Genesis 16:13 (NIV) 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.”

When Sarah, Abraham's wife, got weary of waiting for God to fulfill His promise of giving her and Abraham a son, she came up with a harebrained idea. Her idea was to have her servant, Hagar, sleep with Abraham so that Hagar could bear children for her. The scheme backfired because Hagar began to treat Sarah with contempt when she became pregnant. Then, as a result, Sarah began to treat Hagar harshly. She treated her so harshly that Hagar ran away. She must have felt alone and confused and with no idea what to do next. That's when the angel of the Lord (God) appeared to her and asked her what she was doing there. Hagar told the Lord what had happened, and He instructed her to go back to Sarah. But before sending her back, He told her about the son that she would give birth to, telling her what to name the child (Ishmael) and even letting her know about the child's temperament. Hagar was very moved that God would care for her, a foreigner, enough to appear to her and instruct her to go back. So she called Him "El Roi," which means "the God who sees me." She was thrilled to know that she had seen the God who sees her. This encouraged her enough to go back to her mistress, Sarah.

We can take encouragement from this story because we learn that God is so good and is so moved by hurting people that He would even appear to someone that was not one of His people (Hagar was an Egyptian) and who was pregnant with a son who was not a part of the promise that He had made to Abraham. The Lord would make Ishmael, too, into a great nation. Here was someone who, in the days of Abraham and Sarah, was not important at all and to whom most people would not have given a second thought. But God is not like us at all. He is God and He sees everything and everyone. and He is especially drawn to those that are down and out and brokenhearted. Hagar learned that God is an amazingly kind God. She was thrilled that the God of all creation would even see her at all, so much so that she called Him "the One who sees me." That same God who saw Hagar in her desperation and need is the One that sees you right now where you are, and who is ever watching over you. When you feel lost and alone or feel like no one cares, remember that God is El Roi, the One who not only sees you, but who cares for you and leads you out of your trouble and straight into His loving embrace. Thank God that He is the One who sees us at all times.

Pastor Joey Vazquez