ROI - Sees Me

Introduction:

"GOD” series - nature and char. of Divine!

Xamine titles for Yahweh; let transform how you worship!

1. YHWH is ETERNAL [Olam]

Neverending, without measure, impossible to imagine, beyond all thought!

God created, orders whole cosmos—planets & other SSyst.; physics, & gravity!

Down to smallest cell in smallest joint of tiniest little toe.

Smaller yet—genetic code that instructs those cells to multiply and for some to become liver cells and still others to become heart tissue, etc.

And so on and so forth. The biggest & smallest imaginable—beyond that!

Yet he died for you… we remem'd when the eternal God put on mortality.

TODAY: follow up that thought, sort of. Discuss >>

The God who Sees Me.

Growing up in KC & SS, often heard this posed like Santa…

“Better watch out! Jesus sees you!”

SOME truth to that… God’s watchful eye could be a reason for right-living. But I don’t think it’s the best one.

Using shame not ideal, nor the Way of Jesus!

God’s sacrificial love for us should drive us to serve Him better!

It IS true that we can’t hide from God & He judges even secret things… poorly used as a scare tactic for kids.

Today’s title comes from a hopefully familiar passage in the first book of the Bible:

El Roi - Hagar’s “God who sees me” (Genesis 16:11,13-14)

God makes a promise to Abram: make great nation by his seed… taking long time!!!

how many just love waiting on God’s timing.… /s

Abe & Sarai try to fulfill God’s plan for an heir their own way.

By taking & using a servant girl named Rahab.

She got prego w/ Abe’s son [l8r named Ishmael]. Tensions ran high. So Sarai kicked her to the curb.

On the brink of starvation in desert, God shows up in her story:

Genesis 16:11,13 “The angel of [Yahweh] also said to her: “You are now pregnant and you will give birth to a son. You shall name him Ishmael, for [Yahweh] has heard of your misery.”… “She gave this name to [Yahweh] who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.” That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi…”

An Egyptian slave, victimized by Israelite couple: result of Abe & Sar’s sin… God offers mercy??

The title she gives God in moment is telling - “God who sees me.”

Not God who micromanages or inspects or scrutinizes me…

Preggo. On the run. W/ no prospects. No hope. On death’s doorstep!

She understands YHWH to be:

God who is involved in my plight. God who watches OVER me. God who is intimately concerned about helpless me.

This is how we should view Yahweh: not as a cruel judge nor scorekeeper, but as one with attentive concern . SEE Psalm 139; Hebrews 1:14; Matthew 10:30 & 6:8,26

Psalm 139:1-4 You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. 2 You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. 3 You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. 4 Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely.

Know this: Our God is a god who sees us. Jesus is actively involved in this world & even in your life personaly.

Jesus taught that… >>

Matthew 10:30 “Even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.”

Matthew 6:8,26 “…your Father knows what you need before you ask him… Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?”

Despite my tendency to walk away and pursue things that ultimately lead to my own demise,

God Sees & cares about me deeply.

Hebrews 1:14 “Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?”

He even deploys his servants as watchpersons for our lives.

That leads me to our big idea for today: IF God loves me and watches over me, then >>

God has a Good Plan for Me…

This IS a verse you might have stitched on a pillow…

Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

Even punished by YHWH, Jeremiah (insp. by HS) reminded Isr. that God’s ulimate purpose for them was NOT exile, but redemption!

We claim this same promise over our lives today…

And so, it’s so very true that God has a Good Plan for Me >>

When I Sin.

Christians tend to tout this idea that God has eternal hatred for sinners

But scriptures paint a pic. of 2 things at play here: God HATES sin, rejects it, despises it.

Yahweh hates sin, yet He really truly loves us. Our failings GRIEVE God’s heart.

When we hurt others, disobey His specific cmds, or flounder in mediocrity… God longs for us to return to Him.

He’s not holding it over our heads or shaming us with our sin.

There are consequences! We will not be at peace when there’s sin in our lives.

Yet He still also wants what’s best for us!

God still holds the standard, he enforces cosmic law - yet does so by wooing us in His great love; then transforms us.

Even when we don’t realize it, God sees. He knows. And he’s not waiting to condemn (though he will do it!), Jesus waits for US to choose Him back.

