El Roi - God Sees Me

A. El Roi

This quarter we have been studying the Names of God in the Bible. This teaches us about the nature of God so we can see how our relationship with Him can grow. Today we look at the title Yahwh Roi.

ILLUSTRATION: Ralph Ellison The Invisible Man

LINK: When you don’t see a person, you refuse to see their humanity and that makes us broken inside.

Have you ever had a plan, and wanted it so bad, that you jumped the gun to make it happen before its time? Later, you realise that mistakes could have been avoided if you had been slightly more patient.

We see this with the first family of faith: Abraham and his wife Sarah.

You will recall the covenant promise made to Abraham that he would be the father of nations. Well, now he was 85, and she was in the 70s…it didn’t look like it was going to happen in the usual way between a man and a woman.

So, they took matters into their own hands.

Text: .

Friends, good intentions don’t always work out the way we want

Text

Notice the blame game here. Shall I suggest all 3 are to blame.

Sarai: Jumped the gun. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.

Abram: to go along with it, then, to please his wife, telling her to do whatever she wants to mother and child.

Hagar: She didn’t ask for this but she was getting ahead of herself.

Their problem was not a problem of faith – they both believe in the prophecy, their problem is impatience. Now lives are at stake.

I’ve been there, done that. How bout you?

B. Enter the Angel of The Lord

So, an ‘Angel of the Lord’ appears to her and says some words of hope and encouragement and gives her advice on the way forward.

Text: .

1. He tells her that she will have a son

2. The son will be a father of nations too

3. He will be a wild man – meaning that he will roam and not settle in one place – the Bedouins of the Sahara.

Who is this angel of the Lord?

Who is this angel of the Lord?

It is quite interesting that He is called an angel. Appearing to people in those times, any Supernatural being was either and angel or a demon. That is what their minds could take a that time.

But there is more to this ‘Angel’:

1. He can predict the future

2. He pronounces the birth of a son, which can only come from the highest authority – God

3. VERSE 10 – He says He will multiply Ishmael.

Let us dwell on that a minute. Which angel has the authority to raise up a nation? The answer is none. Only God, Yahweh is able to raise up a nation. Only Yahweh…or one like Yahweh is able to raise up a nation.

So the woman, looking at this beautiful being, in shimmering light, comes to the conclusion that he is probably more than an angel. Little did she know that she was looking into the face of Jesus.

Jesus, the One who is like Yahweh, who is a member of the Godhead and on the authority of the Godhead is able to affect history in this way!

C. But What Does Yahweh Roi Mean?

Text:

Notice she begins to understand who she is talking to. She is talking to Yahweh Roi, in the original language…translated as the God who sees!

The God who sees!

o He saw her troubles with Sarai.

o He saw her fleeing from the presence of her mistress.

o He saw the distress in her heart.

o He found her by the well.

Friends, what a wonderful, comforting thing to know that Yahweh Roi, sees our troubles. Even as we are caught up in the horror of the moment, thinking all is lost, just to know that God sees us and what we are going through is comforting.

o Notice, that although she was just as sinful as Sarai, even though she is Egyptian, God sees her. She was running away but she was found!

o Reminds me of . Where can I go…..

o She was found by the One who sees all things and all people!

o It also reminds me of the words of Amazing Grace – I once was lost but now am found.

o That’s why she says, “have I seen the one who sees all things.”

o But know this, Apart from Seeing, He hears.

Text:

Link: Do you know what Ishmael means? God hears!

Not only does Yahweh Roi see our troubles, He also hears our cries in the night and He comes to our support. Hagar is told that God has heard her cries for help and for vindication and has come to her side.

D. Conclusion: What God Does for Us.

The angel tells her to go back and submit herself to Sarai.

That’s for us too. In our troubles, we must face them while submitting to God.

God does not promise us that he will always remove our burdens.

Instead:

o He never gives us more than we can bear ()

o He also said that He will go through our troubles with us: ()

“When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty you will not drown in it. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be destroyed by oppression.”

God promises us that He will not always give us a smooth path in life, but we do know that Yahweh Roi sees our troubles, hears our cries, does not overload us and is suffering through these things with us.

I don’t know about you friends, but that gives me a lot of comfort and hope that I will survive my trials by the grace of Yahweh Roi who knows everything there is to know about me, including the things that wear me out. I cling to that. Won’t you?

- For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him.

, one of our favourites in times of trouble, also addresses God as Yahweh Roi. Good to know that He is the God of all comforts.

ILLUSTRATION: Father could see His son all the way.

LINK: God sees us all the way, have courage.

E. APPEAL: Hope in the Lord, let Him find you.

(KNJV)

16 Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. And she had an Egyptian maidservant whose name was Hagar. 2 So Sarai said to Abram, “See now, the Lord has restrained me from bearing children. Please, go in to my maid; perhaps I shall [a]obtain children by her.” And Abram heeded the voice of Sarai. 3 Then Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar her maid, the Egyptian, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan. 4 So he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress became despised in her [b]eyes.

5 Then Sarai said to Abram, [c]“My wrong be upon you! I gave my maid into your embrace; and when she saw that she had conceived, I became despised in her eyes. The Lord judge between you and me.”

6 So Abram said to Sarai, “Indeed your maid is in your hand; do to her as you please.” And when Sarai dealt harshly with her, she fled from her presence.

7 Now the Angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur. 8 And He said, “Hagar, Sarai’s maid, where have you come from, and where are you going?”

She said, “I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai.”

9 The Angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit yourself under her hand.” 10 Then the Angel of the Lord said to her, “I will multiply your descendants exceedingly, so that they shall not be counted for multitude.” 11 And the Angel of the Lord said to her:

“Behold, you are with child, And you shall bear a son. You shall call his name [d]Ishmael, Because the Lord has heard your affliction. 12 He shall be a wild man; His hand shall be against every man, And every man’s hand against him. And he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.”

13 Then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, You-Are-[e]the-God-Who-Sees; for she said, “Have I also here [f]seen Him who sees me?” 14 Therefore the well was called Beer Lahai Roi;[g] observe, it is between Kadesh and Bered.

15 So Hagar bore Abram a son; and Abram named his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael. 16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram