El Roi. This literally means God Sees. It testifies to the fact that the God who hears, also sees the things we are going through. I could have called this sermon – God don’t have no Cataracts. And although not proper English, it communicates the essential fact that God sees clearly all that goes on. Don’t believe me … Well listen
Ps 34:15 - The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their cry;
God Don’t need no cataracts and God don’t need no hearing aids
Psalm 33:18 - But the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love,
Pr 15:3 - The eyes of the LORD are everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked and the good.
We can be confident that God Sees all that is going on – He is El Roi, the God who sees. You are the apple of his eye and he is concerned with what happens to you. – What a comfort that is.
But before we finish, you may still be doubting this wonderful fact that God is really El Roi – the God who sees everything. Well I offer the following as proofs…
1) we are taught in Scripture that God is everywhere (Ps 139:7-9). The theologians call the omnipresence (omni meaning all, presence meaning presence) of God. And if he is everywhere, what’s to stop him from seeing everything? God is not confined by space or time and so he can see what is happening in your life at the same time as he sees what is happening in my life or that of a person on the other side of the globe.
2) The second thing I want to say about this marvellous doctrine is that El Roi never sleeps (Ps 121:3-4). He is a God who is active and wherever we go we see his work.
3) The last thing which I want to say is that El Roi can see a thing before it happens (Psalm 139:4). And if our God can see things before they happen, surely it must be easy for him to see things as they happen.
God is El Roi – the God who sees. He sees you
Now some words of application to some particular groups of people –
1) To those who among us that pray – God is a God who sees and hears, so you can be assured that he hears the words we utter, whether they be uttered out of despair, out of praise, our of thanks or out of a need. He hears and sees, so keep on praying.
2) To those who are anxious - full of doubts and worries. Take to heart that God can see what you are concerned about. He knows and he is concerned. So cast all your concerns on him and make use of his strength for he truely does care about you – that is why he watches.
3) To those who are feeling abandoned. Be confident that you are not abandoned. God is there keeping watch over you. He is as close as a prayer away so tell him how you’re feeling, let him be your closest friend – he understands what you are going through because he is El Roi.
4) To those who are under attack or being slandered – remember that there is a righteous judge who sees all. He knows what you are being charged with and he will one day bring his judgement to bear. Those under spiritual attack, he sees that also and promises that he will never let us bear more than what together can manage. We can be confident in this because he is El Roi.
5) And lastly, To those whose are living in sin. It may be that some of you are still holding God at a distance and not submitting to him. You are trying to deal with your own sin rather than letting him come and cleanse you. Well He sees where you are at and he won’t let up on you. It may be that there are some which are caught in the grip of some secret sin and they are content to enjoy the short term pleasure that it brings. Be warned – God sees all. We are foolish if we think we can hide things from God. He sees everything and so it will be so easy for him on judgement day to condemn us. “I saw you” is all he will have to say. To those of us who are sinning – we need to repent because God is El Roi.
No matter where you are at today, you can be encouraged because God is El Roi – The God who sees.