God desires our true repentance… then he unleashes blessing!

2 Peter 3:9 “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”

Just studied Jeremiah this past yr. in Bible study:

There are many many detailed and violent portents preached over Israel bc they rebelled, disobeyed; hurt relat. w/ God & others.

Yet there is ALWAYS a note, a promise, a sidebar of hope and often a promise of restoration!

Isaiah 58:9,11 Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I. “If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk… The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.

YHWH’s promise to Isr. here is guidance, close care, flourishing, Eden blessing!

Yahweh longs for us to line our lives up with God’s standard so He can unleash divine guidance, blessing!

El Roi means that God see me. In context, God sees us [has good plan for us] even >>

When things Don’t Work Out.

Cover-to-cover in our Bibles,

Consistently, Yahweh cares about—shows favor to—the lost, the least, & the last: those at the ends of their ropes. SEE Deuteronomy 10:17-19; Zechariah 7:9-13; Psalm 34:17-18; Luke 15; & James 1:27.

I pulled a scripture from Torah, Prophets, Writings, Gospels, & Letters to showcase this bible-spanning theme.

In the Torah, Moses tells the people:

Deuteronomy 10:17–19 “For the [Yahweh] your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves [the immigrant], giving them food and clothing. And you are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt.”

Those who can feel unseen, helpless; in OT times, death sentence!

GOD REMINDS: I SEE YOU!

The prophets called Israel back to this same ethic: Yahweh’s own character!

Listen to Yahweh’s reproof through proph. Zechariah; observe chosen punishment.

Zechariah 7:9–13 ““This is what the Lord Almighty said: ‘Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. Do not plot evil against each other.’ “But they refused to pay attention; stubbornly they turned their backs and covered their ears. They made their hearts as hard as flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the Lord Almighty had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. So the [Yahweh] was very angry. “ ‘When I called, they did not listen; so when they called, I would not listen,’ says the Lord Almighty.”

As a result of scorning the plight of the weak & pitiful of Israel, Yahweh denies them access to His presence!

One who cares about the needs of the hurting & helpless is privy to God’s close voice.

The Psalmist echoes God’s care for those who are the most needy:

Psalm 34:18 “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted & saves those who are crushed in spirit.”

Perhaps you have found yours spirit crushed by hard news.

Perhaps your heart has been broken because of great disappointment:

A pregnancy fails, a child strays, a diagnosis paralyzes, a job or a friendship ends.

God’s assurance is that: when we call, he offers close comfort.

Jesus’ parables in Luke 15 (lost coin, sheep, son) exhibit a loving God who thoroughly and carefully seeks out those who are far from Him.

And his own brother teaches that:

James 1:27 “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”

James calls us to exhibit God’s character as we assist those who are in need.

Roman ‘abortions’/infanticide. Christians known for homing and loving children; feeding widows.

To reject or dismiss or even vilify those who are broken, hurting, or have no voice risks bringing down the ire of the one who created us; created them.

Scandalous: Jesus even died for those who you don’t agree with politically. Even welcomes them in as Children, to your disdain!

To this day, shocked when Christians generalize disdain for those clearly struggling or hurting, disenfranchised,

Spurning programs or efforts to provide accommodations for groups in the margins…

As though they should, just, “figure it out”.

That’s the cold humanistic Darwinian mindset not befitting a foll. of Jesus!

May we, like Creator of all, be moved to have compassion on those who are often rejected or struggle to help themselves!

Instead of grouping ‘people like that’ together into voting blocks or groups, listen to their stories and find ways to help!

More stuff

That’s Usually it

Imitate God’s Mind/Heart

Proverbs 3:5-7 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil.

Our human understanding leads to hurting or hating-on certain groups that feel like a threat or disposable.

Follow God’s heart; then God’s plan/will will follow His desires.

Take Comfort when you are Lost or feeling Broken.

Psalm 139:7-12 Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.

Theological ponderings

Action Steps

Offer Help for those in Dire Situations.

Matthew 25:32–40 “All the nations will be gathered before him, and [the Father] will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats… Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’”

Those who experienced disappointment in their lives.

Grieving

Feeling forgotten

Committal?

Altar time?

Salvation call?