There is no creature that is hidden from his sight, but all things are naked and laid open before the eyes of him to whom we must give an account. Hebrews 4:13 (WEB)
El Roi – God Who Sees me.
Do you know what it’s like when you go ahead of God and take matters into your own hands? There can be no bigger mess.
Believers who become impatient with the slow, steady pace of life and step outside of God’s footprints, fail to remember that the price paid for disobedience can often be painful. Worse, our disobedience can cost others. John 3:19-21
So, we have to live with the knowledge that we have dishonored God. Many times, we have harmed people who had no hand in our bad choices.
Hagar, Sarah and Abraham are prime examples of going before God and releasing a catastrophic price upon each other, their own small world and every succeeding generation.
Still childless and about to be ninety years old, Sarah had given up on God. Where was Abraham’s promised son? She and Abraham had no hope for their own child. She could not imagine giving birth as an elderly woman.
So, she did a sinful thing. She gave her servant, Hagar, to Abraham as a concubine. But that unleashed a whole new world of sorrow.
Now she had caused Hagar and Abraham to sin against God. Of course, Abraham didn’t have to accept Sarah’s offer. Abraham was a sinner, too.
Then, in Sarah’s jealousy, she mistreated Hagar so badly that Hagar ran away into the desert. But here, Hagar met Jesus and called Him, El Roi. “The God Who sees me.”
So, the angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit to her authority.” The angel of the Lord also said to her, “I will greatly multiply your descendants so that they will be too many to count.”
Genesis 16:9-10 (NASB)
God has often been accused of watching the human race from a cold, dark distance. He has even been accused of evil. What an arrogant statement against the God who holds every man’s breath in His hand.
The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life. Job 33:4 (WEB)
God did not plan the sinful actions of Abraham, Sarah and Hagar. And even though He blessed Hagar’s son, Ishmael, by making his name great, too, He did not want the violence and bloodshed that has resulted between the Arabs and Jews. The sin of mankind is responsible for every wicked act.
Then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, “You are a God who sees me”; for she said, “Have I even seen Him here and lived after He saw me?” 16:13 (NASB)
God did see. He loved Hagar and He felt pity for her plight. God demonstrated His love for Hagar, by providing for her salvation as a Gentile. (Romans 2:4)
In our most sinful steps, God still loves us. Do you see the kindness of God toward this pagan, Egyptian servant? In God’s eyes, Hagar was not diminished by race or religion. All that diminishes people is sin.
The Rock—his work is perfect;
all his ways are just.
A faithful God,
without bias,
he is righteous and true.
Deuteronomy 32:4 (WEB)
Yet when we are covered by God’s grace and mercy, we are raised to be holy and sanctified. That was what Hagar became.
God’s grace reaching back from the beginning. How mysterious and kind. And God doesn’t change. He does not lie. He does not quit loving people. Even after all of the centuries God still saves the lost and wandering souls.
God is not a man, that he might lie, or a son of man, that he might change his mind. Does he speak and not act or promise and not fulfill? the Rock; his deeds are perfect. Everything he does is just and fair. He is a faithful God who does no wrong; How just and upright He is! Numbers 23:19 (WEB)
Share the Good News in your world!
Isaiah 52:7
World English Bible (WEB)
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New American Standard Bible (NASB)
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Getting the Seed out of the basket and into hungry hearts. Matthew 13 