Throughout Scripture, God is called by various names. Sometimes individuals
offered these names out of live experience with Him, while other names God
gave to Himself. Each name of God describes an aspect of His character.
Today we will focus on “The God who sees me,” translated “El Roi” in Hebrew.
A woman named Hagar first used the name “El Roi” to describe God when He
met her in her distress. Hagar, an Egyptian servant, worked for a barren
woman named Sarah. Sarah decided to have a child by asking her husband,
Abram, to sleep with Hagar. Sarah then mistreated pregnant Hagar to the
point that Hagar ran away to the desert. After God encouraged her, Hagar said,
in Genesis 16:13, “You are the God who sees me…I have now seen the One
who sees me.”
El Roi is the God who numbers the hairs on our heads and counts our every
tear. In Matt. 10:30 Jesus says, “…even the hairs of your head are all
numbered.” In Ps. 56:8 King David wrote, “You keep track of all my sorrows.
You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in
Your book.” He knows every detail of our circumstances. When we pray to El
Roi, we are praying to the God who knows everything about us.
Even the most attentive parent must sleep at some stage, but our Heavenly
Father, according Ps. 121:3-4, never slumbers nor sleeps. El Roi never misses
a detail of what is happening. He sees everything. King David praised the All-
Seeing God in Ps. 139:16, “Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your
book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there were none of them.” (ESV) David proclaims God as the
Creator who holds our unformed substance, the Author who writes out our
history before time begins.
It is mind-boggling to think of our Heavenly Father, El Roi, seeing us in His
mind’s eye…imagining exactly how He will form and shape every detail of our
lives. We are never alone, because we serve a God who sees us. He is always
aware of what we are going through. Proverbs 15:3 says, “The Lord is
watching everywhere, keeping His eye on both the evil and the good.” 2
Chronicles 16:9 states, “For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to
strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him.”
In Jeremiah 23:24 the Lord declares, “Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I
cannot see him? Do I not fill heaven and earth?”
El Roi saw Hagar, but He did not promise to quick- fix all her problems. We
look through binoculars, but God sees the bigger picture outside the
constraints of time. When we find ourselves in difficult situations, we often
want God to fix everything immediately. He does not always answer in the
way we desire. Even though He might not instantly fix every predicament we
encounter, we never have to doubt His presence. He is the God who sees and
knows what is best for us. Eli said to Samuel in 1 Samuel 3:18, “It is the Lord.
Let Him do what seems good to Him.” Romans 8:28 assures us, “… that all
things work together for good to those who love God”.
How much time and energy do we waste seeking to be seen and heard, when
we already have this need fully met in Jesus? When we trust Jesus; our eyes
are opened in faith so we can clearly see the God who sees us.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for seeing me, just as I am, and for loving me
fully and completely. Thank You for bringing spiritual growth into my life and
for transforming me into the image of Your Son. You see it all, You walk with
me and You know best what is best for me. Help me to trust You more each
day. In Jesus Name, amen.
Angelique Conradie Westhuizen