NOTE TO THE READER:
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This meditation was written by my ministerial colleague, Ron Botha.
Ron is Director of Kingdom Ministries International, a covering body for churches and ministries and is based in Cape Town, South Africa.
If you have been blessed by this meditation, kindly e-mail Ron at ronan@kmi.org.za
MEDITATIONS ON NAMES OF GOD NO.1: EL-ROY - THE GOD WHO SEES
Genesis 16:1-13
READ: Genesis 16:1-13
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Ge 16:1 Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian maidservant named Hagar;
Ge 16:2 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.
Ge 16:3 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.
Ge 16:4 He slept with Hagar, and she conceived.
When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress.
Ge 16:5 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.”
Ge 16:6 “Your servant is in your hands,” Abram said. “Do with her whatever you think best.” Then Sarai mistreated Hagar; so she fled from her.
Ge 16:7 The angel of the LORD found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur.
Ge 16:8 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.
Ge 16:9 Then the angel of the LORD told her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her.”
Ge 16:10 The angel added, “I will so increase your descendants that they will be too numerous to count.”
Ge 16:11 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.
Ge 16:12 He will be a wild donkey of a man;
his hand will be against everyone
and everyone’s hand against him,
and he will live in hostility
toward all his brothers. ”
Ge 16:13 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.”
Vs 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”’
The Title “El-Roy” or the God who Sees was given to God by an Egyptian slave woman named Hagar. In Genesis 16:1-13 the familiar story of the tension between Hagar, Abraham’s servant, and Sarah, has all the ingredients of a modern day Hollywood soapie.
After ten years of futile waiting upon God Sarah became convinced that she would never bare any children to Abraham. She opted for a last resort and followed the general custom of the day, which was adopted in similar circumstances. She asked her Egyptian servant Hagar to bear a son with her husband in surrogate fashion. According to the law, the child that Hagar bore for her mistress would eventually become Sarah’s. While Hagar was pregnant she began to flaunt the advantage that she had over her mistress, resulting in tremendous tension between these two women. As a result Hagar could handle the conflict no longer and she fled into the desert where she was met by the angel of the Lord.
Think with me about her situation: She was away from her family. She was away from her friends. She was alone and without shelter, food, water, help, sustenance, everything that she needed. Then the Lord’s angel appeared to her, and rescued her.
The angel told her what to name her baby and promised her that her descendants would increase and be too numerous to count. It was at that point that Hagar called the Lord, “the God who sees me” or El-Roy. She had obviously become convinced that God had seen her predicament and knew her pain.
There are many similar Hagars wandering around in the desert of despair after making a bad judgement or incorrect decision. Many of them venture to ask: “Does God care?” I have personally met many, who, after landing themselves in dire straits, have resigned themselves to the consequences of their fate. They simply do not believe that there is a future for them. The point is, that if God in his sovereign righteousness could provide a future for a heathen servant, how much more will he not provide a future for those who love him.
Notice that Hagar believed that even though Abraham and Sarah were the covenantal parents of the people of God, yet He saw her, an individual, single Egyptian slave and loved her enough to provide a future for her. With all the odds against her she made a claim on the character of God whom she called El-Roi.
God is no respecter of persons and because He created you, He certainly has provided a future for you. Receive encouragement from these scriptures, the Word of God - His promises to you:
Jeremiah 29:11
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For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.
Psalm 139:16
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Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.
2 Kings 20:5
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“…I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; …”
2 Chronicles 16:9
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“For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him”.
PRAYER: Dear God I thank you that, even though I may be inconspicuous to those around me yet your word reminds me, that you see me and because of that I now have a future in you. I therefore place my life in your hands and trust you to lead me to my destiny. Amen
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ADDITIONAL
Illustration
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El Roi, The God Who Sees
Only used once in the Bible, Genesis 16:13, on the lips of Hagar. Sarah had given Hagar to Abraham to have children. This was according to custom in those days, but not according to God. After Hagar bore Ishmael, Sarah treated her so harshly, Hagar ran away. She fled into the wilderness. Think with me about her situation: She was removed from family. She was removed from friends. She was alone and away from shelter, food, water, help, sustenance, everything that she needed. Then the Lord’s angel appeared to her, and rescued her.
Gen 16:13: ’Then she called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, “Thou art a God who sees”; for she said, “Have I even remained alive here after seeing Him?”’
God sees your heartache. God sees your struggles.
(Sermon Illustrations: Bible.org)
