Episode #215 Part 2: Does God Really See You? – Names of God

Hey friends, it's Jen, and we're continuing in our conversation with God about His names, getting to know God better through His good reputation. And today we're talking about the name El Roi, the God who sees. If you missed the very last episode, that's where we started looking at this name of God. And so I encourage you, pause here, go back to that episode, and then join us. We're kind of pairing two episodes together as we look at God's name.

First, looking at where he received this name or shared this name with us in the Bible and taking a look at the context and the people who were involved. Then part two is continuing that conversation with him and learning more about how he shares that name with us today. So the name El Roi is a name Hagar actually gets to give God in Genesis 16:13. This is when Hagar is fleeing from Abram and Sarai because she is being mistreated and God meets her in the wilderness and demonstrates that he knows her. So she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her “You are a God of seeing…I have seen him who looks after me.”

God is a God of seeing. He looks after us.

But as we go through our regular day to day lives, there are pitfalls and hard circumstances and pain and loss and grief that we often navigate. And when we're going through these difficult seasons, which honestly can span years, it doesn't always feel like God is the God who sees us.

Now, this problem is not unique to our day and our age.

I'll read Isaiah 40:27 in the NASB version and see if this sounds familiar to you. It says,

“My way is hidden from the Lord, And the justice due me escapes the notice of my God?" (Isaiah 40:27 NASB)

Way back in the time of Isaiah, God's people questioned if God truly saw them.

Even for Hagar, this wasn't a normal everyday occurrence. This is the first theophany that's recorded in scripture. And it doesn't go on to say that now Hagar saw God this way all the time and he just showed up and physically was visible to her like this.

But her experience with God allowed her to see how he is the God who sees her.

And it allows us to see as we read the Bible that he is the God who sees.

There's a quote I love from Oswald Chambers, and he says “when we cannot see the way and feel nothing but despair, remember that we have a God who has never lost sight of us, even if we've lost sight of him.”

See, even for Hagar, this wasn't a normal everyday experience. There's no record in scripture that God showed up for her this way again. But in this one specific event, she got to see the God who sees her, see her.

And God's people for generations afterwards, including us, as we read the Bible today, we get to see God show up as the one who sees in the story of Hagar and knowing that he is the God who does not change, who is the same, we get to receive this part of his reputation.

God sees you today. In Psalm 32:8, it says,

“I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.” (Psalm 32:8)
Our God is still El Roi, the God who sees. His eye is upon you. And he will show you the way to go. He will give you good counsel.

So I'm about to give you a question to take in a conversation with God we're asking God to show himself to us and he may show himself really visibly, really tangibly to you or he might show himself in a different way.

One of my own experiences that comes to mind actually began years ago when I was in high school. And I was driving down the road and I just happened to notice the wind blowing the leaves on some nearby trees. And I just said, real simply, “God, how beautiful.” And I felt like he responded in my spirit, “I did that for you. I knew you'd notice.”

Well, fast forward to this year, earlier this summer, I was outside and honestly I was emotionally distraught. I had a triggering event, and I needed to leave a room that I was in and I was worshiping, I was praying, and I was crying a little bit. And I sat down underneath some pretty trees just to center myself and talk with God. As I'm talking with Him, a breeze picks up and starts blowing the leaves in the trees and as I looked up at them. I felt him say again in my spirit, “I still do that for you. I know you'll notice.”
That for me was a moment of experiencing El Roi, of experiencing how God is the God who sees me.

And so the way that God shows this name to us can be unique and personal to us, it doesn't have to look the same as it does for somebody else, but we're asking him to show more about how he still is El Roi for each of us.

And here's our question:

God, will you show me more about how you're El Roi, the God who sees me, and how you're looking out for me? What do you want to show me?

Have a good talk.

And if you've been encouraged by this content, please share it with a friend and help them grow in their conversational relationship with God too!

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