Names of God - El Roi

One of theses days I might learn how to do tabs and divisions on my blog so that I can have nice categories for all my randomness, but until then I am so sorry, but all you have is the nice right side list on the side of my blog that has to be searched through...

I am sharing another name of God in the Names of God post series. I will only do a post for this series once a week, sorry but our co-op gets it first and then it's your turn :-) Our co-op has broke for the holidays so what I am sharing with you all in this series are the names that our co-op group has already studied.

So far I have shared with you two names of God: Elohim and El Elyon.
Today we will learn about our God who sees, El Roi

We first learn about this name of God in Genesis 16. We have to go back and remember our context. At this point in history Abram and Sarai have been waiting on God's promise of a seed, of an heir. In their waiting they decide that maybe God wanted them to "help" him out a little bit. Now there was no IVF in this day and age so Sarai decided that what God meant was for Abram to go into her maid and have a child with her and it would be Sarai's according to the custom of the day.

(Isn't it just like us women to decide that we must be problem and therefore we must fix it; oh me, yep, nothing new under the sun)

So Abram just looks at his honey and says "Okay, what ever you think dear"
Hello, man of the promise?
Head of the family?

("Oh, Adam, here eat you won't die..." 
See, nothing new under the sun)

Anyway back to Abram and Sarai.
So Abram goes into Hagar, Sarai's maid, and guess what. She gets pregnant. Can you imagine the self-condemnation that fell upon Sarai at that moment. How she had to say, "Oh it is me! I am the problem. I am the failure. God is not pleased with me, it is my fault that we have never had children..."

Well I believe Hagar the maid picks right up on Sarai's sense of failure and lowered state and decides that she now is head of this home and usurps the position of Sarai and begins to mock and disregard the word of Sarai.

Sarai goes to her husband, and can you just image this conversation as she looks at him and basically says "This is all your fault! Do Something!"

Abram at this point tells Sarai to go and deal with Hagar. And Sarai steps in with her husband's backing and reminds Hagar that she is the hand-maid. Sarai disciplines her for the way she has been acting like she was all-that-and-a-bag-of-chips-on-the-side.

Now Hagar does like a lot of us do when we get checked for our behavior, she pouts and runs away from the situation.

Granted Hagar had a side in all this... she didn't ask to get thrown into Abram's bed. In her attempt to run away and flee the presence of Sarai, Hagar finds out that she might be able to hide from Abram and Sarai, but she cannot hide from the God of Abram and Sarai.

  Now the angel of the LORD found her

by a spring of water in the wilderness,

by the spring on the way to Shur. 

He said, “Hagar, Sarai’s maid,

where have you come from

and where are you going?”  

Genesis 16:7-8

I absolutely love how God addresses Hagar. He calls her Hagar, Sarai's maid. God immediately reminds her that she is indeed Sarai's maid, Sarai is her authority. Then He asks her where she has come from and where is she going. Yeh, like God didn't already know, but He opens the door for Hagar to confess to Him, to share her heart with Him. He does the same for us.

After Hagar speaks with God, she is instructed by Him to return to Sarai and submit to her authority. He tells her that He has a plan for her and the child she carries. Then in Genesis 16:13 God reveals to us through this story, this time in history with a woman named Hagar, the mother of Ishmael, that He is El Roi, a God who sees.  

  Then she called the name of the LORD who spoke to her,

“You are a God who sees”;

Genesis 16:13

How far does God see?

Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, You are there;
If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there.
If I take the wings of the dawn,
If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea,
Even there Your hand will lead me,
And Your right hand will lay hold of me.
If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me,
And the light around me will be night,” 

 Even the darkness is not dark to You,
And the night is as bright as the day.
Darkness and light are alike to You.

Psalm 139:7-12

There is no where that you can run and hide that God cannot see. Hagar could not hide and if you remember Jonah, he couldn't hide either. He tried to run from God and hide in the bottom of a ship on the way to Tarshish which was the opposite direction he was supposed to be heading in. So God threw him in the belly of a fish and possibly sent him to the bottom of the ocean just to say, "guess what boy, I still see you"  

For the ways of a man are before the eyes of the LORD,
And He watches all his paths.

Proverbs 5:21

Oh precious one, God sees it all.

Woe to those who deeply hide their plans from the LORD,
And whose deeds are done in a dark place,
And they say, “Who sees us?” or “Who knows us?”

Isaiah 29:15

There is nothing that we do that He does not see. We cannot sneak one by on Him. His eyes are always before us. 

 And there is no creature hidden from His sight,

but all things are open and laid bare

to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.

Hebrews 4:13

Does this not bring you great peace? I know it does me. It brings me peace for two very distinct reasons:

1) If I sin God sees it. There is no point in trying to hide it. Just go ahead and honestly confess it because He was there watching when I did it, thought it, saw it, felt it, heard it. Remember the woman at the well? Jesus told her ALL that she had done. Nothing is hidden from Him. He sees directly into our very heart, mind, and soul and He reaches out to us anyway. He loves us anyway. 

2) If someone sins against me God sees it. I do not have to seek revenge, hang on to bitterness, or prove myself right, because God saw it all. He will take care of it. You see when you have to keep your mouth shut, and go back and submit, when what you want to do is run away and tell everyone "your side" you can know that God knows, He is fully aware of your side. When you see someone go unpunished by our laws, you can know that they can not slip by on God's law. A slick tongued attorney, a corrupt judge, a blinded arbitrator can not get one over on God. The truth will come to light. God will vindicate. We don't have to. We can find peace and rest in the fact that one day all will be made known.

And those who know Your name will put their trust in You,
For You, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek You.

Psalm 9:10