Saturday, July 05, 2025

The God Who Sees



 

El Roi is the Hebrew name for God. It means the God who sees. (You may read the story in Genesis 16)

16 Abram's wife Sarai had not borne him any children. But she had an Egyptian slave woman named Hagar, 2 and so she said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from having children. Why don't you sleep with my slave? Perhaps she can have a child for me.” Abram agreed with what Sarai said. 3 So she gave Hagar to him to be his concubine. (This happened after Abram had lived in Canaan for ten years.) 4 Abram had intercourse with Hagar, and she became pregnant. When she found out that she was pregnant, she became proud and despised Sarai.

5 Then Sarai said to Abram, “It's your fault that Hagar despises me. I myself gave her to you, and ever since she found out that she was pregnant, she has despised me. May the Lord judge which of us is right, you or me!”

6 Abram answered, “Very well, she is your slave and under your control; do whatever you want with her.” Then Sarai treated Hagar so cruelly that she ran away.

7 The angel of the Lord met Hagar at a spring in the desert on the road to Shur 8 and said, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?”

She answered, “I am running away from my mistress.”

9 He said, “Go back to her and be her slave.” 10 Then he said, “I will give you so many descendants that no one will be able to count them. 11 You are going to have a son, and you will name him Ishmael, because the Lord has heard your cry of distress. 12 But your son will live like a wild donkey; he will be against everyone, and everyone will be against him. He will live apart from all his relatives.”

13 Hagar asked herself, “Have I really seen God and lived to tell about it?” So she called the Lord, who had spoken to her, “A God Who Sees.” 14 That is why people call the well between Kadesh and Bered “The Well of the Living One Who Sees Me.”

15 Hagar bore Abram a son, and he named him Ishmael. 16 Abram was eighty-six years old at the time.

A Prayer and Rededication

I wrote this in my journal many many years ago. It is a prayer that is still valid today.

Dear Lord,
Thank you for the lessons you've taught me. Thank you for the experiences that have strengthened me. Thank you for the promises you gave me for they've kept me true to the calling you've placed over my life. I have had to say goodbye to many things and many people in my lifetime. But I am so thankful that I will never have to say goodbye to you, my dear Saviour. You are always with me until the end of time.

I am sorry for becoming too familiar with you. I realize that the way you've communicated with me in the past is indeed unique. That the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego would come and speak to my mind and heart is indeed a rare privilege. Please dear Lord, the path set before me is fraught with danger and uncertainty. I need to hear you more clearly; so please speak to me also in dreams and visions. Develop in me a seeing and hearing heart. I long for you, Lord. I long to know you more intimately than this. Please show me your way, show me your will, never let me go astray from the path you've set before me. I want to be faithful until the end. Hear you say "Well done good and faithful servant!" Remove from my heart the dust and debris of the past. Let nothing hinder your pure and holy purpose for my life. I consecrate myself - body, soul and spirit to you once again. I belong to you. My past, present and future are in your hands. You are my way, my truth and my life. Set your seal upon me. Now and always and for all Eternity. Amen.